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When Jesse James came out in 1939, the player that got the best reviews for that film was Henry Fonda who played the laconic older brother Frank. His reviews were so outstanding that it was almost a public demand that a sequel be done.

It almost didn't get done because instead of Henry King who directed Jesse James, Darryl F. Zanuck assigned Fritz Lang. Henry Fonda hated the man, he was a sadistic bully on the set and even though he directed Fonda to a great performance in You Only Live Once, Fonda hated every second on that set.

Fonda tells in his autobiography that he and Lang sat down prior to shooting and Lang agreed to tone his behavior down. But the same thing happened as on You Only Live Once. And Fonda dutifully finished the film.

Though he hated the experience Fonda was on the mark again as Frank James. What The Return of Frank James lacks in truth it makes up for in capturing the spirit of the times in the post Civil border state of Missouri and why the James Brothers were regarded as heroes by some.

In addition to Fonda, John Carradine, Charles Tannen, Ernest Whitman, Donald Meek, Henry Hull, George Chandler and J. Edward Bromberg repeat their roles from Jesse James so continuity is assured. Bromberg as the railroad detective who basically plans an assassination for Jesse James in that film and tries again to Fonda in this film particularly stands out.

So does Henry Hull as the newspaper editor/lawyer who was a very colorful character in both films, dictating the same editorial at whatever group or individual he doesn't like at the moment. His patented formula is to "shoot 'em down like dogs."

If you liked Jesse James and I think more than western fans liked that film, no reason you shouldn't like The Return of Frank James.

The sequel to the previous year's "Jesse James" (1939), "The Return of Frank James" is a perfectly entertaining, fast-moving Western that is historically important for two reasons: It was director Fritz Lang's first picture to be shot in color, and it served as the setting for the debut of one of Hollywood's most beloved actresses, Gene Tierney. In her 1979 autobiography "Self-Portrait," Gene tells us that Fox Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck had seen her performing on Broadway in 1940 in "The Male Animal," and immediately offered her a contract. After a previous stalled career in Hollywood, however, Gene--and her family--managed to finagle an unusually liberal deal from the studio chief: $750 a week, with a raise every six months, and the freedom to return to Broadway for half the year (an option that Gene never took advantage of), AND the right to make no changes to her hair or (soon-to-be-famous) teeth. In her first film for Fox, 20-year-old Gene played the role of Eleanor Stone, a liberated woman and nascent reporter on the Denver Star newspaper of 1882. She is duped by Frank James (Henry Fonda) and his sidekick Clem (Jackie Cooper, who had grown up a LOT since playing the role of kids a mere 10 years before, in films such as 1931's "The Champ") into writing a false story of the outlaw's demise, so that he might more easily track down the Ford brothers (John Carradine and Charles Tanner), who had just shot Jesse in the back and gotten away with it. Gene is excellent in her ingenue role, fresh faced and dewy eyed, and hardly deserving of Harvard Lampoon's "The Worst Female Discovery of 1940" citation.

As for the rest of the film, it is nicely shot and filled with amusing characters and situations. Besides Fonda and Carradine, Donald Meek returns in this sequel (a bit tougher than usual, as the conniving railroad man McCoy), as does Henry Hull (almost stealing the show as Frank's buddy Major Rufus Cobb). The film contains surprisingly little action per se, although a horse chase through the Rockies and resultant gunfight, coming at the picture's midpoint, are very well executed. Fonda, who had worked with Lang before, in 1937's "You Only Live Once," is very fine here as Frank James: sympathetic, cool and tough; a reformed badman with a conscience, and perhaps only 1/100th as nasty as he would be 30 years or so later, playing another Frank, in Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." Tierney, apparently, absolutely adored working with Fonda, especially after he defended her against the director. As Tierney reveals in her book, she had the unfortunate habit of keeping her mouth slightly parted when she wasn't speaking (an adorable habit, sez me!), and Lang chastised her severely for it, yelling "You little bitch! When you have no lines, keep your mouth shut!" Little could Lang know that that mouth and those teeth would soon make Gene one of THE preeminent screen goddesses of the 1940s! Anyway, although "The Return of Frank James" has been faulted elsewhere for its many historical inaccuracies, it remains a fun enough diversion. Capped off by one of the most amusing trial scenes since The Three Stooges' "Disorder in the Court," the film is perfect for all ages, and most especially, of course, for fans of Miss Gene Tierney....

The Return of Frank James (1940)

The Western is back, as of 1939 when four big ones were released, including John Ford's "Stagecoach" with John Wayne, which has lasting critical acclaim, and also "Jesse James" which was the fourth largest moneymaker for that blockbuster year. Maybe it was the war breaking out in Europe, or just a realization that if you lifted a Western from its usual B-movie status the public would respond. Henry Fonda starred as Frank James in that one, and so this is really a sequel with the same chronology and feel as the first one. It is clearly A-list movie material with genuine Technicolor, a year after "Jesse James," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Gone with the Wind" had all made clear Technicolor was no passing gimmick.

