Le retour de Frank James

Don't allow the fact that this film is pure fiction (aside from the murder of Jesse by Robert Ford) to mar your enjoyment of it as a bang-up good revenge western. Just as in JESSE JAMES, the writers here preferred to stick to the things that never happened! There is plenty of truth in the background, though, depicting the rapaciousness of the burgeoning railroad industry and the yankee carpetbaggers. As to what really happened to Frank and Bob, the facts about Bob are just as dramatic as the fiction of this film. Frank did retire from crime, surrendered to the law after Jesse's murder and was either never charged, or was acquitted of complicity in Jesse's many crimes. He tried various things, including farming, and a short stint as a "floor walker" in Sanger Brothers department store in Dallas, Texas. Apparently he died with his boots "off". "Little Robert Ford" did go into show business, dramatizing how he shot down the dangerous outlaw bravely in a showdown gunfight(!). Eventually, he wound up as the owner of a saloon in Creed, Colorado. Here he was murdered much the same way he had murdered Jesse (in the back) by a man who held a grudge against him. Some say the man did it in revenge for Jesse's murder, but that is likely just speculation. Gene Tierney and the scenery are beautifully photographed in gorgeous technicolor throughout.

The Return of Frank James (1940)

The Western is back, as of 1939 when four big ones were released, including John Ford's "Stagecoach" with John Wayne, which has lasting critical acclaim, and also "Jesse James" which was the fourth largest moneymaker for that blockbuster year. Maybe it was the war breaking out in Europe, or just a realization that if you lifted a Western from its usual B-movie status the public would respond. Henry Fonda starred as Frank James in that one, and so this is really a sequel with the same chronology and feel as the first one. It is clearly A-list movie material with genuine Technicolor, a year after "Jesse James," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Gone with the Wind" had all made clear Technicolor was no passing gimmick.

Frank James is now out to seek the killers of the more famous outlaw. The fact we are rooting for the renegade through his surviving brother is slightly odd--the anti-hero or negative stereotype as protagonist wasn't really respectable (or possible) until the 1960s, full fledged. Jesse James was a brave Civil War guerrilla fighter but he became an uncommonly violent criminal and murderer after the war. Frank James was probably as ruthless and bad (he was part of the same gang), but after the death of Jesse he escaped prison (in real life) and lived into the Twentieth Century.

In this movie, Frank is not portrayed as a bad person. He just wants his brother's killers dead. And Henry Fonda is a kind of low key, determined fellow throughout. We naturally run into the standard assortment of types that are almost required in period Westerns--drunks and sheriffs and pretty girls out of place in this rough manly world. And there are shoot outs and a court trial and so on.

Of all people to approach this genre, and in color, you'd least expect Fritz Lang, the recent émigré with "Metropolis" and "M" and "Fury" all in his portfolio. He gets rising star Henry Fonda in the loner lead for this sequel, naturally, and Fonda is the meat of it, really terrific (in an echo, actually, of the loner lead in John Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" in the same year). And then there's Gene Tierney playing a pseudo-reporter in her very first film role, showing early on that she is mostly a pretty face, but a decent actress at least. There are other great character actors (like John Carradine, fresh off of "Stagecoach" as well as "Jesse James") but specially notable (to me) is the African-American farm hand Ernest Whitman, who has to suffer from some awful stereotyping, but who is malleable and likable (and turns a verbal mistake into a catchy little song without a hitch).

I love Lang's movies, even his weaker ones, and I really think he didn't quite "get" what a Western was about the way Ford did in the same period. It becomes something like a Hollywood drama that happens to be set in this post Civil War place west of the Mississippi. The stereotypes and archetypes are in play, but he misses the combination of grit and certitude that is part of the scene. Even Fonda comes across as slightly underplayed, a rather nice fellow who just happens to be out for blood.

The photography is strong and vivid even though trapped to some extent on being "pretty" because of the rich color and beautiful scenery and by the bright lights so often used to blast the scenes for the tri-pack film. And then there is the ridiculous plasticity of the facts--most of what happens in the movie didn't happen at all in real life. Everyone is really just cashing in on the folk hero status of this killer, and on the success of "Jesse James" the movie the year before.

Thanks to the terrific cast and photography, this story makes a terrific western. Henry Hull is terrific as major Cobb, who expresses justified Southern outrage over the depradations of the carpetbaggers and the railroads. Despite the ignorant comments of some who dare to make a ludicrous comparison to fascism, what we get here is an honest expression of southern feelings. Yes, there was a condesencion toward blacks then, but let film show it as it was, let's not try to rewrite history or create a pleasing fiction as all too many modern films do. 'Shoot em down like dogs??!' I would dearly love to see Major Cobb in a modern day courtroom, giving fire and damnation to the lawyers and other parasites that hide behind suits and ties! This is a real satisfying film and Gene Tierney never looked better.

Return of Frank James, The (1940)

*** (out of 4)

Fritz Lang directed this sequel to Jesse James, which picks up right after the Ford Brothers shot Jesse in the back. Hearing that the brothers got off with murder, Frank (Henry Fonda) comes out of retirement to seek revenge. This film isn't quite as good as the original but it's still a very worthy follow up with strong direction and some really good performances. Fonda is good as usual but it's Henry Hull who steals the show as the grumpy newspaper owner. John Carradine, Gene Tierney and Jackie Cooper are all equally impressive. The ending is terrific but I personally thought the courtroom scene went a little too over the top in the comedy.

"The Return of Frank James" has a nice script, beautiful costumes, an accurate photography in gorgeous technicolor. Perhaps a further pair of gun-fights would be desirable: gun-fights in a western movie are like salt in the food. The film has a peculiar interest for cinephiles, since here the great director Fritz Lang confronts himself with the western genre for the first time. I think he makes a good job, even if does not seem completely at his home. Moreover we have the usual Henry Fonda's charisma and... OK... the main reason why I am interested in the movie is the presence of Gene Tierney at the very beginning of her career. I must confess that here her legendary beauty is still a bit unripe... let's say that Venus has just come out of the shell. No fear: within one year or two our eyes will rest on the highest beauty in movie history (in history at all, I dare say).