Un homme traqué

First time director Ray Milland must have scored a success with this psychological Western typical of the 1950s, as he went on to both direct and star in four more features- 1956's "Lisbon," 1958's "The Safecracker," 1962's "Panic in Year Zero!" and 1967's "Hostile Witness." In the role of Wesley Steele, a gunman of ill repute, having to kill simply to survive, director Milland begins the film with nearly a half hour without (much) dialogue. Steele discovers a massacred stagecoach, five people shot dead (including a little girl), all the money gone. He soon finds himself in a most unfriendly town, where the hapless deputy (Alan Hale Jr.) prefers to shoot first and ask questions later; incredibly, the safest place for Steele to hide from a possible lynching turns out to be the Sheriff's quarantined home, due to his being bedridden with yellow fever. Lovely Mary Murphy, Marlon Brando's leading lady in "The Wild One," is entrusted with the most difficult role, the Sheriff's daughter, who naturally falls for the much older Steele, and capably manages the feat of growing up from 'daddy's little girl' to feisty heroine, inspiring Wes to return to clear his name, and redeeming her own father (Ward Bond), who had fallen under the crooked influence of town banker and criminal mastermind Raymond Burr. You can't go wrong with a supporting cast that includes Lee Van Cleef, Douglas Spencer, Thomas Browne Henry, and Arthur Space. Unfortunately for Mary Murphy, her screen career wound down all too quickly, though television kept her busy for another two decades. Horror/sci fi buffs remember her turns in 1951's "When Worlds Collide," 1954's "The Mad Magician," and 1957's "The Electronic Monster."

Ray Milland makes use of his silent film experience to play the first half of this movie virtually without speaking. He plays the title character, a lonely man in ever sense as he finds a group of slain stagecoach passengers, is forced to kill the sheriff (Hale, Jr.), sees another man shot before his eyes, and ends up a man wanted for all the killings.

A good commentary on human weakness in the "psychological" tradition, but it gets to talky and melodramatic in the second half.

Good supporting cast headed by Burr, Murphy, and Bond hold up well to Milland's straightforward playing and direction.

A stark, fairly convincing western.

This classic western style is plenty of suspense as the dreaded final approaches and the protagonist realizes he must stand alone while town people surrounding him and nobody is willing to help him , except for a gorgeous girl . The narration is well adjusted , from the beginning , until the final showdown and being approximately developed in ninety minutes . It deals with a gunfighter (Ray Milland) , stranded in the desert, out when he sees an attacked stagecoach with its murdered passengers . He takes one of the horses to ride to town to report the massacre , but finds himself accused of it . He also finds himself framed of the murder of the local banker as well as wrongly suspected of a stagecoach slaughter , and winds up hiding in the basement of a house . As our starring moved by his will to prove his innocence , takes shelter and hides not alone but comely local marshal's daughter (Mary Murphy) . While the elderly sheriff (Ward Bond) , is very sick on his bed . Somewhere in the DARK a Bullet Drilled Home !

Vintage western style is full of tension as the breathtaking confrontation approaches , following the style of other stories in similar wake , that's why it results to be a ¨High Noon¨ (1954 , Fred Zinnemann) variation -that was a relentless allegory and criticism of HUAC black list- along with ¨Silver Lode¨(1954 ,Allan Dwan) . As our protagonist realizes he must stand alone against impossible odds , as nobody is willing to help him , but they pursue him , as gunfighter's main hope lies in the trust of a beautiful woman who hides him while being wrongfully accused of murder and attempting to clear his name . Remarkably well-organised western in which not one single second is wasted and the tension is built up admirably ."A Man Alone (1955)" is a low-budget western with a tense , intriguing , thrilling and suspenseful storyline. This western thriller is competently built and Ray Milland has an outstanding acting in the character of a gunman who wishes redemption . The performances are top-notch and the viewer gets tense enough , adding an enjoyable love story . Being Milland's debut behind the camera , delivering a decent oater . Ray Milland gives a nice interpreation as the gunslinger who comes across the aftermath of a stage robbery, in which all the passengers were killed . His partenaire is the charming actress Mary Murphy , in her fruitful career getting to give earnest leading lady perfs opposite Tony Curtis in ¨Beachhead¨ (1954), and ¨Hell's Island¨ (1955) with John Payne and especially ¨The Wild one¨ with Marlon Brando . They are well accompanied by a great cast of notorious secondaries , such as : Ward Bond , Raymond Burr , Arthur Space , Alan Hale Jr. , Douglas Spencer and , of course , Lee Van Cleef.