Frank James is now out to seek the killers of the more famous outlaw. The fact we are rooting for the renegade through his surviving brother is slightly odd--the anti-hero or negative stereotype as protagonist wasn't really respectable (or possible) until the 1960s, full fledged. Jesse James was a brave Civil War guerrilla fighter but he became an uncommonly violent criminal and murderer after the war. Frank James was probably as ruthless and bad (he was part of the same gang), but after the death of Jesse he escaped prison (in real life) and lived into the Twentieth Century.

In this movie, Frank is not portrayed as a bad person. He just wants his brother's killers dead. And Henry Fonda is a kind of low key, determined fellow throughout. We naturally run into the standard assortment of types that are almost required in period Westerns--drunks and sheriffs and pretty girls out of place in this rough manly world. And there are shoot outs and a court trial and so on.

Of all people to approach this genre, and in color, you'd least expect Fritz Lang, the recent émigré with "Metropolis" and "M" and "Fury" all in his portfolio. He gets rising star Henry Fonda in the loner lead for this sequel, naturally, and Fonda is the meat of it, really terrific (in an echo, actually, of the loner lead in John Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" in the same year). And then there's Gene Tierney playing a pseudo-reporter in her very first film role, showing early on that she is mostly a pretty face, but a decent actress at least. There are other great character actors (like John Carradine, fresh off of "Stagecoach" as well as "Jesse James") but specially notable (to me) is the African-American farm hand Ernest Whitman, who has to suffer from some awful stereotyping, but who is malleable and likable (and turns a verbal mistake into a catchy little song without a hitch).

I love Lang's movies, even his weaker ones, and I really think he didn't quite "get" what a Western was about the way Ford did in the same period. It becomes something like a Hollywood drama that happens to be set in this post Civil War place west of the Mississippi. The stereotypes and archetypes are in play, but he misses the combination of grit and certitude that is part of the scene. Even Fonda comes across as slightly underplayed, a rather nice fellow who just happens to be out for blood.

The photography is strong and vivid even though trapped to some extent on being "pretty" because of the rich color and beautiful scenery and by the bright lights so often used to blast the scenes for the tri-pack film. And then there is the ridiculous plasticity of the facts--most of what happens in the movie didn't happen at all in real life. Everyone is really just cashing in on the folk hero status of this killer, and on the success of "Jesse James" the movie the year before.

Thanks to the terrific cast and photography, this story makes a terrific western. Henry Hull is terrific as major Cobb, who expresses justified Southern outrage over the depradations of the carpetbaggers and the railroads. Despite the ignorant comments of some who dare to make a ludicrous comparison to fascism, what we get here is an honest expression of southern feelings. Yes, there was a condesencion toward blacks then, but let film show it as it was, let's not try to rewrite history or create a pleasing fiction as all too many modern films do. 'Shoot em down like dogs??!' I would dearly love to see Major Cobb in a modern day courtroom, giving fire and damnation to the lawyers and other parasites that hide behind suits and ties! This is a real satisfying film and Gene Tierney never looked better.

Don't allow the fact that this film is pure fiction (aside from the murder of Jesse by Robert Ford) to mar your enjoyment of it as a bang-up good revenge western. Just as in JESSE JAMES, the writers here preferred to stick to the things that never happened! There is plenty of truth in the background, though, depicting the rapaciousness of the burgeoning railroad industry and the yankee carpetbaggers. As to what really happened to Frank and Bob, the facts about Bob are just as dramatic as the fiction of this film. Frank did retire from crime, surrendered to the law after Jesse's murder and was either never charged, or was acquitted of complicity in Jesse's many crimes. He tried various things, including farming, and a short stint as a "floor walker" in Sanger Brothers department store in Dallas, Texas. Apparently he died with his boots "off". "Little Robert Ford" did go into show business, dramatizing how he shot down the dangerous outlaw bravely in a showdown gunfight(!). Eventually, he wound up as the owner of a saloon in Creed, Colorado. Here he was murdered much the same way he had murdered Jesse (in the back) by a man who held a grudge against him. Some say the man did it in revenge for Jesse's murder, but that is likely just speculation. Gene Tierney and the scenery are beautifully photographed in gorgeous technicolor throughout.

The sequel to the immensely popular "Jesse James" (1939) as helmed by director Fritz Lang, finds Henry Fonda reprising his performance as Frank James in an entertaining,but routine revenge western.Also from the earlier cast we have Henry Hull,J.Edward Bromberg,John Carradine and Donald Meek.Jackie Cooper as Fonda's sidekick and the beautiful Gene Tierney are nice additions to the cast.Shot in subdued Technicolor,the movie has some nice outdoor visuals.Although not as good as the previous movie,it has its memorable moments:Frank James catching up with his brother's murderers performing a highly theatrical reenactment of Jesse's killing and the final shootout in the stable are the movie's highlights for me.

