Il cavaliere implacabile

1954's "Passion" was a Benedict Bogeaus Western shot under the more effective title "Where the Wind Dies," one of the later efforts for veteran director Allan Dwan. Yvonne De Carlo plays two sisters but the lead is Cornel Wilde as Juan Obreon, returning to the California ranch of Gaspar Melo (John Qualen) to find that his sweetheart Rosa has given birth to a son. Rosa is not the wildcat that sister Tonya is, but wedding plans go awry once greedy landowner Don Domingo (Richard Hale) decides to forego his ancestral promises and charge a hefty fee to all the nearby families. Gaspar refuses to give in and leave so four hired bandits shoot him down, along with his wife and daughter Rosa, but not before she successfully hides her baby in a safe spot. Juan returns to find the ranch destroyed by fire, going on the rampage against the quartet in the belief that his newborn son was among the victims, each one granted a man on man showdown with knives, while harried Captain Rodriguez (Raymond Burr) is forced by the governor to pursue his old friend Obreon for the sake of 'justice.' It's rather a shame that Lon Chaney's Castro is the first to go, killed once he rats out his cohorts in crime and produces a second knife that seals his doom. This was actually the last time that the 48 year old Chaney would face off against a younger foe, the film's highlight at the half hour mark, each man slashing at the other in a genuine tour de force that could have lasted even longer. It may have been intended as another typical henchman role but the bruising actor outshines the other villains with his most enduring screen battle since John Payne in 1949's "Captain China." The film loses momentum as it continues, none of Obreon's other targets developed to the same degree as Chaney, and the finale in the High Sierras is marred by obvious studio shots, particularly with Raymond Burr and Anthony Caruso. What could have been an exceptional Western simply winds down the vengeance trail in predictable fashion, the hero saved by a dying confession to start a new life with Tonya and his newborn son. A passable diversion but nothing more, best for fans of Lon Chaney and Yvonne De Carlo.

Maybe I had been spoiled a fortnight ago by the 'surprising' excellence of Dwan's SILVER LODE (1954), or perhaps I had my mind on other things while it was playing (I had just installed my brand new DVD recorder), or it is simply that the film needed a more compelling villain than Rodolfo Acosta; the fact remains that I was underwhelmed by this first viewing of PASSION. Not that it really has a reputation to uphold or anything but, retaining the services of much of the same crew as SILVER LODE (director Dwan, producer Benedict Bogeaus, cinematographer John Alton, composer Louis Forbes, art director Van Nest Polglase, bit-part actors Stuart Whitman and Robert Warwick, etc.), one can't help but expect similarly satisfying results. At least, the cast is quite good: Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo (in a dual role as Wilde's ladylike wife and her tomboyish twin sister!), Raymond Burr (as the Sheriff), Lon Chaney Jr. (as a drunken brute with a really loud cackle), John Qualen (as De Carlo's grandfather) and Anthony Caruso (as Burr's suspicious colleague). The film, set in Old California, follows a typical revenge story pattern which, unfortunately, seems not to have inspired Dwan much until the snowbound (or rather studio-bound) finale: in fact, Wilde does most of the killings – barring that of Chaney and Acosta – offscreen! Ultimately, PASSION emerges as a modestly pleasing and colorful diversion that falls short of achieving its potential…especially when judging the end result against similar contemporary Western fare about obsessive odysseys of revenge like Fritz Lang's RANCHO NOTORIOUS (1952) and Henry King's THE BRAVADOS (1958).

Two Yvonnes (De Carlo) are better than one. Always. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it. R.K.O. strikes gold in this dark western set somewhere in Northern California, sometime before the land was tamed by the U.S. government. The trio of Miss De Carlo (the fiery one), Cornel Wilde and Raymond Burr spend a good chunk of the running time of this movie chasing after the five desperadoes who have slaughtered one of the Yvonnes (the demure one) and her grandparents. Her son survives. Barely. In discovering the massacre at the farmhouse, Wilde's character catches a bad case of revenge and sets his sights on the perpetrators of those bad deeds. The police--Burr and Anthony Caruso--are ineffective. They always seem to show up a couple of heartbeats too late. The film does nothing to dissuade someone from uttering: "you can never find a cop when you need one." The scenery is fabulous. When Wilde marches off the lush greenery of the mountain's downslope and ascends the glacier in pursuit of the last bad guy, we know he has crossed the line into madness, He is out of control. Lawless. The ending is wrapped up in a satisfying manner. But the title (Passion) bothers me. I'm changing it to Obsession. And I'm sticking to it.

