Tonight's Movie: Border River (1954) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review
Favorites Joel McCrea and Yvonne De Carlo star in BORDER RIVER (1954), a Universal Pictures Western just released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.This was at least the third time I'd watched BORDER RIVER since my first viewing in 2011, and I continue to enjoy it. The script is modest but the pleasures of watching McCrea and De Carlo in beautiful Moab, Utah, make this quite an enjoyable 80 minutes.
Some modern viewers will be surprised that McCrea's hero, Clete Mattson, is a dedicated Confederate soldier. It's perhaps ironic that in past decades our country was less divided about our "great divide" of the 1860s.
Mattson arrives in "Zona Libre," an area between the United States and Mexico ruled by General Calleja (Pedro Armendariz), planning to trade gold bars for army supplies.
Director George Sherman keeps things moving along at a good pace, and Irving Glassberg captures beautiful Moab in lovely Technicolor.
The BORDER RIVER supporting cast includes Alfonso Bedoya, Nacho Galindo, Ivan Triesault, Lane Chandler, and Bobby Hoy.
The Blu-ray is a beautiful print with excellent sound. De Carlo is shown to stunning effect wearing red and green gowns at various points. What a beauty!
Disc extras consist of the trailer; a gallery of four additional trailers for films starring McCrea or De Carlo; and a commentary track by Toby Roan of 50 Westerns From the 50s.
This is an enjoyable film which I can attest has good rewatch value. A very nice release from Kino Lorber which I'm sure to watch again in coming years.
Coming soon: A review of another De Carlo Universal Pictures Western released by Kino Lorber, TOMAHAWK (1951).
Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.
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posted by Laura @ 11:20 PM
3 Comments:
Laura, a fine observation about McCrea playing southern officer, quite common in that period. There is a significant moment in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon between John Wayne and Ben Johnson that goes in the same direction. Only now does the mainstream culture lead us into division and animosity. My personal take is we are a failed or failing society, on the order of ancient Rome with a little Reign of Terror thrown in for seasoning.
Thank you. I remember that scene in SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON.
It's interesting to me that previous generations, while recognizing the evil of slavery, were more tolerant and understanding of the Americans on each side of the conflict, which promoted healing and national unity.
Best wishes,
Laura
I wish I would have liked this one as much as you did, Laura, but I had issues with it. McCrea’s hard headed character continually came off selfish, using everyone and everything strictly for furthering his misguided goal of extending the massacres of the Civil War in its waning days. I thought his treatment of everyone who helped him was obstinately rude and dangerous, particularly for beautiful Yvonne De Carlo’s character and in a heartbreaking scene, a poor horse who is manipulated into a bog and tortured with scary instability , only to be followed by his returning the injured horse to its owner with a cavalier “Sorry, amigo.” Outside of Yvonne, I found just about all the characters repugnant, especially Alphonse Bedoya’s desperately seeking Oscar scenery chewing. It’s pretty well made and the locations are glorious, but I just couldn’t get past McCrea’s stubborn character and his constantly apathetic betrayals of everyone. I won’t lie: The sad scene with the animal abuse set my attitude against the whole movie and nothing in the rest of it inspired me to revise that. However, I do respect your view of it and your reasons for enjoying it. Last week for my “Saturday Westerns” weekly screening, I watched TOMAHAWK, another George Sherman helmed oater I enjoyed much more.
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