The first western directed by Fritz Lang and it wouldn't be his last. Henry Fonda returns as Frank James and so do several other cast members like John Carradine and Henry Hull. There is a new cast member played by Jackie Cooper who is playing Jesse James grown up kid. This one starts out with Frank wanting to give up bank robbing until he hears about Jesse getting killed and then going after the Ford brothers who killed him. The Ford brothers, by the way, are putting on a show about how they killed Jesse.

Frank doesn't have that much money so he decides to rob a bank and a man is killed by the posse but they think Frank did it. There's more to the plot by you can find that out for yourself. This is Gene Tierney's first film and in this movie Frank had to avenge Jesse's murder without actually killing anyone himself, do to the strictures of the censors.

Classic Western with very good cast , dealing with a relentless vengeance . Spectacular as well as exciting Western talks the life of Frank James , Jesse James's brother , who is the most colourful bandit who ever lived and both of whom rank with Billy the Kid as the most famous of Western outlaws . This is a slight and intelligent biopic about Frank James , featuring notorious interpretations by a popular group of known stars . Legend and folklore have cast them as modern Robin Hoods , good boys forced by circumstances to follow a criminal life . Jesse and his brother Frank joined the Confederate guerrillas of Quantrill and learned to kill in ruthless company . It is believed that took part in their first robbery in 1866 when a dozen men held up the bank in Liberty , Missouri . Jesse (Tyrone Power , who appears on the opening sequence showing his death from the final of the previous movie) , Frank and the Younger carry out a lot of hold-ups and attacks , as they move from Civil War to their territory becoming into semi-legends . So James Brothers wielding their six-guns commence to robbin' banks and trains to help out the poor folks who been done wrong . Pinkerton detectives were contracted to chase Jesse and Frank , the agents surrounded the home , believing they to be there , tossed a bomb and the explosion killed Jesse's young half-brother . As their fame grows , so will the legend of their leaders , a young outlaw by the name of Jesse James and his brother Frank James . On 1876 Jesse and Frank in company the three Younger Brothers , attempted a bank robbery at Northfield , Minnnesota , and walked in disaster . At the end , Jesse is betrayed by the Ford brothers , Charlie and dirty little coward Bob (John Carradine) . As the killer and his cohorts are eventually rounded up, but are pardoned due to political intervention . Brother Frank attempts to go straight , but eventually the happenings go awry . The picture provides a good portrait of Frank James who along with a very young headstrong Jackie Cooper set out in pursuit the Ford Brothers to seek his own form of justice . In the course of his revenge , Frank will become the object of the biggest manhunt in the history of the Old West . Along the way , Frank courts attractive young Eastern journalist (Gene Tierney film debut) who wishes to write James's true story to the world .

This is a sprawling and glamorous Western with first-rate Technicolor cinematography and excellent performances from Henry Fonda and Jackie Cooper . The film gets spectacular shoot em'up , thrills , fast as well as fierce action , exciting horse pursuits and many other things . Packs colorful scenarios , moving pace and slick edition . This is one of the strange occasions in the cinema history when a follow-up results to be as good as the original . Interesting and thrilling script by scenarist Sam Hellman . This is a decent look about the known story of the West's greatest bandits with acceptable interpretations and compelling direction creating some good action scenes . The yarn shows nice as well as impressive frames , breathtaking go riding and wonderful outdoors . The studio bought the rights to the James Brothers but changed the facts for entertainment . Although Frank surrendered 6 months after Jesse James' murder, both Ford brothers were already dead and Frank had nothing to do with their deaths . Magnificent acting by Henry Fonda as an authoritative but likable outlaw become a peaceful farmer when he takes his pistols to carry out a merciless vendetta . Support cast is frankly good such as Henry Hull , John Carradine , J Edward Bromberg , Donald Meek and Jackie Cooper gives an intensely sympathetic portrayal as an amiable young . Taut excitement throughout , beautifully cinematographed by George Barnes and W. Howard Greene , both of them photographed former film . The picture lavishly produced by Darryl F Zanuck was based on actual events and stunningly realized by Fritz Lang . The film is splendid and original , despite being a sequel , the reason lies mostly in the filmmaking by master craftsman Lang . Fritz directed masterfully all kind of genres such as Noir cinema as ¨Big heat¨ , ¨Scarlet Street¨ , ¨Cloak and Dagger¨ , ¨Beyond a reasonable doubt¨ , Drama as ¨Human desire¨, ¨You only lives twice¨, ¨Ministry of fear¨, Epic as ¨Siegfred¨, Sci-fi as ¨Woman in the moon¨, ¨Metropolis¨, suspense as ¨Secret beyond the door¨, ¨Clash by night¨ , Wartime as ¨Man hunt¨ , ¨Hangmen also die¨ and Western as ¨Rancho Notorious¨ , ¨Western Union¨ and ¨Return of Frank James¨

