Branded

My father and I went to the drive-in movies every weekend during the first half of the 1950s, and I can vividly recall seeing a number of Alan Ladd movies sitting in our '50 Ford and munching on cracker jacks while Dad smoked unfiltered Pall Malls.

Dad thought Alan Ladd was the best, and I always assumed that he based his opinion mostly on Ladd's indelible turn in "Shane." But, I can't help but think that "Branded" played no small part in forming his opinion.

What a gem of a movie! I may have seen it as a youngster and, if so, I waited more than 60 years to see it again. It was worth the wait! First, the characters, the script, and the storyline are believable. The players think like we do, talk like we do, and act like we do. That usually is enough to attract some interest in a film. But this movie offers much more.

The cinematography is breathtaking. This little film yields nothing to "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" or "Rio Grande." The scenery, the color, the lighting, are all superior.

The horsemanship is spectacular. How often can you say that about an "oater." The riders in this film gallop along narrow ridge-lines and down steep grades. And there is nothing to cushion their fall except red rock. And take a look at the camera angles, as the riders are tearing down the trail.

And the music! Again, how often do you get to praise the score in a Western? The score is taut, and adds much to the drama and the excitement.

The cast is excellent. And it gives the viewer the chance to see Alan Ladd just before he filmed "Shane." Sure, there were about four movies between "Branded" and "Shane," but "Shane" sat on the shelf for two years before it was released in 1953, so it was actually filmed right after "Branded." You could almost say that Ladd auditioned his Shane character in this film.

This small picture probably had a small budget and a limited release. But it is an "A" picture in every respect. Any retrospective on Ladd or classic Westerns should include this little gem.

While on the dodge from a shooting scrape, gunfighter Alan Ladd meets up with a pair of drifters, Robert Keith and John Berkes. They want him to pose as the long lost son of a prominent Texas rancher Charles Bickford who was kidnapped as a child and never heard from again. John Berkes is a tattoo artist and he gives Alan Ladd a tattoo that looks like a birth mark the child had.

It works all too well as Ladd is welcomed into the home of Bickford and wife Selena Royle. In addition there's a sister in the home played by Mona Freeman and Ladd is not developing brotherly feelings for her.

In the end he can't go through with fleecing these decent people and Ladd sets out to set things right.

Branded was Ladd's second starring western after Whispering Smith and he proved to be equally well received here. The urban Ladd of the films Paramount put him in starting with This Gun for Hire gradually gave way to a western character and he would do more of them of varying quality over the rest of his career. The best of which was that immortal classic Shane.

In one sense though Ladd's character is very much like Raven in This Gun for Hire. Both of them were orphans with great big chips on their shoulders. Imagine Raven a little earlier than when he met up with Veronica Lake and got into the home of a couple like Bickford and Royle and you have a pretty good idea of what Ladd's character Choya is like in Branded.

Acting honors however go to the ever dependable Joseph Calleia as a Mexican bandit chief and to Robert Keith. Keith usually was a good guy in most films, a typical role for him would be the father of the Tuttle girls as he was in Young at Heart. He completely plays against type as a slime ball bottom feeder who turns out to be far more despicable than even we originally think.

Branded is a good western and Alan Ladd and the cast members should be proud of their work in this one.

This horse-opera is an excellent , meaty Western ; it contains interesting plot , intrigue , thrills , shootouts and results to be quite entertaining . A gunfighter (Alan Ladd) named Choya (as someone obligingly explains Choya is Spanish for cactus) along with a swindler (Robert Keith) take part in a scheme to bilk a rich cattle family (formed by father , Charles Bickford , mother, and daughter , the feisty Mona Freeman) out of half a million dollars by pretending to be their son, who was kidnapped as child . As tough Choya (in fact, when asked if he has some friends he answers : ¨My guns¨) impersonates the long-gone son of wealthy rancher .

