mortycausa

It vies with The Naked Spur as the best Stewart-Mann western, although Bend of the River and Winchester '73 are also excellent. What I particularly like about this Stewart-Mann western is Stewart's hero is presented as flawed, often maimed psychologically, and never more so than here. The hero is superior but not superhuman. He's very human. Jeff Webster is taciturn, even righteously egotistical. Which, I guess, means Stewart is playing against type and does so expertly. Jeff's credo is totally solipsistic: he'll look out for himself (and in a pinch his sidekick Walter Brennan) and no one else. Of course, there's a price to pay. In a sense, Stewart's take and that of the movie is on It's A Wonderful Life. Only here Jeff Webster gets to see the effects of his willful withdrawal from the community in real time. Definitely top-notch.

An excellent English period comedy with Ian Carmichael as lead. I started to write "starring..." but although Carmichael is definitely the leading actor here, he is not given star billing, not even lead billing. This is not the only time this happened in the '50s, or the only time it happened to Carmichael (and others). The English didn't seem to understand how to showcase its young would-be stars.

It is, though, a superb comedy about a young barrister fresh out of law school trying to get his foot in the big time law practice. The supporting cast is expert, especially Miles Malleson and Edith Sharpe who plays Carmichael's mother and has a nice bit at the end. If you liked I'm All Right, Jack, you will like this, too, even if this one doesn't have Peter Sellers or Dennis Price.

Carmichael would later play Bertie Wooster in the BBC production, and then go on from there to play Dorothy Sayers's Peter Wimsey in a series, which is appropriate as the mature Wimsey is Bertie all grown up, if that can be imagined.

A combination adventure/comedy/romance, it is simply superb. It has flair and it moves fast. Everyone is good in it, even, surprisingly, Racquel. There's more than a touch of parody and self-parody. It's like they all watched too many swashbuckling movies. To wit: D'Artagnan (York) tries to extinguish a candle with a flourish of his sword across the flame. It doesn't work; he shakes his head, removes his gauntlet; and puts it out with his finger and thumb. Racquel's husband, Spike Milligan, keeps trying to arrange to have sex with her, but something always goes wrong, including and especially the interference of the Cardinal Richelieu and his henchmen.

And Heston is superb as Richelieu. Great turn as villain. Great because he plays it straight. That's what makes him so effective. He and Christopher Lee play off each other brilliantly. (He walks into his torture chamber, talking to either Spike or Chistoperher Lee (I forget which), and one of the victims hanging from within one of the cages says very respectfully, "And how are you, Your grace." The fey king who has his courtyard lawn manicured like a chessboard plays the game with live dogs. He is perfect, too.

The swordplay, of which there is plenty, is brilliantly choreographed. They actually had to learn to fight with swords. Lee almost was killed. If there is a hero, it's D'Artagnan's man-servant. When I saw it as a young man when it came out, the audience cheered loudly when the guys came to the rescue at the end.