Silver Lode

Released in 1954 - Silver Lode stands tall as a pretty decent Western in its own right. True. Its familiar story can easily be compared to "High Noon" in many ways, but, nevertheless, it is an entertaining cowboy flick, all the same.

Filmed with the obvious restrictions of its B-movie budget, this vintage, Technicolor Western tells the tale of Dan Ballard, a decent man (relatively new to town) who (on his wedding day, which also happens to be the 4th of July) finds himself being accused of cold-blooded murder and the theft of $20,000.

This unjust accusation is leveled at Ballard by Marshal McCarty, a very mean and forceful lawman, who unexpectedly arrives in town from Discovery, California, in the company of his 3 rough-looking deputies.

Needless to say, an intense conflict takes place that quickly escalates into an all-out gunfight which has almost every able-bodied man in town involved (and even some of the women).

With his life now hanging delicately in the balance, Ballard soon finds himself a hunted man in his own hometown. A vicious, mindless mob-mentality takes over as the citizens of Silver Lode pursue Ballard with a blind, hateful vengeance.

Silver Lode was a film that was very much a product of its time. It was produced during the "McCarthy" era, when film producers, writers and actors were called to account during a (literal) political witch hunt.

This film's screenplay reflects the concerns of the American people of that time in regards to matters such as truth and liberty in what they believed to be a free society.

With a running time of only 80 minutes, Silver Lode moved along at a really good clip. Its cast included John Payne, Dan Duryea, Harry Carey Jr., and Lizabeth Scott.

Silver Lode is directed by Allan Dwan and written by Karen DeWolf. It stars John Payne, Lizabeth Scott, Dan Duryea, Dolores Moran and Emile Meyer. Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton.

Dan Ballard (Payne) is a respected resident of the town Silver Lode, but on his wedding day Marshal Fred McCarty (Duryea) rolls into town looking to arrest him, accusing him of having murdered the Marshal's brother. The townsfolk refuse to accept the charge and stand up for Dan, and Dan loudly protests his innocence, but once suspicious mud is thrown it begins to stick and soon Dan finds himself running out of friends and is therefore forced to prove his innocence.

Two things always pop up when the film Silver Lode is spoken about, one is the similarities to High Noon, the other is the veiled allegory of Senator McCarthy and his witch hunts. These are two things which are hard to ignore, though as a "British" lover of Westerns myself, the McCarthy politico aspect doesn't really resonate, but Silver Lode deserves to primarily be known for being the damn fine Western that it is.

Fickle mob rule and knee jerk reactions drive Silver Lode forward, it's a thematic powder keg ignited with some skill by the prolific Dwann. Aided by the supremely talented Alton, Dwann achieves so much mood and tension from a small town set up, this is never dealing in expansive vistas, its primary goal is to suffocate Dan Ballard. Where once was freedom and love, now is a place closing in on him, with the story moving into a noir realm as Dan becomes a man whose past is proving to be inescapable. Then there is fate, another big noir ingredient, which has a big part in proceedings as events conspire to make Dan seem more of a guilty man the harder he tries to prove his innocence!

It's a lean and mean screenplay, devoid of filler and characterisations are colourful. Payne makes for a good put upon hero, his Dan Ballard as written is stoic and tough, and resilience needs to be his middle name. Duryea does another in his great line of weasels, and here he is wonderfully cloaked in suspicion from the off. Tagging behind him are his three equally suspicious cohorts (played by Stuart Whitman, Alan Hale Junior and Harry Carey Junior), while the upstanding town elders (Sheriff, Judge, Reverend) have time to make a mark before the fragile nature of small town justice begins to take a hold - and the clock is ticking down on Dan Ballard's life.

Most impressive is the influence on the story of the lady characters, so often a token interest in the "B" Westerns of the 50s. Deftly perched on either side of Ballard, the femmes are key characters in the piece. Rose Evans (Scott) is virtuous, brightly attired in white, she's the town sweetheart who Dan is set to marry, the question is will her loyalty to Dan remain? Dolly (Moran giving the best performance in the film and getting all the best lines) is a slinky saloon gal, in purple frills and with a tongue as sharp as a scorpion's sting, she still carries a torch for the unobtainable Dan.

Alton's colour photography is most appealing but we don't see the best of his work until the finale inside the town church. With clever use of light, shadows and colour enhancements, Alton is able to sum up the whole tone of the story in this segment. As for if the finale is worth the wait? It is, but it's a little mischievous. Certainly it's interesting, a quirk of fate again playing a hand as two men do battle in the church bell tower. Notably there's a religious angle dropped into the narrative, but I'm at a loss as to why that would be the case? Still, it's a very small irritant, for this is a cracker of a Western, a lesson in achieving big things from such small beginnings. 8.5/10

Famed Western with a magnificent John Payne and a splendid Lizabeth Scott .This exciting picture tells the story of Dan Ballard( John Payne, Allan Dwan's usual actor)a respected citizen of a little town called Silver Lode , on his wedding day he has just promised marriage a young fiancée(Lizabeth Scott)and settle down for a peaceful existence.Just when they are about to marry on July 4 ,comes a vengeful agent named McCarty (Dan Duryea) and his henchmen(Harry Carey Jr, Stuart Whitman, Alan Hale Jr). McCarthy has sworn revenge and detain to undercover gunfighter. But Ballard escapes and is only helped by a gorgeous saloon girl named Dolly(Dolores Moran).

