Tonight's Movie: Sierra (1950) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

SIERRA (1950) is now available on Blu-ray as part of the brand-new Audie Murphy Collection II from Kino Lorber.

I first reviewed this film a decade ago when it was part of a TCM Vault DVD collection of Murphy films. I quite enjoyed revisiting it via Kino Lorber's lovely Blu-ray print.

SIERRA was Murphy's fifth film, and he's right at home in this Western, which ironically was not filmed in the Sierras at all, but in scenic Kanab, Utah. I wrote about Kanab a couple years ago for Classic Movie Hub. The familiarity I've gained with this location since my last viewing definitely added to my enjoyment this time around.

Murphy and Dean Jagger play Ring and Jeff Hassard, a father and son who live high in the mountains. Ring's father Jeff (Jagger) is a fugitive from justice, accused of a murder 15 years before. The Hassards survive by capturing and breaking wild horses, sold by their friend Lonesome (Burl Ives).

Into their lives stumbles a pretty young lawyer, Riley Martin (Wanda Hendrix), who later makes it her mission to help Ring when his horses are stolen. She also researches the old case involving his father and works to clear Jeff's name.

Although Riley is engaged to Duke Lafferty (Elliot Reid), she's viewed as a curiosity by townspeople because she's an educated attorney, and even Duke isn't really comfortable with her advocacy.  In her own way Riley is as much an "outsider" as Ring.

Soon enough everyone in town seems to be on a crash course regarding the Hassards...

I enjoyed this film, directed by Alfred E. Green and filmed by Russell Metty, as much on my revisit as I did initially. It's a fast-moving 83 minutes packed with a sea of great faces: Sara Allgood, Elisabeth Risdon, Griff Barnett, Houseley Stevenson, Tony Curtis, James Arness, John Doucette, Roy Roberts, and I. Stanford Jolley. It's hard to miss with a cast like that!

Ives adds a great deal to the film's mood with his genial presence and music, especially the haunting "Hideaway" by Arnold Hughes and Frederick Herbert.

The screenplay by Edna Anhalt and Milton Gunzburg was based on the novel THE MOUNTAINS ARE MY KINGDOM by Stuart Hardy. It was previously filmed as FORBIDDEN VALLEY (1938) with Noah Beery Jr. and Frances Robinson. I'd like to hunt that one down!

For more details on SIERRA, as well as background on the real-life marriage of Murphy and Hendrix, please visit my 2013 review.

Kino Lorber's Blu-ray print looks and sounds great. Extras consist of the trailer; a gallery of four additional trailers; and a commentary track by Westerns expert Toby Roan.

Coming soon: My review of another film in this set, DESTRY (1954), will be published soon in my Western RoundUp column for Classic Movie Hub. A preview: I liked it a lot!  (Update: Here is my DESTRY review, and I've also now reviewed KANSAS RAIDERS.)

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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