The picture gets action Western , shootouts , a familiar drama and is entertaining and well realized . A fairly gripping film ,being probably one of the best Western in the fifties , including frenetic action up and down . Nicely balanced thrills , intrigue , drama and a love story . The highlights of the film in the course of action are the climatic shoot'em ups , thrilling pursuits and violent fights . The traditional story as well as complex screenplay was rightly written by Sydney Boehm based on a novel by Max Brand . The enjoyable tale is enhanced for interesting moments developed among main characters and especially on the relationship between Alan Ladd, pre-Shane, and Mona Freeman , the prettiest of heroines who even played a 60 minute broadcasting radio adaptation of the movie reprising her film role . Magnificently performed by Alan Ladd who proves to be as two-fisted as his name ,Choya, and an old veteran Charles Bickford , they are awesome experts in the art of conjuring sensational acting , here are reunited in this atypical but thought-provoking western with a lot of reflection , distinguished moments and dramatical attitudes , in addition a multitude of entertaining situations . Most of the fun in this one is picking out the locations and identifying stock performers , as there appears several secondaries such as Robert Keith , Peter Hansen , Milburn Stone and veteran actors as Joseph Calleia and Tom Tully giving the stars solid supports . Glamorous as well picturesque cinematography in shinning colour by means of Technicolor ; it is superbly caught by cameraman Charles Lang , though being necessary a correct remastering . Shot on location in Portal, Globe, Salt River Canyon,San Simon,Douglas, Arizona, USA Kanab Canyon, Kanab, Utah, and valley of Rio Grande . Thrilling as well as lively musical score by Roy Webb.

This is another superbly powerful Paramount Western being compellingly directed by Rudolph Mate . He was an expert cameraman and director of the classic D.O.A and filmmaking occasionally for cinema all kind of genres . Polish-born Mate was an assistant cameraman for Alexander Korda and later worked throughout Europe with noted cameraman Karl Freund , director Carl Theodor Dreyer and Erich Pommer . Dreyer was so impressed with his work that they hired him as cinematographer on The Passion of Joan of Arc . Mate was soon working on some of Europe's most prestigious films, cementing his reputation as one of the continent's premier cinematographers. Hollywood came calling in 1935, and Mate shot films there for the next 12 years before turning to directing in 1947. Unfortunately, while many of his directorial efforts were visually impressive ,especially his sci-fi When the worlds collide (1951) , his labour as cameraman was excellent . He realized a variety films of all kind of genres as Adventures : The Black Shield of Falworth , Seven Seas to Calais , Western : Three Violent People , The far horizons , Noir films : Union Station , Second chance .He also directed Epic films as The Barbarians and The 300 Espartans . The films themselves were for the most part undistinguished, with his best work probably being the film-noir classic DOA (1950). ¨Branded¨ rating : Better than average , 7. This is a fair stuff for Alan Ladd fans and Western buffs . Well worth watching .

Excellent Paramount western, which I regularely confound with William Dieterle's RED MOUNTAIN, starring the same Ladd. Rudolph Maté the director shows us here his talent for westerns, as he also will for THREE VIOLENT PEOPLE, VIOLENT MEN. A bit less with RAWHIDE YEARS though. I would prefer SHANE, I admit, and also maybe RED MOUNTAIN. Of course there is not much surprise in this classic western, nothing much unpredictable. Robert Keith is excellent in this role. Photography is also jaw dropping, and it contributes a lot to the pleasure I had to watch it after several decades. Awesome settings with desert and valley landscapes. One of the best of Alan Ladd.

The imposter topic is very rare in a western:we often find it in a classic detective film like "no man of her own"(1950) and its French mediocre remake "I married a shadow" (1982).Except for the short prologue ,first half looks like a psychological suspense.Second part is more eventful,although not at the expense of Alan Ladd character's frames of mind.

The hero actually is in need of a family;we know it from the start,Alan Ladd's wistful face tells it all.Love interest-which might be some kind of faux incest-is not as convincing as the hero's searching for haven ;it's a pity that the mother's character is not more present because she is,more than Mona Freeman's one,the keystone of the story.

Also a work of redemption ,because Ladd will try to redeem himself ,and a plea for peace and understanding,proof positive that a western does not need a violent showdown to be successful.The Rio Grande becomes a beautiful symbol,as human as political,and the scene when the Father takes in the two men on its banks has a biblical grandeur.

Rudolph Mate shows here that a B western can sometimes be deeper than so-called" A grade" classic ones.