This classic western is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final showdown approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds as his fellow town people for help ,nobody is willing to help him but they pursue him , while he attempts to clear his name as wrongfully accused of murder . The narration is almost adjusted in real time,from the beginning,the wedding, until the ending confrontation and is approximately developed in eighty one minutes and the starring is given two hours to resolve the accusation as murderer. For that reason it results to be a ¨High Noon¨ (1954,Fred Zinnemann)variation along with a relentless allegory and criticism of HUAC black list and McCarthyst era. Ample support cast full of known secondary actors as Emile Meyer, Robert Warwick, John Dierkes, Harry Carey Jr, Stuart Whitman, Alan Hale, many of them usual in Western. Although made in low budget by the producer Benedict Bogeaus is a very efficient film and very entertaining.The picture contains an excellent cinematography by John Alton( Noir cinema's usual photographer) and appropriate musical score. This quickie is finely directed by Allan Dwan , a craftsman working from the silent cinema, but ¨Silver Lode¨ is his unqualified masterpiece. Dwan directed over 1400 films, including one-reels, between his arrival in the industry (circa 1909) and his final film in 1961. Among them some good Western as ¨ Restless breed, The rivers edge,Cattle Queen of Montana,and Montana Belle¨.

Silver Lode (1954) : Brief Review -

Allan Dwan's underrated and misunderstood western gem. I wasn't aware that a film with similar effects as "Ox Bow Incident" (1943) was made in the 1950s and almost became a gem of a film. John Payne was no John Wayne, so forget about the lead being impactful, but I am really in love with the script. The film is about Dan, who is arrested on his wedding day (which also happens to be 4th July), and asks for two hours to prove his innocence. The charges against him are murder and theft of $20,000, which is more than enough to hang him. Marshall McCarthy has brought all the papers, and they are in order, but he is more into revenge on his brother than arrest and justice. Between these two hours, the entire town goes against Dan, as several killings are blamed on him. It goes up to the mob-lynching stage, and then Dan has to do some killings to prove his innocence. It's an intelligent film despite its quick-go and far-fetched conflicts that take place one after another during one hour. The only two people who believe in Dan are his soon-to-be wife and a bar dancer who loves him. They help him in the process of getting a message sent to the US marshal, but by that time, it's too late. The climax sees Dan standing in a jam, up against McCarthy and the entire town, which used to respect him an hour ago. That's how the human mindset changes within a few minutes. A moment ago, they used to respect him, and a moment later, they wanted to kill him. The performances and production are quite so-so, while the direction seemed fine. The film deserved better dialogues and a better score. Nevertheless, the story and screenplay themselves make it a MUST WATCH. I can't believe this was called "misfire" by contemporary critics and has remained so underrated for years. I personally liked it very much and would recommend it to others.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

What could easily have been just another low-budget Western oater or, worse still, the poor man's HIGH NOON (1952), is turned by excellent scripting (atypically the work of a woman!) and direction into a true gem of the genre during its golden age. In fact, the film wears its anti-Red Scare intentions proudly on its sleeve by actually naming its chief villain (Dan Duryea in formidable form) McCarthy and making him an outlaw posing as a fake U.S. Marshal! Reformed gunfighter hero John Payne (in his first of four movies for veteran director Dwan) has his 4th of July wedding (to local belle Lizabeth Scott) disrupted by the arrival in town of Duryea and his men (including Stuart Whitman and Harry Carey Jr.) claiming to have a warrant for his arrest for killing Duryea's brother and absconding with the sum of $20,000. So far so conventional plot-wise but what is remarkable here is the way that the film-makers chose to employ the townspeople who are constantly following the protagonists around the streets of Silver Lode, at first forcibly siding with Payne (to the point of holding Duryea et al at gunpoint) but, with time, being swayed by the latter's lies and an unfortunate series of events that lead them to believe Payne guilty of murdering their sheriff (Emile Meyer) and one of the marshals, as well as wounding Scott's hot-headed brother. Aiding Payne, apart from the unwavering Scott (of course), is his ex-flame, sultry saloon gal (Dolores Moran, the wife of producer Benedict Bogeaus and whose last film this proved to be) who spits one-liner put-downs to hero, villain and everyone in between; I really liked her character and, apparently, so did Dwan because he opted to close the film on the image of her running frantically clenching the all-important telegraphic confirmation (Duryea's men had intuitively cut the lines beforehand) of Payne's claims of innocence. However, in view of the film being a thinly-veiled allegory on the ongoing witch-hunts, it is a telling comment on the relative nature of truth that the girls had already won the day by forcing the gullible telegraph official to write down a false reply. The expected climactic confrontation between Payne and Duryea, then, takes place inside a bell tower – with the latter's bullet ultimately ricocheting on himself in God-like retribution – making for a doubly ironic ending to a film (beautifully shot in color by the great John Alton) that had held its audience entranced for all of 77 breathless minutes.