Other films about these legendary outlaws , Frank and Jesse , are : ¨I shot Jesse James¨ by Samuel Fuller with John Ireland as Bob Ford ; ¨Jesse James vs the Dalton (1954)¨ by William Castle with John Ireland . ¨The true story of Jesse James¨ (1957) by Nicholas Ray with Robert Wagner , Jeffrey Hunter , Hope Lange , Agnes Moorehead ; in which footage from the original 1939 production was used when Frank and Jesse go over a cliff on horseback into a river and when they crashed , on horseback, through a store window during the "Northfield Minnesota Raid" . And contemporary-style Western such as ¨Frank and Jesse¨ by Robert Boris with Rob Lowe as Jesse James , Bill Paxton as Frank James and Randy Travis as Younger ; ¨American outlaws¨ by Les Mayfield with Colin Farrell , Gabriel Macht , Terry O'Quinn , Harris Yulin and Ali Larter ; and ¨The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford¨ (2007) by Andrew Dominik with Brad Pitt , Sam Shepard , Mary Louise Parker , Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell.

"The Return of Frank James" has a nice script, beautiful costumes, an accurate photography in gorgeous technicolor. Perhaps a further pair of gun-fights would be desirable: gun-fights in a western movie are like salt in the food. The film has a peculiar interest for cinephiles, since here the great director Fritz Lang confronts himself with the western genre for the first time. I think he makes a good job, even if does not seem completely at his home. Moreover we have the usual Henry Fonda's charisma and... OK... the main reason why I am interested in the movie is the presence of Gene Tierney at the very beginning of her career. I must confess that here her legendary beauty is still a bit unripe... let's say that Venus has just come out of the shell. No fear: within one year or two our eyes will rest on the highest beauty in movie history (in history at all, I dare say).

THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES (20th Century-Fox, 1940), directed by Fritz Lang, is a continuation to the 1939 blockbuster hit JESSE JAMES (1939) starring Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda as the outlaw James brothers. Repeating its opening and closing credit score conducted for JESSE JAMES, along with its Technicolor splendor and location filming that served the earlier film so well, FRANK JAMES elevates Fonda from secondary character to top draw leading attraction. While this extension might have reused the services of JESSE JAMES director Henry King, it comes of a surprise in having, not Howard Hawks or John Ford whose best films happen to be westerns, but the European born Fritz Lang. Yet, under his watch, the result of THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES is every bit as good as the original.

The fade-in begins with the closing minutes of JESSE JAMES where the wanted outlaw (Tyrone Power) gets shot in the back by his friend, Bob Ford (John Carradine) as his brother, Charlie (Charles Tannen) watches. Eliminating the eulogy given by Rufus Cobb (Henry Hull) that closed the original film, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES opens its new chapter with newspaper headlines depicting the death of the notorious outlaw, and the disappearance of his brother, Frank James, after the Northfield robbery, now believed to be dead. Frank (Henry Fonda), however, isn't dead, but living a secluded farm life in the Ozarks under an assumed name of Ben Woodson. He's accompanied by the family farmhand, Pinky Washington (Ernest Whitman), and Clem (Jackie Cooper), an orphan teenager whom Frank had taken in following the death of his father. It is Clem who runs over to Frank with the news about Jesse James murder and the arrest of the Ford brothers. After learning the Fords were set free from the judge a half hour of the guilty verdict from the jurors, and having collected the $10,000 reward on Jesse, dead or alive, Frank breaks from his seclusion to take the law into his own hands by avenging his brother's killers. Along the way Frank and Clem, now acting as his tag-along sidekick, encounter Eleanor Stone (Gene Tierney), a reporter for the Denver Star, hoping for a good story or else her father Randolph (Lloyd Corrigan), owner of the newspaper, would send her off to college instead.

Aside from the tobacco chewing Henry Fonda playing Frank James, others reprising their original roles from JESSE JAMES include the ever reliable Henry Hull (Major Rufus Cobb, editor of the Liberty Weekly Gazette still using the catch phrase, "Shoot them down like dogs"); J. Edward Bromberg (George Runyan, the railroad detective out to expose Ben Woodson as Frank James); Donald Meek (McCoy, the railroad president responsible for having the Ford brothers betray their leader, Jesse, and arranging for their pardon); and George Chandler(Roy, Cobb's typesetter). New members of the cast include George Barbier (Judge Ferris); Eddie Collins (The Station Agent); Barbara Pepper (Nellie Blane, stage actress); and Victor Kilian (The Fanatic Preacher).