Cornel Wilde's role in Passion is something that Tyrone Power might have done or Cornel himself might have done at 20th Century Fox when they were both there. Of course had it been done at Fox, Darryl Zanuck would have had a better plotted story than RKO did.

Wilde is a vaquero who has impregnated Yvonne DeCarlo and she's got a surprise for him when he returns from a roundup. She's got a bundle of joy for him and they're not married. But Wilde is going to do right by her.

Sad to say though DeCarlo's family is involved in a range feud with a local Don who sends riders to burn out who he considers squatters. They kill DeCarlo and her grandfather John Qualen.

They don't get DeCarlo's twin sister, also played by DeCarlo. She rides for Wilde and he gets there too late. But like Gregory Peck in The Bravados and Steve McQueen in Nevada Smith, Wilde's a man with a mission.

For reasons I don't understand the local law who is played by Raymond Burr won't arrest Lon Chaney, Jr. after she identifies his voice as one of the riders. It's a pretty lame excuse for Burr not doing his duty. Of course Wilde's duty is clear.

Later on Burr does in fact catch up with Wilde, but allows him to escape and then he tracks Wilde as Wilde tracks the bad guys. Again his reasons are rather lame.

Wilde tracks the last of the bandits to the snow clad Sierra Mountains and the cinematography here is pretty good. RKO spent a bit more here than they normally do.

There's a lot of similarity to Wilde's dashing Californio to Tyrone Power's The Mark of Zorro. Wilde is good, but he should have had a better story.

Passion is directed by Allan Dwann and collectively written by Beatrice Dresher, Josef Leytes and Howard Estabrook. It stars Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo, Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney Junior, Rodolfo Acosta, Anthony Caruso and John Qualen. Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton.

Early California . . .under Mexican rule. . .the timeless mountains and eternal snows looking down on the everlasting struggle of man against man.

The Dwann and Bogeaus (producer) combination once again craft a Western that breaks free of B budget restrictions to reveal a film of some entertaining substance. This is all about man's thirst for revenge as Wilde's Juan Obreon finds his family ruthlessly snuffed out by Acosta's land hungry Salvator Sandro. When the law fail to act upon a flimsy piece of evidence, Obreon decides to go after the Sandro gang himself.

Obreon is not a ghost.

Running at under 90 minutes it would have been easy for the makers to quickly get on with the revenge axis from the off, but time is afforded the Juan Obreon character so we understand why he does what he does. For the first 30 minutes the love and family contentment surrounding Obreon shines through, and with De Carlo playing dual characters (Juan's comely wife and fiery sister-in-law), there's a bit of novelty value added into the mix. We get snippets of how vile Sandro is, such as when we are introduced to him he is whipping his young son for a bit of "tough" love, and the surrounding vistas are impressive observers to the unfolding drama.

Story set and on to revenge we go as Obreon pursues the murderers of his family while himself being pursued by two lawmen (Burr and Caruso), one of which is an old friend who isn't exactly pulling out all the stops to catch the fugitive. It all leads to a final confrontation that is set in the snowy mountains where all interested parties convene at a remote log cabin. Dwann has paced it neatly and created a good amount of tension whilst also showing his expertise as a choreographer of fights.

Alton's photography is most appealing, be it the capturing of the California landscape, or his use of light and shadow for a ruin based sequence, Alton once again shows himself to be a most talented cinematographer who always added a kick to even the lowest of budgeted pictures. Cast are mostly effective, with Wilde leading the way and proving his worth as a lead man who is wronged and he shows some genuine pain in his visuality. Unfortunately the good work of the principal actors is tainted a touch by Chaney Junior once again looking out of place in a Western, with fluctuating accent as well, and Burr disappoints by never once convincing as a law man conflicted by his emotions.

With revenge at its core, and plot points involving abandoned babies and cold blooded murder, it's a strong Western that ultimately survives its flaws to become another very fine Dwann/Bogeaus production. 7.5/10