Gritos en la sierra

Will James' Sand: I recently reviewed this film at the UCLA archives and found it to be charming and well photographed. This could be man finds horse, man loses horse, man finds horse and the girl. Mark Stevens as Jeff Keane is typical of the handsome 'older' leading men of the forties and fifties, who are always attracting younger, in this case 20ish Coleen Gray, to their cause. Case in point: Jeff's expensive saddle-bred stallion, Jubilee, has escape his fire-burning train in the middle of gorgeous Colorado and needs retrieving. Horses are not supposed to be the most intelligent of animals but Jubilee is an exception and becomes adept at living in the wild. Coleen just happens to own 26,000 acres on which Jubilee has staked a claim and agrees to accompany Mark on a quest to 'rescue' Jubilee, after Mark's unsuccessful bid the first time netted him one lost mare - to Jubilee of course. A very young Rory Calhoun as her (not-so-straight shooting) foreman, Chick Palmer keeps his rifle handy as well as his fists. Of course, all's well in the end when Mark faces down the 'killer' Jubilee and smooth talks him into returning to civilization. Look for Iron Eyes Cody and old cowboy star, Tom London in bit roles. Filmed in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and Lake Arrowhead, California. On a scale of ten - a dated 5.5

I saw this movie in my youth and was mesmorized by the music and country scenery. It also tweaked my interest in the horse featured, an American Saddlebred five-gaited show horse. This interest eventually got me into raising and showing this breed. I would love to get a DVD or Video of this movie to show my grand children. As I recall there was also a scene of the horse fighting an elk. I was always curious as to how those animals were trained to interact.

It's noteworthy that this was lauded for its color cinematography upon release, for sure enough, Charles G. Clarke turned in some fine work. Captured in glorious Technicolor, the sights to greet us are most lovely indeed, above all the gorgeous outdoor filming locations and the beautiful animals who make an appearance. On the other hand, fine as the cinematography is, I don't know if I'd say it was award-worthy; maybe I just had the misfortune of watching a bad copy, but whenever a scene transpires in darkness or low light - which is a fair deal of the length, truthfully - this is unfortunately an example of a picture where it's often difficult as a viewer to discern what is actually happening in a scene. With that said, in my mind 'Sand' doesn't make a great first impression. Ultimately it's otherwise worthwhile and this issue isn't so severe as to wholly dampen the viewing experience, but I'd surely think better of it if as much as half of the story weren't effectively cloaked in darkness.

Setting that aside, this isn't exactly a major must-see, but it's broadly well made and enjoyable. The premise is quite simple as a beloved show horse goes missing, yet from that premise is woven a tale of western adventure as he is sought out in the wilderness; action borne from near-misses, and conflicts between human characters and between "Jubilee" and other animals he encounters in the wild; and blooming romance of both human and equine varieties. Coleen Gray's narration as her character Joan accentuates the overall lighthearted mood, though the telling is punctuated at just the right moments by more robust scenes and even some darker airs. Then again, it does seem to me that there's some inconsistency in how characters are written, specifically with regards to foreman "Chick," and I'm inclined to assume this is an issue of screenwriters Martin Berkeley and Jerome Cady struggling to capture nuance that I assume was in the source material. Still, the core remains solid, especially as the central horse is written with personality as big as he is.

'Sand' is certainly a tremendous credit to the animal trainers and handlers, not to mention to the animals themselves, and every stunt looks terrific. The entirety of the presentation makes scenes out to be more dangerous and thrilling than they actually are, but that Movie Magic in no way diminishes the hard work that was genuinely put in. Though the overarching tone is arguably too light for its own good, Louis King's direction is generally capable, and the cast, too. Everyone else operating behind the scenes turned in swell contributions. All told I don't think this is particularly memorable, but even with its faults it's a suitable good time if one does have the chance to watch. Even at its best this feature isn't something that anyone needs to go out of their way to see, yet it ably plays within the space that it's given to entertain, and sometimes that's all a flick needs to be.

I saw this movie when I was 18 years old, that was some time back, and I remember bits and pieces of this movie. The horse named "Jubilee" and he turned outlaw after the train wreck. Stevens spent a long time trying to find his stallion and would find information from people who caught glimpses of the horse from time to time. In one scene the horse tried to kill his owner after running wild and before being captured by Rory Calhoun and used as a bucking horse in rodeos before finally being united with his owner played by Mark Stevens. I am hoping someone can tell me how to get a copy of that movie as I have exhausted all of my means. I would recommend this movie for anyone who loves horses and the scenery is outstanding.