Blood on the Moon [DVD]

Blood on the Moon is directed by Robert Wise and is adapted from a Luke Short story by Lillie Hayward and Harold Shumante. It stars Robert Mitchum, Barbara Bel Geddes, Robert Preston, Walter Brennan, Phyllis Thaxter, Frank Faylen, Tom Tully and Charles McGraw. Music is by Roy Webb and cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca. Story has Mitchum as drifting cowboy Jim Garry, who after receiving a job offer in the mail from old acquaintance Tate Riling (Preston), finds himself pitched in the middle of a war between cattle ranchers and homesteaders.

Effective and tightly crafted Western that has garnered many favourable remarks, due in the main to its ability to veer away from formula suggested by the plot and the technical film noir touches brought about by the great Musuraca. With Mitchum turning in one of his great screen dominating performances, film is driven forward by the psychological aspects brought about by thematics such as duplicity, split loyalties and moral quandaries. Director Wise does a good job of pacing the film, keeping it on the slow burn whilst dialling into Jim Garry's mindset, and picture is further boosted by a great knuckle fight and a rip-roaring siege shoot out at the end. But it's the mood created by Musuraca and Wise that is the real winner. With the film set 90% at night or in darkened rooms, shadow play is high and an oppressive feel adds weight to the psychological clocks ticking away in the narrative. In support of Mitchum, Geddes does spunky cowgirl well, while the presence of Brennan, Faylen and the gravel voiced McGraw is keenly felt.

Good story, well acted and visually potent. 7/10

This is one of a notable group of westerns, such as Colorado Territory (1949), and Pursued (1947), influenced by the then-fledgling film noir style. They introduce introspection and fatalism into the sagebrush mix, anticipating the psychological concerns of the 1950s. Inevitably shot in black and white (although Turner Television have apparently broadcast a colourised version of the present title - a fact that might make purists shudder), and with a greater preponderance of night-set scenes, the noir western replaced a family-friendly wide open prairie, previously peopled with cowboys in white or black hats and clear cut moralities, with a fresh genre of altogether different concerns, reflecting confusions and uncertainties.

Director Robert Wise had previously made Curse Of The Cat People (1944) for Val Lewton, and would also helm Lady Of Deceit (1947), and The Set-Up (1949), respectively just before and after Blood On The Moon, so was already at home with the way of noir. He'd also been associated with Orson Welles - having been brought in to infamously 'finish off' The Magnificent Ambersons - and this influence can be seen in Blood On The Moon, especially in the saloon interiors, with their low angles and prominent low ceilings.

Wise's 1948 western stars noir icon Robert Mitchum as Jim Garry, a man with a suitably dubious past, sent for by former friend Tate Riling (Preston Foster) to take partnership in a grazing rights scam and to provide a strong arm for $10,000. Riling hopes to secure payment for a lucrative army cattle contract while convincing local farmers that his intentions are strictly honourable, and running off the current suppliers. At first Garry grudgingly goes along with the plan but then realises that he is not comfortable with matters, all the while growing a romantic interest in Amy Lufton (Barbara Bel Geddes) the daughter of one of the cattle farmers.

For my money, Blood On The Moon, while an excellent film, is not quite on the same level as the two other noir westerns mentioned above, having none of the haunting psychologies of Pursued (also starring Mitchum), nor the fatalism of Colorado Territory. But there are still many pleasures to be had here, not least a strong supporting cast that includes Walter Brennan and Charles McGraw as well as a splendidly duplicitous Foster who, in dark parallel of Garry's slow romance of Amy, feigns a love interest in her sister to oil along his malign plans.

Ultimately, it is Garry's realisation of his erstwhile partner's slipperiness which turns him against him, as he discovers "I've seen dogs who wouldn't take you for a son." But it is Mitchum's marvellous playing of a man with the troublesome "conscience blowing down his neck," that's at the centre of the film, as he turns from hesitant moral acquiescence to doubt, onto guilt, into action. As others have remarked, Mitchum's characteristic 'stillness' as a noir actor, whereby he characteristically says or expresses little, but nevertheless suggests inner turmoil, is shown at its best here. Such depth and moral equivocation would (his complex performance in Red River the year before, notwithstanding) probably have been beyond the range of a John Wayne.

I mention Wayne, particularly, since there is an interesting similarity between Blood On The Moon and Hawks' Eldorado, made a decade and half later. In both movies a gunfighter arrives by way of summons into a middle of dispute, and is bushwhacked by a woman for his pains. In the later movie Wayne's character makes a clear decision right away not to join one side before siding with the other. In Wise's work, Garry's process of realignment is much more slow and painful, but because of it, more human. And whereas Wayne enters the drama bolt upright on his horse, proud in his own self-esteem, we first see Garry caught in the rain, at night, bedding down within cluttered trees, streams and undergrowth - the uncomfortableness of which reflects the confusions in which he finds himself.

The Odeon disc seen by this reviewer presents the film with no extras and in a soft picture - not ideal given the original, sharp, expressionist cinematography. There's occasional print damage too, but this is not distracting. But at its modest price, if you haven't yet caught it on TV, this DVD release can still be recommended.

What a pleasant surprise! A western that I have not seen before, and a very good one at that. Made way back in 1948, it has withstood the ravages of time extremely well. I was expecting pretty routine stuff, but had I known its pedigree I might have anticipated differently. The film was directed by the Hollywood veteran Robert Wise who had worked on "Citizen Kane" as a film editor, and was also a co director of "West Side Story". He also directed that perennial favourite "The Sound Of Music", but then nobody's perfect! The film also boasts an unusually literate script by Lillie Hayward and Harold Shumate. It was also shot in a brooding black and white which gives it plenty of atmosphere.

The story based on a novel by western writer Luke Short, concerns Robert Mitchum as a penniless drifter who comes in to work with old friend Robert Preston, who has his own crooked plans to swindle a local cattleman out of his herd. This involves setting the cattleman up against local homesteaders, and some shady dealings with a local indian agent. Mitchum quickly realises he is fighting on the wrong side, and with the help of the cattlemans pretty daughter is persuaded to swap allegiances. But will it be too late to thwart Preston's scheme?

The cast in this film is a remarkably strong one. Robert Mitchum gives an outstanding performance in the lead role, as the laconic hero. That underrated actor Robert Preston gives fine support as yet another likeable rogue. Walter Brennan appears as a grouchy homesteader who comes good, and Barbara Bel Geddes is the perfect cowgirl long before her "Dallas" days. It was also nice to see brief and uncredited appearances from Harry Carey jnr and that prolific Hollywood indian Iron Eyes Cody. The film also has some very authentic looking cowpoke costumes. There is a particularly realistic fight scene between Mitchum and Preston, which was unusually brutal for its time. Overall this is a very satisying and enjoyable film indeed. I can't really find a lot to criticise, which means it has to be worth four and a half stars. But as it is a western, it has to be rounded up to five stars.