Le voleur de minuit

Fred McMurray left Barbra Stanwyck five years ago, always promising to return. But, while Babs drifts into an engagement with Fred's brother, Fred has been stealing cattle by moonlight (and barely misses getting lynched for his efforts). Will Babs find true love with THE MOONLIGHTER when he returns to town, or will the production code force Fred to pay some awful penalty before she gets the chance?

Barbara Stanwyck and Fred McMurray made four movies together. Three of them are classics. This justifiably obscure western is the one that isn't. This is true, even though screenwriter Niven Busch was responsible for the great Stanwyck western -- The Furies. What goes wrong here is a mediocre and very disjointed plot that always seems to be darting off in a new, random direction, just when the old plot elements are developing some tension. There's nothing wrong with the acting. Fred and Babs play their roles well. It's just that the movie itself gives the two stars less scenes together than you would think, and cheats Babs of screen time to develop her character in the later portion of the film. Finally the film suffers from a tacked on ending that is five parts production code nonsense and five parts 3-D outdoor spectacular climax.

A western disappointment. All parties involved have done better work.

The Moonlighter re-unites the stars of the great film noir Double Indemnity but to much less effect in this modest and rather tepid Western. Fred MacMurray plays the title character ,a moonlighter being a kind of cattle thief.As the movie opens he is in a prison cell awaiting trial while an inflamed mob is intent on lynching him before he can stand trial.They break into the gaol and summarily execute the wrong man due to mistaken identity. He sets out to wreak revenge on the killers but is wounded and returns home where he finds his sweetheart -played by Stanwyck-on the verge of marrying his bank teller brother.He becomes involved in a bank robbery with tragic results and Stanwyck sets out to bring him to justice.

The performances are acceptable and the major problem is the script by Niven Busch which -perhaps through budgetary and time constraints -never gets to explore the ramifications of the story ,which ends abruptly.

A minor Western it just about passes muster but could have been a lot better.It is however interesting to note that the Stanwyck character is the one most respected by the other characters and the town Marshall has no qualms about deputising her .In addition it is she who delivers the goods --early feminist Western maybe ?

Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) plays a "moonlighter," which is a person who rustles cattle by moonlight, that is arrested and awaiting trial when a lynch mob after his head storms the jail. The mob doesn't know which prisoner is the moonlighter, so they wind up hanging the wrong man while Wes escapes. He returns later to seek revenge on the members of the lynch mob. He's injured in the process which leads to his reuniting with his ex-girlfriend (Barbara Stanwyck), who is now engaged to Wes' younger brother.

Disappointing 3D western that features the two leads from Double Indemnity but doesn't deserve to even be discussed in the same breath as that classic. It starts out well enough with an exciting opening twenty minutes or so but it all goes downhill after that and becomes a predictable and boring melodrama. The stars are better than this material. No clue why it was in 3D as there's nothing particularly impressive about any of the visuals.

It seems hard to imagine that in the era of such great westerns as Shane and Wagonmaster a film like The Moonlighter could have been so lacking. This film is let down in nearly all of its scenes by its script. Yet while the script falters, Roy Rowland kind of saves the film through directing some interesting action scenes, including an opening lynching that is fairly riveting to watch, as well as a later fistfight between MacMurray and Ward Bond and horseback riding through a cascading waterfall, all done in decent black and white by ace cinematographer Bert Glennon. It's completely puzzling that the story behind the lynching is dropped in favor of the one about Fred, his brother, and Barbara Stanwyck, a strange love triangle. The roles of MacMurray and the actor who plays his brother should have been reversed, with the younger brother playing Fred's part as the moonlighter (cattle rustler) and Fred playing the loser bank clerk. Yet by the end of the film, it seemed at least slightly better than it was looking like it was going to be. Stanwyck looks convincing in a pretty decent rifle fight even if her affair with moonlighter Fred MacMurray is not anywhere near as hot as it was with him when they were in Double Indemnity.

Wes Anderson (Fred MacMurray) has been moonlighting as a cattle rustler. A crowd has gathered to see him hang. Sheriff Daws insists on saving him for the trial. Rancher Alex Prince's men arrive looking to break into the jail to lynch the man. Wes escapes when the wrong man gets lynched. That man is buried as Wes while Wes seeks revenge upon Alex Prince's men. Wes' ex Rela (Barbara Stanwyck) arrives set to marry his straight-laced younger brother Tom.

Apparently, this was shown in 3D. I don't know how that's done when it's in black and white. It must have been like one of those old toy 3d Viewfinders. Technical aside, this has MacMurray playing against type as a hardened cowboy. Also I don't get much heat with the MacMurray and Stanwyck reunion. Sticking Tom in the middle does not make it a fun love triangle. It's not the best western and I don't know how well the 3d worked. It seems fine otherwise.