Silver Lode

I have always rather appreciated the films of John Payne, whose talents ranged all the way from dapper crooner in the 30s to swashbuckling, to charming Christmas hero in "Miracle on 34th Street" to tough guy westerns...all in a rather long career. A much neglected actor I think. This turned out to be quite an interesting film....calling up comparison with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelley's High Noon from about the same period. But there turned out to be much more to the story, since it dates from about 1954 and thinly veils the deplorable mob mentality of the McCarthy era. I think the actors, director, and writers should be commended for tackling such a subject at a time when actors' careers were being ruined by innuendo.

John Payne, Dan Duryea and Lizbeth Scott gave tense, very good performances in this color western. John Payne was especially good at showing what can happen to a person as he is slowly stripped of his self-respect, reputation and every friend in town, who desert him. Finally, he is down to nothing but self-preservation and survival. Lizbeth Scott is Payne's loyal love interest and Dan Duryea plays a convincing and clever villain. There are insinuations of 'McCarthyism' in the film, but they are too simplistic to be taken seriously. The career of Senator Joseph (Tailgunner Joe) McCarthy had a lot more to it than could be talked about here.I thought the color balance, sound and image clarity were very good for this DVD.

The movie itself is an excellent 'small' western of the 'town' variety, a transparent critique in 1954 of the McCartheism then afflicting the US. Very well done & a credit to Dwan & its other makers. Unfortunately, this new "special edition" released in spring 2010 is terrible:  Silver Lode - Special Edition  - far inferior to earlier edition from same company. Image quality is more contrasty than previous ed, & horizontally truncated just as former release. The earlier ed, which is also not very good but somewhat better in image quality & contrast, is available from amazon used at half the price of new special ed. Thus recommend  Silver Lode  earlier ed, until a good restored version is hopefully offered.

A Federal Marshal and his deputies ride into the western town of Silver Lode during 4th July celebrations claiming to have a warrant for the arrest of one of its citizens Dan Ballard on this his wedding day. Slowly the townsfolk turn against Ballard leaving him with only the support of the two women in his life.The stoic hero is played by John Payne with his back against the wall for most of the film and Dan Duryea is the villain of the piece. Lizabeth Scott is Ballard's fiance and Dolores Moran plays the saloon girl. The film moves along at a fine pace well directed by Allan DwanJohn Payne turns in a fine performance as the hero and "Baddies" don't get much better than Dan Duryea! Altogether a fine western DVD movie plus Trailer etc

An elder gunslinger is marrying a beautiful young blonde when a posse of Trouble ride into town. The townsfolk forsake him and, save for the women who love him, he stands alone to meet his fate. Welcome to High Noon Redux, also known as SILVER LODE. SILVER LODE is a `message' movie, with more or less the same message its illustrious predecessor had - McCarthyism is bad. Or, as the dvd jacket blurb begins, "A fictional account of the most shameful moments in American history. McCarthyism justice western style: a case of guilty by association." On the off chance that the original audience missed the connection, the chief bad guy in this one, wonderfully played by A-List heavy Dan Duryea, is named `Ned McCarthy.' Get it? I don't have much patience for message westerns, and SILVER LODE definitely fits into the Ox-Bow Incident/High Noon continuum. I find myself drawn out of the movie too often, usually to criticize minor plot points (No judge would ever have so cavalierly allowed a shady, unidentified US Marshall extradite one of his town's citizens!) or to whine about how preachy it is. Still, SILVER LODE boasts a strong cast, headed by Gary Coo...er, I mean John Payne as the innocent accused and B-movie queen Lizabeth Scott as his almost-bride. Duryea is, as usual, excellent and great fun to watch. SILVER LODE also contains more than its fair share of well choreographed and photographed action scenes.A bit heavy handed, SILVER LODE is a movie with a message that borrows liberally from the mother lode of anti-McCarthyism westerns, HIGH NOON. The higher your tolerance for being preached at, the more you'll enjoy this movie.

I'm not too big on western's, but I wanted to see Lizabeth Scott in a different role. I was surprisingly satisfied with this one. Dan Duryea, always the bad guy, even as a law man, didn't disappoint me. He comes to town (Silver Lode) with his posse, looking for blood. John Payne is accused of killing Duryea's brother during a card game. Payne (Scott's husband) has to go into hiding with help from the town's people, until he can prove his innocence.As for the lovely Lizabeth Scott, I still found her to be very appealing in western garb. I'm so used to her wearing form-fitting dresses and sometimes playing the bad girl in those 'film noirs'. Good ending.

About the only positive comment that can be made about this movie was the outstanding sets. A remarkably attractive setting for a remarkably bad and low-rent movie.The acting was mostly terrible in spite of two future stars (Stuart Whitman & Alan Hale Jr.) who got to say little beyond ignorance responses. And then actors who should have known better - Dan Duryea, John Payne, and Lizabeth Scott deliver such sophomoric performances that their status as great actors went straight to the cellar.What were they thinking?I'm especially disappointed with Dan Duryea, who was singularly the best talent on the set - yet he displayed none of that genius in this movie - they must have made this thing on a Saturday afternoon.Terrible Movie!!!!!

