mark.waltz A romantic comedy/drama, a dangerous film noir, and a soap opera about adultery rounded out three of the four films that Barbara Stanwyck and Fred MacMurray made together. The first, "Remember the Night", is a sleeper that has gained prominence in its reputation. "Double Indemnity" is of course one of the all time great thrillers, and "There's Always Tomorrow" is an acceptable, if predictable, women's picture. In the case of "The Moonighter" (a film I have been trying to track down for years), the 3-D western (lacking that element on DVD) is a slight disappointment, mainly because the script is so shoddy and the lead male character isn't somebody you really root for.In "Remember the Night", MacMurray was a D.A. who prosecuted Stanwyck for shoplifting but took her home for the holidays. Here, it is almost the opposite. He's a cattle rustler due to be hanged, but by a strange twist of fate, another man is hanged in his place. The one thing I can give the script credit for is showing conscience in MacMurray's reaction to the removal of the wrong man and his viewing the corpse being shot down from the tree where he was meant to swing. Former girlfriend Stanwyck shows up to claim the corpse with his brother (William Ching) whom she has fallen in love with and instantly knows that he is really alive. Their reunion is tense, especially when he reluctant involves Ching in a bank robbery he has planned with old co-conspirator Ward Bond. Of course, things don't go well for Ching, so Stanwyck vows revenge against her old lover.This is where Stanwyck obtains a sheriff's badge, determined to bring MacMurray and Bond back. She's really handy with a gun (as shown in the confrontation with the really bad Bond), but she's not wearing waterproof boots which make her slide down the side of a huge waterfall. It's an incredibly tense moment and appears that Stanwyck performed the stunt herself. In print, everything seems fine, and structurally, the film isn't bad. But MacMurray's amoral character, even with guilt over the poor man's place on the tree instead of him, is certainly guilty of villainous behavior, so there's no way you want to see him have a happy ending, especially after MacMurray and Bond do what typical co-conspirators in a robbery do and try to betray each other.There's really no point to the 3-D filming, especially since the movie is in black and white and would look extremely flat for the majority of the running time. There are some tense moments, and the action sequences are well shot, but the dialog and the unbelievability of many of the things going on takes away its credibility. Stanwyck, as always, brings out the many layers of her character and delivers a believable performance, but MacMurray isn't worthy of her affections. The ending left me very cold, lacking the "Double Indemnity" type finale I had hoped for. Out of nowhere comes an unnecessary intermission! The only thing this is missing is a Frankie Laine song, but Stanwyck got that for her Mexican adventure, "Blowing Wild".

Dick Yates I cringed when I watched this movie recently on TCM.Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Ward Bond were all fine actors, but in this turkey and with the scripts they had to work with it was downright embarrassing to see their acting performances.The movie started off promising, but within about 15 minutes it quickly deteriorated into a mishmash of puzzling dialogue between the actors and plot twists that didn't make any sense. I couldn't really understand the relationship between MacMurray and his brother, who he just kind of left out there in left field during the bank robbery.Ward Bond played an ingratiating role as a baddie. He just looked uncomfortable during his scenes. Overall a terrible waste of some fine actors talents.

Michael_Elliott The Moonlighter (1953)** 1/2 (out of 4)A rather bizarre Western starts off with a huge bang but then slowly dies into melodrama. Fred MacMurray plays a man believed dead but he shows back up at his mother's house swearing vengeance on what's happened to him. He then realizes that his former love (Barbara Stanwyck) is now seeing his younger brother (William Ching), which sets off a love triangle. THE MOONLIGHTER is an incredibly disappointing film when you consider the cast and especially after how well it got started. I'm not going to spoil the first fifteen-minutes because it delivers a few key plot points that are best if you don't know them going in. I will say that the entire sequence contains some terrific drama, great action and even a couple good laughs. The entire sequence is build around them wanting to lynch a cattle robber but there are many complications that come from this and it really leads to a terrific sequence. Sadly, after this, the film turns into a silly soap opera and the love story between MacMurray and Stanwyck is never believable. The two of them are always good together and their past films prove that but there's very little fire here between the two. I think a lot of this is due to the silly screenplay, which just goes crazy in the second half of the film and even the director makes some silly mistakes including using a score meant for a comedy during a couple critical killing scenes. The ending is without question one of the worst in film history and how characters just flop is downright silly. Even the big action climax at the end doesn't work as the director brings no suspense to it. The actors are fine and that includes Ward Bond as a bad guy but the film is just a mess. Originally this was shown in 3D but outside of the opening credits I didn't see a single thing fly to the screen so this movie's reputation of being one of the worst 3D movies is probably true.

bkoganbing One wonders why Warner Brothers chose to make The Moonlighter in 3-D and yet not bother with color. That almost to me seems self defeating if you're trying to lure people out of their homes and away from their television screens. And why do this on a minor western? Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck who made the classic Double Indemnity for Paramount almost a decade earlier set off no sparks in The Moonlighter. MacMurray is in the title role and when one is a Moonlighter one is a cattle rustler who plies his trade during the evening hours. Either way it can get you lynched as a mob from the town where MacMurray is in jail does, but to the wrong guy thinking it's him.Which allows him to take some revenge on those that wanted to do him in, like Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High. Still a wanted man Fred goes back to the old home town where he wants to take up bank robbery and visit his sweetheart Barbara Stanwyck. But she's now seeing his brother William Ching.Nevertheless Fred does attempt a robbery with old outlaw colleague Ward Bond. After that the plot gets so ridiculous that I almost dare you to see it.In color it would have been better, but there is a nice sequence at a waterfall involving the stars that must have been great in 3-D. But for my money it's not enough to make up for a really ridiculous plot in a film that neither star thought highly of.