For Gene Tierney's movie debut, she gets no special introduction in the credits. Only her name comes billed second under Henry Fonda, which is an honor for any newcomer. A dark beauty with girlish sounding voice reminiscent in both factors to an early 1930s actress, Sidney Fox (best known for 1932s "Murders in the Rue Morgue"), Tierney doesn't play a love interest but one interested in reporting the news that's fit to print. She does quite well in her first try as a movie actress, and would improve with each succeeding movie before reaching her peak with LAURA (20th Century-Fox, 1944).

As with JESSE JAMES, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES, with original screenplay by Sam Hellman, toys with the facts, resulting to better screen entertainment. While the first hour depicts on Frank's vengeance on the Ford brothers, with a tense moment having the Fords acting on a stage play "The Death of Jesse James" observe Frank sitting in the theater box looking down at them, the second half shifts to courtroom proceedings with Frank accused of a murder and Major Cobb acting as his defendant. Though Fritz Lang may have avoided borrowing from Henry King's directorial style from JESSE JAMES, interestingly, the courtroom segment comes as a sheer reminder to John Ford's YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (1939) also starring Henry Fonda, by using humor over tense action for the proceedings. Like King, Lang keeps the pace moving with exciting horseback chases and shootouts, something very much expected for any western.

Though the second and last of the Frank and Jesse James westerns for the studio, this wasn't the last depiction on their lives presented on screen. Lippert Studios independently produced two totally different adaptations, I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) and THE RETURN OF JESSE JAMES (1950), with the latter co-starring Henry Hull in a different character portrayal. Other numerous westerns on the Jesse and Frank James would follow for many years to come.

Distributed to home video and later DVD, THE RETURN OF FRANK JAMES consisted of cable TV broadcasts as Turner Network Television (1994-95); American Movie Classics (1999-2005); Fox Movie Channel, Encore Westerns, Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 27, 2012), among others. With this much television exposure, Frank James should become more legendary than his kid brother, Jesse. (***1/2)

As movies evolved into the sound era, a problem began to slowly emerge. While the length of most mainstream films settled in to be around 100 minutes, it became apparent that more dense or complex stories did not work effectively when constrained to that time limit. Filmmakers were faced with having to decide either to make some films longer----Gone With The Wind is a good example. Or another possibility was to make the movie into multiple parts, and release it as a series in free standing sections. An example of that idea is Marcel Pagnol's famous Marseilles/Fanny Trilogy of the 1930s from France, ultimately released as three separate full length films.

This situation has persisted for many years up to the present. We now have very long films (e.g. 1900, with a length of 311 minutes per Leonard Maltin) and very long trilogies that tell one story in multiple fragments (e.g. Lord of the Rings, that clocks in at three segments of 178 minutes, 200 minutes and 179 minutes respectively).

What is a sequel? Webster's New World Dictionary's first definition of the term is "something that follows; anything subsequent or succeeding; continuation." Are parts of the same story that appear in movies released in chronological order sequels? Is Godfather II a sequel to Godfather I, when at one time both were edited into a single film called The Godfather Saga?

This takes us to The Return Of Frank James (TROFJ). It would seem that this film is similar to Godfather II in that many of the characters are common to the earlier movie and the narrative of the later film seems to be an extension of the previous one.

As for TROFJ on its own merits, the film is entertaining, enjoyable and an absorbing work of fiction masquerading as fact---much like the prior Jesse James. It was an important early success for Henry Fonda and introduced the lovely overbite of young Gene Tierney to a welcoming audience. While it did little to enhance Fritz Lang's artistic career, TROFJ showed his versatility by embracing the American Western film genre in a wholly satisfactory manner. For its many virtues, TROFJ deserves a level of respect and admiration consistent with the abundant talent of those who made it.

You should know before I go further that I have a strong prejudice against movies about the James Brothers and other 'heroic' criminals of the old west. Much of it is because they are bad history--making very minor characters far more important and heroic than they really were. Second, the studios almost always play fast and loose with the facts--something that makes history teachers like me have migraines.

Why, then did I bother to see this film if I assumed I'd hate it? Well, it was directed by Fritz Lang--that's enough reason to see it. But it also stars Henry Fonda--and I'd watch him in anything.

This film begins around the same time Jesse James was killed. It concerns his brother, Frank, and his actions following this death. Unfortunately, most of what you see never actually occurred--and Frank played no part in the deaths of the Ford Brothers--none. In fact, Frank gave himself up, was tried for some of his crimes (and acquitted) and retired to a relatively normal life. 'Frankly', I'd love to see a film about this--about the many odd jobs he did and the things he did after retirement--but I also doubt if the public would really care! I guess the truth just isn't very interesting in most cases.

