Dietro la maschera

I was born in 1948 and many years later would see this movie as a young man who loved to watch movies with my mom. Unlike today's F- bomb, rape and blood, this movie is just a decent way to spend some time with family. Characters do not have to rip a woman's clothes off to reveal the obvious, she is beautiful. I still enjoy watching this good little movie.

Gorgeous Miss De Carlo often portrayed historic figures:from Sephora to Calamity Jane and from La Castiglione to Lola Montès (spelled "Montez" ,unlike in Europa).Many users probably know Max Ophuls' last opus (1954) which showed a Lola short of the readies,(Martine Carol)who had to work in a circus -under a cynical MC 's Thumb played by Peter Ustinov) Lola was king of Bavaria LudwiG Der Erste 's lover (not to be mistaken for gay Ludwig Der Zweite)and in the movie,you can hear Lola talk about the jewels he bestows on her;"you look at my jewels the way the king used to look at me" ) The story is a bit tongue in cheek and the tale of this masked brigand is not particularly exciting but Lola adds some spice to it.

Black Bart is an interesting movie and well above the norm for the standard studio product of its day.Not only is it splendidly photographed,with a lustrous use of colour that sets it apart from the herd,it has a wonderfully dry and laconic wit that adds a touch of verbal eloquence to proceedings.Indeed I was reminded at times of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"in the banter between characters some of which would have sat well in the mouths of characters in a Philip Barry movie or other practitioners of the drawing room comedy.The script is also insouciantly epigrammatical with a pleasing sense of amorality--its leading characters are outlaws and perfectly at home with themselves and their profession.Naturally.this being a 1948 movie they are not allowed to get away with it but the morality is quite unique for the period

We first meet Charles Bowers,later to become the title character,when he and his compadre "Lance"are about to be hung,a fact they greet with stoicism and flippant banter,when they are rescued by ex banker turned outlaw the grizzled veteran Jersey--well played by Percy Kilbride(old Pa Kettle Himself)They split up and Charles ,with the connivance of an old friend,sets himself up as Black Bart a black garbed highwayman making away with Wells Fargo bounty in a series of stagecoach robberies.Lance and Jersey re-appear,recognise him and try to cut in on the deal.Matters get complicated when Bart falls in love with Lola Montez the celebrated singer and dancer who reciprocates the feeling but insists Bart lay aside his illegal trade and turn to more legitimate pursuits

It is a well acted movie with Duryea and Kilbride especially fine and De Carlo enters into the spirit of things with a brash and outgoing performance

Minor but interesting and I enjoyed it .Give a go -you won't regret it

Three tricky outlaws part ways, only to meet up later on opposite sides.

Pretty good Western— somewhere between an A-production and a B. It's an unusually distinguished supporting cast from Lovejoy to McIntyre to Kilbride, along with some good scenic outdoor set-ups that keep the eye entertained even when the action slows down. Reviewer lorenellroy is right—the amorality of Lynn and Duryea is unusual for the period, 1948. It's hard at times to know where their loyalties lie, making the script somewhat—and refreshingly-- difficult to predict. Add a luscious De Carlo who looks ravishing in Technicolor, while turning in a surprisingly artful performance.

So, with these positives, why doesn't the movie impact more strongly than I believe it does. Now I'm as big a Duryea fan as anyone. In fact that's why I tuned in. But for some reason he looks less motivated than usual, draining Bart of needed character color. There's not the usual relish of his better performances. Add to that the other lead, Jeffrey Lynn, who's just naturally colorless, and there's not the needed drive at the movie's center. At the same time, director Sherman has to work in the romantic angle without sagging the tempo, which he does pretty well. But the staging of the final ambush scene is clumsily done—how could the ambushers miss their shots at such close range as Bart and Lance race for the cabin.

Anyway, there's real offbeat potential in the various ambiguities that the script doesn't develop adequately until the end. Nonetheless, the compensations are enough to make this a generally entertaining 80-minutes of cowboy intrigue.

This film starts with two outlaws by the names of "Charles E. Boles" (Dan Duryea) and "Lance Hardeen" (Jeffrey Lynn) being led to a hanging tree out of town after committing several crimes. However, before the nooses can be put around their necks another outlaw named "Jersey Brady" (Percy Kilbride) ambushes the hanging party and springs his two friends. Once freed Charles decides to split up from the other two and heads for California with all of the money taken from a previous heist. Not long afterward he dons a mask and upon assuming the nickname of "Black Bart" proceeds to rob stagecoaches belonging to Wells Fargo. As luck would have it one of the stagecoaches he robs has both Lance and Jersey as passengers along with a famous dancer from Europe by the name of "Lola Montez" (Yvonne De Carlo). Needless to say, their lives become intertwined from this moment on. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a watchable Western movie for the most part. Although I liked the performances of Yvonne De Carlo and Percy Kilbride to a certain extent, to be quite honest I didn't think Dan Duryea possessed the necessary screen presence to handle the starring role. Likewise, I also thought some of the scenarios were a bit too fanciful and unrealistic for my tastes. Again though, it's certainly watchable and worth the time spent if one is inclined to movies of this type. I rate it as average.