It was a good watch

good movie arrived early

John Payne au mieux de sa carrière, super film.

Ein hervorragender Western von Altmeister Allan Dwan. Man kann darin eine Darstellung des McCarthyismus sehen, Hetze, die eine Menschenjagd auslöst, bei der alle braven Bürger mitmachen. Schade dass es dieses Juwel nicht in deutscher Synchronisation gibt, aber man kann dem Film ohne weiteres folgen, wenn man über englische Grundkenntnisse verfügt. Ich hatte lange darauf gewartet, dass dieser Film einmal auf DVD erscheint. Für jeden Western-Fan ein absolutes MUSS!

********CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS********This DVD has proved to be one of my favourite buys over the last few months. It is so long since I saw it on TV that I barely remember it. This is a special edition that has been lovingly restored to the same high standard that Budd Boetticher's "Seven Men From Now" received. In addition to the lovely crisp colour picture, the DVD also comes with two short accompanying documentaries that give interesting overviews on the careers of director Allan Dwan and star John Payne. As the back of the DVD cover states, the film is featured in the books "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" (1995) and "1001 Movies to see before you die" by Steven Jay Schneider. Who am I to argue with a man of Martin Scorcese's encyclopedic knowledge of movies! The second inclusion is perhaps more dubious in a book that has quite an eclectic mix shall we say! The front of the DVD states "CLASSIC WESTERN" and the reverse lets us know it is a "SPECIAL EDITION". For once both claims happen to be true.Dwan made "Silver Lode" as a quickie for producer Benedict Bogeaus. The film certainly has shades of "High Noon" and contains even more anti-McCarthy hysteria than that film did. I will stick my head above the parapet by saying that I think it is a better film than "High Noon", with its deleriously frenzied action. In the film Payne plays a man, who just like Gary Cooper is about to get married to the pretty Lizabeth Scott. The wedding is then spoilt by party pooper Dan Duryea, who purports to be a sheriff with a warrant for Payne's arrest on a charge of murder. It is apparent from the outset that Payne is likely to accidentally get shot whilst trying to escape en-route to jail. The townspeople initially defend him but then turn their backs on him as the evidence mounts. The film heads to a frenetic finale where Payne is hunted by just about everybody. Can he clear his name before is gunned down or lynched.The McCarthy references are not subtle at times. Duryea's character is called Whitey McCarty, and spends his time rabidly trying to murder an innocent man. Not hard to figure out who he represents! Duryea who was one of the most talented actors of his generation puts in yet another swaggering performance as the villain of the piece with a psychopathic streak. He was good at this sort of role and went on to play a very similar character with Audie Murphy in the films "Six Black Horses" and "Night Passage". In the latter film his character was coincidentally called Whitey Kincaid. Payne gives a good account of himself as the hunted man, and does not allow himself to be totally overshadowed by Duryea. Lizabeth Scott was a striking actress who should have made many more films than she did. The support cast included the very attractive Dolores Moran, who made her last film at the tender age of thirty, the stalwart support actor Harry Carey jnr, and a very young looking Stuart Whitman in an early role.Director Allan Dwan had one of the longest film careers in Hollywood history. He was active in tinseltown from 1911 to 1961. Now that is what you call longevity in a tough business! This film is very intelligently written, and Dwan handles the material with a very sure hand. He had lost none of his powers by 1954. A simple revenge story becomes so much more in talented hands. The film contains one very memorable tracking shot towards the end of the film as Payne runs from his pursuers across the town. It is worth watching for the original finale alone. Everything is shot around the confines of the town, but this does not detract from it at all. Ray Milland used the same hunted man theme in his excellent forgotten western "A Man Alone", which is also a film worth tracking down. Dwan is best remembered for John Wayne's great war film "The Sands of Iwo Jima", but it is perhaps this film that stands as his unqualified masterpiece. This is movie making at its very best!

Prolific director Allan Dwan directed this lean and spare western which is similar in theme and structure to the classic High Noon. Like High Noon, the action takes place in "real time", though wisely there are no clocks in this one. The storyline concerns gunslinger-turned-rancher Dan Ballard, played by John Payne, who is about to marry Rose Evans, played by Lizabeth Scott, daughter of a wealthy landowner. Their nuptials are interrupted by one Ned McCarty, played by perennial bad guy Dan Duryea and a possible reference to Senator Joseph McCarthy, who claims to be a US Marshal with a warrant for Ballard's arrest for murder. Ballard is innocent, of course, and he uses the remainder of the film's running time to delay his ride to "justice" and expose McCarty for the vengeful outlaw and imposter he is.This picture is worth watching not for the script, which I consider to be mediocre, but for director Dwan's excellent direction. He makes outstanding use of a Hollywood western town set, most strikingly in a single-take tracking shot which follows Ballard as he runs four blocks across town. He also stages many scenes from the inside of buildings looking out, through windows and doors, resulting in some nice depth shots. Here he is aided by the great cinematographer John Alton.A film that is likely to improve with each viewing.