Scarecrow-88 Never having met a genre he couldn't master, director Robert Wise graduates from the Val Lewton academy with honors thanks to a magical fantasy outing with Curse of the Cat People, getting one of the greatest performances of the career from Boris Karloff in The Body Snatcher, then applying his evolving talents behind the camera to the mean film noir Born to Kill with Lawrence Tierney and Claire Trevor (not to mention, helping to "assist" in the troubled production of The Magnificent Ambersons, which had Orson Welles' work raped of nearly an hour and destroyed without his input, and Wise directing additional footage at RKO studios' urging). In the Robert Mitchum oater, Blood on the Moon, Wise and director of photography Nicholas Musuraca make sure the film is viewed as dark and even a bit foreboding (notice early scenes where Mitchum is interrupted of his rest by a cattle herd moving through and a cowboy not realizing he was camping thereabouts, or Mitchum hiding amongst the darkened alleys of the town for which the characters frequent as Preston's gunmen are out to find him), with a strong sense of rising and accumulating tensions and anxiety (homesteaders are not quite happy with cattleman's land grazing herd, Preston wanting to capitalize on that while also using an Indian agent to utilize the army to enforce a mandate on getting the cows off of reservation land or else risk losing them, Mitchum coming to terms with how separate factions within a territory are fractured thanks to Preston, his own friend from the past, almost exclusively).Robert Preston gets a plum antagonist role as a manipulative scoundrel who will use his devious charm to turn the daughter of his rival cattleman against him, his influential voice to entrap the homesteaders into feeling accosted by the cattleman's "intrusive herding", and cunning to swindle cattle cheap by using resources (the army, his greedy gunmen to stir up the herd, and friendship with Mitchum to use his shooting abilities, as well as a middle man to negotiate the buy and sell of the cattle since the cattleman would never sell to Preston) available to him through various means.Phyllis Thaxton (Ma Kent in the Christopher Reeve Superman of 1978) is the cattleman's daughter seduced by Preston, Barbara Bel Geddes (Dallas, TV show) the other daughter who falls in love with Mitchum when his conscience convinces him to remove himself from Preston, and Walter Brennan as a homesteader who loses his son in the herd stampede orchestrated by Preston all co-star. Charles McGraw (of The Narrow Margin) has a minor part as another homesteader, with Frank Faylen (of "Dobie Gillis") as the corrupt Indian agent (working in cahoots with Preston over robbing the cattleman of the proper price for the herd, hoping to make a handsome profit with the army) and Tom Tully (as the cattleman, Lufton) round out the cast of recognizable faces you might see turn up on westerns and television during occasionally. The noirish look and feel of this western gives it a distinctive edge over westerns you might see with Randolph Scott around the same time or later (not discounting Scott's work with Boetticher, mind you). Also included is a marvelous round of fisticuffs between Mitchum and Preston in a saloon, just literally bringing the house down, and a shadowy gunfight at the end that mirrors the shootouts of gangster films just a decade or so (and during this period still with the detective/crime movies being released) in alleys or city streets. I saw quite a similarity between the dark-and-moody standoff in Blood in the Moon and about two decades later in the underrated and terrific Monte Hellman western, Ride in the Whirlwind.It's no surprise that Mitchum successfully carries the film, as he was just about three years removed from his star-making turn in The Story of GI Joe and one year after Out of the Past, considered a top three film noir classic. Bel Geddes matches him as the feisty love interest. Her ballsy gun-to-gun standoff towards the beginning is a real beaut. Mitchum having to tell Brennan his son's dead and, in turn, Brennan contemplating so much loss and little gain since listening to Preston is another key scene. Again, the mood lighting and use of shadow applied to this western certainly gives it a look that stands it apart from other westerns. A gem worth checking out.

Robert J. Maxwell This Western was directed by Robert Wise and has a fine, experienced cast. The story is a familiar one. One old chum (Preston) sends for another old chum (Mitchum) to offer him a job. The problem is that, though a juxtaposition of circumstance, it's a lousy job, even though it would pay well. Mitchum is supposed to help Preston and his gang of low lifes scam the local farmers, like Walter Brennan, and an honest rancher, Tom Tully, out of his cattle. The means are too complicated to bother explaining.It must be one of the least glamorous Westerns ever filmed. The opening shots are of Mitchum alone on horseback, riding over some dark hills in the middle of a torrent. He's drenched and uncomfortable. Few people in the story look comfortable. It's cold and turns snowy. The men are bundled up in winter clothing and wear tall ugly cowboy hats. They tend to wear chaps, which are really fit only for stylization, like Robert Duval's woolly chaps in the original "True Grit." In a minor role, Charles McGraw lumbers around in what looks like a bear costume, growling his observations.The women look delicate though. Barbara Bel Geddes is attractive and ends her lines with the terminal contours of an upper-class school girl from Rosemary Hall. Phyllis Thaxter, I think, is miscast as Preston's naive girl friend. She's purity personified and it's hard to swallow her attraction to a lying, mustachioed villain like Preston. Lust is not exactly her forte.Many of the scenes take place at night and everything looks depressing. It captures the atmosphere all right but the atmosphere is something from Dante's Purgatorio.In the course of the tale, Mitchum changes his mind, sides with the good guys, has a brutal fist fight with Preston, finally has a shoot out with the villains, and ascends Mount Purgatory to the peaceful summit, hand in hand with Bel Geddes.There's a lot of energy on screen but little of it looks original. Mitchum is a bit plump and sleepier than in some of his other work. But it must be said that after that unsparing, barbaric fight in the bar room, Mitchum and the make up department, allowed him to look like hell, his long hair hanging in strands over his ears, sweating and panting as the usual heroes never do. There are also some impressive shots of a pursuit through the snow. All of it might have been better done in color.

utgard14 Cowboy Robert Mitchum comes to help old friend Robert Preston, only to find himself in the middle of a war between Preston and rancher Tom Tully. He soon realizes his buddy might not be the good guy in this particular fight. Excellent shadowy western from director Robert Wise with touches of film noir. Mitchum is solid. Preston makes an interesting villain. Nice support that includes Walter Brennan, Charles McGraw, Frank Faylen, and Phyllis Thaxter. Barbara Bel Geddes plays Mitchum's love interest. The abrupt change in her character's personality is one of the film's weaker points. She starts out as hotheaded tomboy then, without explanation, turns into a sweet, sympathetic lady. Fistfight in a darkened bar between Mitchum and Preston is a highlight. Western fans will enjoy this one a lot.

Spikeopath 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