So, it's obvious that the plot was almost complete crap. What did I think about the film otherwise? Well, it was pretty to see--being in Technicolor. And Fonda's performance was nice--as usual. In fact the entire film is competent--just nearly all wrong! This actually makes one scene in the movie VERY ironic--and funny. Frank is enjoying a play when suddenly out come two actors pretending to be him and Jesse--and, naturally, the two actors are doing things the James' never did! I'm pretty sure the studio didn't see this as ironic or funny.

By the way, at the 41 minute mark you see a couple horses make some horrifically bad falls. Sadly, to get this wonderful effect, the studios would actually use trip wires (like piano wire) to make the horses fall--and often the horses would break their legs and need to be euthanized! Fortunately this practice was later abandoned when bad publicity for this cruel thing brought this to light.

Return of Frank James, The (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Fritz Lang directed this sequel to Jesse James, which picks up right after the Ford Brothers shot Jesse in the back. Hearing that the brothers got off with murder, Frank (Henry Fonda) comes out of retirement to seek revenge. This film isn't quite as good as the original but it's still a very worthy follow up with strong direction and some really good performances. Fonda is good as usual but it's Henry Hull who steals the show as the grumpy newspaper owner. John Carradine, Gene Tierney and Jackie Cooper are all equally impressive. The ending is terrific but I personally thought the courtroom scene went a little too over the top in the comedy.

In a "Jesse James" (1939) recap, cowardly John Carradine (as Bob Ford) shoots handsome Tyrone Power (un-credited as Jesse James) in the back. In this sequel, the outlaw hero's tobacco-spitting brother Henry Fonda (as Frank James) is understandably miffed. Basically a peace-loving man, Mr. Fonda expects the captured killer to be executed. But, when Mr. Carradine and his brother are unexpectedly pardoned, Fonda must take the law into his own hands. Fatherly Fonda leaves his quiet farm in the care of adopted teenage partner Jackie Cooper (as Clem) and slavish Ernest Whitman (as "Pinky" Washington)...

Unable to keep Mr. Cooper down on the farm, Fonda reluctantly allows him to tag along. Assuming the alter egos "Ben Woodson" and "Tom Grayson", the dynamic duo spread a story about witnessing the death of Frank James, believing this will lure the Ford brothers out of hiding. In her first movie, pretty "Denver Star" reporter Gene Tierney (as Eleanor Stone) gets the word out. This successful sequel features great colorful photography by George Barnes. It's very nicely directed by Fritz Lang. The subservient, superstitious and mentally challenged "darkies" (as they are called herein) may have missed the emancipation.

****** The Return of Frank James (8/10/40) Fritz Lang ~ Henry Fonda, Jackie Cooper, Gene Tierney, Henry Hull

The history here is as high wide and as fantastically inaccurate as the best screen writers in old Hollywood could invent. In it's day it was a sequel to the previous years big hit, the glossy biopic western "Jesse James", back by public demand too was that superb statue of dignified righteousness the legendary Henry Fonda reprising his role as the famous outlaw's brother "Frank James" and most excellent he is to in the pictures starring role. The movie is completely fictitious other than with the odd detail, such as the Fords really did reenact the famous killing on the stage. This is from the golden era of the Hollywood production machine and production values are simply superb, glorious technicolor, fabulous outdoor hard riding action, as with all films of the era the story is framed to please everyone, so there is the royal side kick the token beautiful woman given a sizeable part to please the woman's picture market, and some whimsy good humour, added to give the film wider appeal. Yes there something for everyone, including fans of the western gender. It is dated to watch today, in interesting ways, the casual racism most striking along with heavy racial stereo typing, but also in the use of hobby horse riders in needless close ups during hard riding chase sequences, these do grind a little but overall this is a very polished and expertly constructed movie that is shamelessly romantic not just of the old wild west era but of the Southern cause as well, all helm-ed expertly by the Austrian-Hungarian exile Fritz Lang who certainly knew how to deliver a good movie, In all this is a very solid entertainment and a great example of the Hollywood studio system of long ago.

'The Return of Frank James' is sequel to 'Jesse James' where Henry Fonda reprises his role as Frank. The film follows Frank's life after his brother Jesse is killed by the Ford brothers, and his chase of cowardice gunslingers. John Carradine (probably one of the greatest coward in Western history) again plays Bob Ford, and these two great players are supported by magnificent cast - Gene Tierney in her first film role, Henry Hull and Jackie Cooper.

Visually striking (like one can expect from Lang movie), but substantially shallow, and historically incorrect, but whole lot of fun. This film is probably one of the best examples of mindless popcorn movies of 1940's. But it also proved that lighthearted westerns were not Fritz Lang's strongest genre.

