Canyon Passage

Tasteful direction, excellent color photography, spectacular scenery. But the screenplay is plodding, Brian Donlevy is miscast, Hoagy Carmichael is unnecessary, and . . . well, the whole thing just never comes to life. (The only really good things about this film are the beauty of a young Susan Hayward and the fact that Andy Devine gets killed by the Indians.)

Stunning Technicolor. Andrews is great, his character is tough and gentle, restless and loyal, and Andrews makes these all fluid aspects of his personality. Hayward and Donlevy are great in their supporting roles, each their own character even as the film's focus is on Andrews. Besides the obvious commentary on relationships and ambition, I find the way the film depicts community to be very interesting, supportive one minute violent the next, fickle in a way even the individuals aren't.

# 957

Colourful western. A bit different.

Handsomely crafted but I found this to represent the most cliched and generic model for a classical Western. Not quite in a comforting way, more like tired old images. I'm probably being ignorant but the 'John Wayne' category of western has never been my thing.

Most of me detests the notion of childishly deriving value in a film from adherence or not to one's own ego-driven moral imperatives but if the protagonists in yr film commit infidelity and its treated as Hunky Dory because they just wuv each other so much you can take a hockey puck to the face. I still don't get Westerns but while pretty this doesn't even stand out in any meaningful way, wallowing in the aggressive traditionalist familiarities of the genre, stoically, constipatedly.

Star Rating: ★★★★★

85.00

watched: 2013, 2020

a rather languid film with quite a number of different subplots, one of which involves a group of "red beasts" vindictively torching and killing everything in their path, including all those communally built lodgings that so many hard-working country folk had worked on together. i was trying to ignore the occasional slight against the "indians" to enjoy what was otherwise a fairly interesting not-really-western, but the climax was just too vile.

Western do Jacques tourneur #3 do dia: Paixão Selvagem. DVD Versátil Cinema Faroeste Volume 1.

A good western from the ever-solid Jacques Tourneur, with a tapestry of a plot, good dialogue, not a lot of violence until just before the ending, and picturesque landscapes in gorgeous 1940s technicolor to match the expectedly antiquated morals, depiction of natives and notions of gender.

Jacques Tourneur's first western is a absolutely a stunner to look at. The story of a developing community out in the wild with it's romance, gambling and usual troubles you'll associate with the early west. Unfortunately the story didn't engage me as much as I had hoped. Sure, there is something buzzing here, but the eruption comes a little slow and somewhat unspectacular. Maybe it was more subtle that I expected and I didn't look deep enough to appreciate it.