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Hearing James Stewart play the accordion and sing is probably not the most pleasant part of this film. Great actor, bad singer. World War II Congressional Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, not usually recognized as a top acting talent, turns in the best performance in this film and he and Stewart are surrounded by a cast of great character actors. "Night Passage" was the first U.S. film produced in Technirama, a superior large format wide screen system developed by Technicolor, Inc., and the photography is extremely good. Worth a look.

Beautifully photographed, atmospheric western that takes a while to build up under James Neilson's direction--he took over from Anthony Mann, who was fired after clashing with star James Stewart--but ends with a slam-bang finale. Stewart and Audie Murphy work well together, with Stewart as a railroad employee entrusted with getting a payroll past a gang of train robbers, and Murphy his brother who's a member of the gang. Dan Duryea excelled at playing sadistic villains with a twisted sense of humor who actually got a kick out of their work, and he does another good job of it here. A solid supporting cast including Jack Elam, Robert J. Wilke and Herbert Anderson contributes to the film's enjoyability, along with some spectacular mountain scenery. While no masterpiece, it's a good, satisfying western with a catchy little ditty sung by, of all people, Stewart. Check it out.

this is a terrific film with a terrific cast and an outstanding score by dmitri tiomkin who composed for many films, many of them western: high noon, the alamo.. the film tells of two brothers, one honest, one outlaw, who separate and cross paths later, on both sides of the law..one look at the cast and you know who's what..the plot is somewhat moralistic, as it includes a juvenile who is shown the right and wrong paths in life..today, it would be cliche: no gratuitous gore, sex, language, chases, crashes and few screams..i guess this is what would be known as an adult film, because only adults (who remember these actors) would appreciate how things were done in the '50s..and more's the pity; in those days, less was more..an audience could enjoy one gunshot, one smile, one look and not get as bored as audiences do today when they see schwarzenegger, stallone, seagal, norris, etc., then ask gee, i wonder what he'll do next time that's better? even in the '50s, many films had class, today, it's all kitsch and glitz..thank god films last forever..

Without Anthony Mann to deliver the goods, one would expect "Night Passage" to be a flop under the direction of the TV-oriented James Neilson. Quite the contrary is the case. This is one of the best westerns of the 50's. Audie Murphy, continually underrated by the Hollywood big wigs, turns in his best performance ever, even better than in the more touted "The Red Badge of Courage" or in "To Hell and Back" in which he plays himself. One senses that he is actually portraying himself more in "Night Passage" than in his autobiographical film. He is up against stiff competition and more than takes care of himself. James Stewart is fine as always and his accordion playing is above average. Hell, even his singing isn't all that bad. Some entertainers with less musical talent have built careers for themselves in the record industry. Dan Duryea gives an over the top rendition of gang leader Whitey Harbin, which isn't bad, just different for the gifted actor. The only one wasted in the picture is the fabulous Jack Elam, given only a minor character role with no place to go with it. The rest of the cast, including Hugh Beaumont, aka Ward Cleaver, strut their stuff, including the two women, Dianne Foster and Elaine Stewart. Brandon De Wilde is still playing his Joey Starrett part from "Shane." The viewer can almost hear him yelling, "Shane! Come back, Shane!"

The script by Borden Chase from a story by Norman Fox is a fairly predictable one, reminiscent in some ways of the more complex one Chase wrote for the Stewart/Mann masterpiece, "Winchester '73." Grant McLaine (Stewart) wants his old railroad job back. He's provided the opportunity by doing a job for the railroad, personally carrying the payroll to the workers at the end of the track to prevent Whitey and his gang from stealing it as they were in the habit of doing on a regular basis. There is a conflict of interest though since a gun riding with the Whitey gang is The Utica Kid (Murphy) with whom McLaine has a private connection. Unable to find the payroll, Whitey and his gang kidnap the wife of railroad tycoon, Ben Kimball (Jay C. Flippen), holding her until the payroll is turned over to them. The title "Night Passage" concerns not only the action that takes place in the night between McLaine and the gang but also the personal transactions that occur among the assorted characters involved in the resolution of the story.

Another asset for "Night Passage" is the cinematography zeroing in on the beautiful Colorado landscape around Durango. The Narrow Gauge Railroad train ride from Durango to Silverton is available for tourists to see the topography first hand. The El Rio de las Animas Perdidas (The River of Lost Souls), called the Animas River by most, is indeed a site to behold.

This is the Western that director Anthony Mann backed away from, claiming that the script was too weak. Was he justified in doing so? How does "Night Passage" measure up when compared with the Mann Westerns? Is it as good?

Let's look at the positives first. The scenery, filmed in the Colorado Rockies, is magnificent, on a par with the best of Mann's Westerns. As for action, there is plenty of it, climaxed with a great shootout. The cast is experienced, many of them veterans from previous Mann efforts. No big difference here.

Audie Murphy stands tall as the Utica Kid. He is introduced to the screen dramatically, framed against the sky dressed all in black as he pulls up his horse to look down upon the train that will soon be relieved of its precious cargo. Back at the outlaw hideaway, he sits back in quiet amusement as he goads mercurial boss Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea), knowing how far he can push and when to back away. Definitely the most interesting character.

However, "Night Passage" falls down in two very important areas, the treatment of the leading man and the strength of the overall script.

Mann's heroes are emotionally scarred, bordering on hysteria and total breakdown before finally getting the upper hand. James Stewart's Grant McLaine never comes close to reaching that point, even though he has plenty of things to fret about; his brother is an outlaw, he lost his job with the railroad after helping his brother escape and he can't find another job. He contents himself playing the accordion and singing for small change and we can never really get the feel of his deep resentment.

Mann's Westerns are lean and taut, with no superfluous dialog and no wasted scenes. Director James Nielson, on the other hand, gets sidetracked, allowing himself to engage in the kind of tomfoolery that director John Ford was sometimes wont to do. At the railroad camp, workers, who we never see working, dance to McLaine's accordion playing until that degrades into a wild free-for-all. Ford could pull off this kind of thing; Nielson is less successful.

To sum up and answer the question, this Western doesn't quite measure up to those of Mann's, but it's not bad either. It can be enjoyed as entertainment as long as one doesn't look for great character depth. Whether Anthony Mann could have made it something more will forever be a matter of conjecture.