While it doesn't quite reach the giddy heights of 'Rancho Notorious', Lang's Western is still an excellent example of his art within formulaic genres. Given his career history until he reached America in studio bound, mono films, it is a surprise that his Westerns were so successful in conventional terms. But they were. Even the least remarkable, 'The Return of Frank James' is worth a viewing. Like that film, here too the colour cinematography is glorious, the leads sympathetic, the story exciting and involving.
Many of Lang's characteristic themes are here: fate, guilt/innocence, crime, and cruelty amongst them. Western fans will relish the strong part given to veteran heavy Barton MacLane as Scott's brother Jack Slade (even though the resemblance is hardly striking) - the sneering MacLane's face in close up, daubed in war paint, is a real sight to behold, a highlight of the film..
More unusually for Lang is the use of a comic sub plot, as Herman the cook struggles against the vicissitudes of his employment. Even today this tale of woe remains amusing making one regret, perhaps, that the director didn't go down this route more often. Lightly handled, too, is the romance triangle. Scott and Young make an excellent pairing in this context, and again the scenes are lightly amusing. This sort of play is more reminiscent of another German emigre, Lubitsch, than the more severe Lang.
(SPOILER)
The most shocking incident in the film is undoubtedly the death of Vince Shaw at the hands of his brother. Even those, like myself, who have seen the film several times, still hope against memory that in fact Jack Slade meets his deserved end at the receiving end of his brother's bullets. To see Scott die on screen is profoundly upsettling, even though his demise is (as the Hollywood code demanded) avenged shortly afterwards by the grim Blake. But for long seconds, as the burly villain prods Scott's body, as Scott's flaxen hair flaps lifelessly, we feel that the world is really out of joint.
This death, both inevitable and feared, is a typical Lang touch - as Scott's character has been ultimately fighting against fate through the film. In fact much of the time we have been aware of a paradox, one which is at the heart of the story: Scott/Shaw is presented to us as a man of action and mystery. In fact his relationship to his brother paralyses him in every sphere, except that of love. The hand that grips around Sue's locket can easily remind one of the destiny that closes on men. Ultimately Vince Shaw is as much trapped in a hostile universe as is Herman the Cook, but his fall is much the greater.
Many of Lang's characteristic themes are here: fate, guilt/innocence, crime, and cruelty amongst them. Western fans will relish the strong part given to veteran heavy Barton MacLane as Scott's brother Jack Slade (even though the resemblance is hardly striking) - the sneering MacLane's face in close up, daubed in war paint, is a real sight to behold, a highlight of the film..
More unusually for Lang is the use of a comic sub plot, as Herman the cook struggles against the vicissitudes of his employment. Even today this tale of woe remains amusing making one regret, perhaps, that the director didn't go down this route more often. Lightly handled, too, is the romance triangle. Scott and Young make an excellent pairing in this context, and again the scenes are lightly amusing. This sort of play is more reminiscent of another German emigre, Lubitsch, than the more severe Lang.
(SPOILER)
The most shocking incident in the film is undoubtedly the death of Vince Shaw at the hands of his brother. Even those, like myself, who have seen the film several times, still hope against memory that in fact Jack Slade meets his deserved end at the receiving end of his brother's bullets. To see Scott die on screen is profoundly upsettling, even though his demise is (as the Hollywood code demanded) avenged shortly afterwards by the grim Blake. But for long seconds, as the burly villain prods Scott's body, as Scott's flaxen hair flaps lifelessly, we feel that the world is really out of joint.
This death, both inevitable and feared, is a typical Lang touch - as Scott's character has been ultimately fighting against fate through the film. In fact much of the time we have been aware of a paradox, one which is at the heart of the story: Scott/Shaw is presented to us as a man of action and mystery. In fact his relationship to his brother paralyses him in every sphere, except that of love. The hand that grips around Sue's locket can easily remind one of the destiny that closes on men. Ultimately Vince Shaw is as much trapped in a hostile universe as is Herman the Cook, but his fall is much the greater.