A mixed bag here, with some fine cinematography and lead acting by Henry Fonda, honing up his taciturnity for its zenith in "My Darling Clementine" let down by some poor supporting acting from Gene Tierney (too soft-soap bland), Henry Hull (so over the top you wonder if Bugs Bunny's animators adapted him as the prototype for Yosemite Sam) and Jackie Cooper, (too old and goshdarn winsome for his part as Jesse's adolescent son) and worst of all a stereotyping of negroes which would have put "Gone with the Wind" to shame - we even get the word "darky" jarringly shoved in our faces twice. That the plot veers so drastically from the truth also mars believability not to mention credibility. Maestro Lang seems to me let down by some poor second unit work - there are some poor horse-riding process shots and an awful "dummy death down a cliff" and yet the landscapes are on a par with Ford and Mann and the action scenes have zip. I believe this was Fritz Lang's first Western outing and I think it shows. I prefer his film - noir work where he could more employ his expressionistic genius but this colourful potboiler entertains enough.

I do not know if this is true or not, but I heard from someone that in order to make Grapes of Wrath, which he really wanted to do, Fonda had to make Jesse James, which he did'nt really want to do, because they were on the same contract, and any sequels or prequels to that. But it does'nt really matter if Fonda did not want to do Jesse James or Return of Frank James, because he has such a great acting ability, which he displays on screen. I think this one is superior to Jesse James for many reasons, all of which are hard to explain. Cooper turns in a worthy role as Frank's sidekick, Clem. But don't you think that the African-American servant is kind of silly? Some people say that Carradine is not a good villain, but when that happens, just refer to McCoy and Co. to fill in that role. I love Henry Hull's character, especially his rantings and ravings in the courthouse, and also his rantings and ravings while he paces up and down the floor of his newspaper office. There isn't very many people that he does not think should be taken out and shot down like a dog, is there?

Some things in cinema never seem to change. The cash-in sequel is one of them. Fox's 1939 Production of Jesse James was an almost perfectly constructed example of that rare thing – a Western drama. Sure, it had an appropriate amount of action and cowboy business, but it also granted depth and humanity to its characters, giving as much weight to its intimate moments as its rip-roaring ones. In contrast, The Return of Frank James is a hearty cliché-fest, cheaply made and with an uncomplicated script by the disappointingly un-prestigious Sam Hellman.

The director here is Fritz Lang, a man now best remembered for his starkly Germanic silent pictures, and the poverty row noir thrillers he made later on. A heroic Western would seem to be the absolute antithesis of his comfort zone. But there was another Fritz Lang, one of carefree, comic-book adventure, who made pictures like The Spiders, Frau im Mond and The Tiger of Eschnapur. True to the simplistic material, Lang shoots the action scenes with an emphasis on pace and excitement. And yet you can recognise his outsider's approach to the genre. Rather than showing off the vastness and beauty of the old west, he presents it as a harsh, almost alien terrain, full of barren mountains and spiky trees. But this doesn't come across as a cynical rejection of the romanticism of the frontier – after all he still draws attention to natural beauty in the scenes at the farm. It seems more the case that Lang wishes to show the west as a perilous landscape, making the adventure more frantic and the danger more genuine.

You might also expect a director like Fritz Lang, whose shot composition was all about piercing shadows and swathes of grey, to struggle on his first Technicolor assignment. However Lang makes brilliantly restrained and practical use of colour, and really its no wonder since he pays such attention to detail in his shot compositions. In the first few scenes he strictly limits himself to a scheme of yellows and greys. Then, when Henry Fonda realises it's time to hunt down the Fords, we are suddenly jolted by a close-up of his gun wrapped in a bold red cloth. Throughout the picture Lang uses colour schemes to give mood and tone to each location, and even help define character. In the scene where Gene Tierney's character is first introduced, she is wearing a grey and maroon outfit that blends in with the plush décor of the hotel parlour.

As with many directors with a strong visual style, Lang's Achilles heel was getting the best out of his actors. Lang seems to have had a particular fondness for hams and hamminess, and does not seem to have encouraged naturalism. The camera seems to linger longer than strictly necessary on the cartoonish comedy business of Henry Hull and Ernest Whitman. Henry Fonda seems barely interested and does little more than recite his lines. Gene Tierney is rather feeble, although to be fair this is her screen debut. Jackie Cooper is merely average. To be fair though, the screenplay doesn't really give any of the leads a chance to show off their dramatic skills. On the other hand, John Carradine, who for a primary villain has a bizarrely small part with virtually no dialogue, is nevertheless at his dastardly best, and effectively menacing in his wordless appearance at the end of the court scene.