This exciting motion picture was professionally directed by Ray Milland . Ray was a prestigious actor, but also a producer and a craftsman filmmaker. With this A Man Alone(1955) and subsequently Lisbon (1956), Ray Milland moved into another direction, turning out several off-beat, low-budget films with himself as the lead , notably this A Man Alone (1957) his Western debut , The Safecracker (1958) , Panic in Year Zero! (1962) and Hostile Witness (1969) . Rating : 6/10 . Less-than-notable , but acceptable , passable and decent enough . The flick will appeal to Ray Milland fans.

Wes Steele is a gunman, his reputation follows him where ever he goes. Then one day he happens upon a dreadful scene, a stagecoach has been attacked and five people have been murdered, including a woman and a child. This sickens Steele who takes up a horse and rides to the nearest town with the best intentions, but no sooner is he there, he quickly becomes a target for blame and hostility. Taking refuge at the home of yellow fever struck Sheriff Gil Corrigan and his daughter Nadine, Steele proves to have a tender side as he helps to aid the ailing sheriff. But an angry mob is out for Steele's neck and when Gil comes around, will he believe that Steele is not responsible for the recent turn of events?

Ray Milland's westerns are a mixed bunch, ranging from the mundane (Bugles in the Afternoon), the watchable (California) to the very good - here with A Man Alone. Making his directorial debut, star Milland has managed to craft a genuine mood piece out of a well trodden, and often filmed, story. Milland, utilising his silent feature experience, sets the disquiet tone within the first quarter, where as he comes upon the horror scene, it's played out without dialogue, the mood is set for the next part of the journey, the town.

This is an ugly town, corruption and underhand tactics are the order of the day, so much so that when Steele blows into town (literally during a sandstorm) one would think that with his reputation, it would be ideal for him. But things can quickly turn around. Thanks to Milland's portrayal of Steele, it's apparent to us that Steele is weary of the life he has led, his yearning to cast off his burdens evident as his relationship with the Corrigan's starts to blossom. Yet it's funny how quick the milk can turn sour, because seemingly normal people can become a mob, an angry mob intent on justice regardless of the truth. For here there is no truth as the lies have been cast and mud nearly always sticks...

Milland is aided in the cast by the always solid Ward Bond (Gil), Raymond Burr (purple suited and black eyed nastiness as town villain Stanley), Lee Van Cleef (Stanley's thug muscle Clanton) and Mary Murphy (bright eyed and bushy tailed Nadine). Shot on location at Snow Canyon in Utah, it's a shame that location work is very much sparse because of the town set plot. However, in a film calling for an oppressive and pot boiling feel, this is something that is easily forgivable. A Man Alone is a very good Western, yes the story has been done far better (re: The Ox Bow Incident for example), but Milland's film deserves your time, and hopefully come the end, also your respect. 7.5/10

The first 30 minutes of this film are very gritty, with Wes Steele in trouble from the start, discovering the stage with its murdered passengers and then becoming a fugitive trapped in a town. Then the film tapers off a bit, and it's a little hard to accept that Nadine comes to trust him so quickly.

I'm conscious of my own pedantry, but have to note that Milland here joins Gary Cooper and Randolph Scott in playing a middle-aged Westerner who has little trouble in attracting a much younger woman - he was 50 when the film was released. And if being the notorious Wes Steele is such a handicap, why not assume a false name - it would have been difficult for the authorities to disprove a false identity. (Richard Egan in "Tension at Table Rock" was another notorious Wes - Tancred in this case and in the ballad that accompanied the film - who diligently signed his real name in hotel registers, only for the clerk to react in distaste.) The "Time Out" review describes Milland's direction as "sometimes a little too ponderously deliberate, but - like the performances - eminently watchable", and I agree with this. The plot made a pleasant change from the run-of-the-mill Westerns of the 1940s and 1950s.