Lang by now had a reputation as a tyrant on the set and a pain to producers, and as such he was now being passed from studio to studio and assigned second rate projects like this. And while he clearly had respect for the American motion picture, he had become and would remain a Hollywood misfit. I suspect Henry Hull's constantly referring to Frank James' gun as a "weepon" may even have been a cheeky joke at the expense of Lang, who might have unknowingly been making the same mispronunciation. And yet it is really only Lang's odd yet innocently enthusiastic take on the Western that gives The Return of Frank James character, and make it at all worth watching today.

Henry Fonda vowed never to work with Fritz Lang again after his experience with him in August 1940's "The Return of Frank James." The actor, nicknamed 'One-Take Fonda' for his ability to knock out a scene in one take through his meticulous rehearsals, was coming off a string of immensely popular pictures, almost unprecedented in Hollywood. But working under the former German director's great attention to detail, Fonda became increasingly frustrated by Lang's scrupulous habits on the set. Lang was an odd choice for 20th Century Fox to direct his third Hollywood movie. Leaving Germany in 1933 after Adolf Hitler's rise in power, the director was totally unfamiliar with the heritage of the Old West. But Lang rationalized his selection in the Frank James film during a 1959 interview, saying Westerns are "based on a very simple and essential ethical code. Even with Shakespeare the moral is simple. The struggle of good against evil is as old as the world."

His deliberate and methodical style of directing is seen in "The Return of Frank James," a sequel to the Henry King-directed 1939 "Jesse James." The follow-up movie begins where the previous one left off, showing Jesse, played by Tyron Power, shot in the back while hanging a picture in his living room by friend Bob Ford (John Carradine) and his brother Charlie (Charles Tannen). After his brother is killed, Frank James retreats secretly to a farm where his farmhands are the son of a former gang member, Clem (Jackie Cooper), and Pinky (Ernest Whitman). At first Frank is happy at the thought justice will be served by the Ford's conviction of his brother's murder-until he hears they've been pardoned and released. He becomes so upset he embarks on a vendetta seeking revenge.

Even though the movie uses names of real characters, "The Return of Frank James" plays loose with the facts. The real Frank James turned himself in to the governor of Missouri five months after his brother's death. He was tried for only two robberies and murders, and acquitted. He lived with his mother in Oklahoma and worked a series of jobs, including as a theatre ticket taker and a lecturer, spinning yarns about his adventures, dying in 1915. None of this appears in the "Jesse James" sequel, where he meets the daughter of a Denver newspaper owner, aspiring reporter Eleanor Stone (Gene Tierney). While Frank is chasing the Fords, Clem concocts a story overheard by bar patrons about his death in Texas, amplified when Eleanor interviews Frank's friend.

"Return of Frank James" was Gene Tierney' film debut. The Brooklyn, New York born and Westport, Connecticut-raised daughter of a successful insurance broker, Tierney later starred in such classics as 1944 "Laura" and 1947 "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." Attending Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Ct., Tierney was infected by the acting bug, taking lessons in Greenwich Village. Through connections, she made her Broadway debut in 1938's 'What a Life!' carrying a bucket of water across the stage. One Variety reviewer noted, "Miss Tierney is certainly the most beautiful water carrier I've ever seen!" Several stage appearances later she was noticed by Darryl Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, who signed her to play in the James film. When Tierney, 20, first saw herself on the big screen during the movie's premier, she was startled. "I could not believe how high and strident my voice came across," she said. "I sounded like an angry Minnie Mouse. My God, I thought, if that's really how I sound, I'll never make it." To lower her voice, she began to smoke cigarettes, a habit leading later in life to emphysema. In her memoirs she related the Harvard University Lampoon named her 'The Worst Female Discovery of 1940,' where she humbly remarked "I did not feel undeserving of the award."

Jackie Cooper, 17, continued his fame as a young actor first noticed in 1931 "The Champ" and "Skippy," where he was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Actor, the youngest ever in that category at nine. He enlisted in the United States Navy during World War Two and remained in the Naval Reserves as an officer for several decades. After the war Cooper resumed his movie and television acting, most notably as newspaper editor Perry White in 1978's film "Superman."

For Lang, "The Return of Frank James" was the first of three Westerns he directed as well as his first Technicolor movie. Film critic Robert Dana of the New York Herald Tribune noticed the deliberate direction of Lang's, writing his "emphasis on small things like gestures and shadows and sounds of nature reveal the Western in a new and interesting light."

OK, but not great. Historically fairly inaccurate, and contains some cringeworthy over-acting, most particularly from Henry Hull as Major Cobb.

Henry Fonda is miscast as Frank James - it is very difficult to believe that he is an outlaw. He just seems too "nice".

Still, it is fairly entertaining and gripping. Gene Tierney lights up the screen.

For a good movie on the murder of Jesse James and an accurate portrayal of the demise of Robert Ford rather watch "The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford" (2007).