La caverne des hors-la-loi

Like others, I was ready to bypass this small timer. Cigar chomping Director of cheap horror films, William Castle must have been in a lower gear when he worked on this, but it actually helped. After a standard opening with a train robbery and lots of horse riding (just to give the look of an action flick) this show actually settles into slightly above average story telling. While a tad silly along the way, it does manage to achieve a mild level of character development.

Interesting was the melancholy piano playing by the lead character in the first bar he walks into --- after 15years in prison from the age of around 14 --- Makes you want to know a bit more about him. Underrated performer Macdonald Carey plays this role very convincingly and his horse riding skills are shown to good advantage. He gets good support from a well above average cast. Alexis Smith is certainly above par for this material, she looks beautiful and is convincing as the owner off the town's newspaper. Victor Jory was always reliable and the scene where he rides his superb white horse onto the front walkway of the newspaper office to rope-whip Carey is very well done. The film has several surprisingly brutal scenes considering its year and type - one of these involved a very young Russ Tamblyn (uncredited: playing the lead character as a boy) being beaten off camera by the local Marshal. Even TV man Hugh O'Brian impresses in his few scenes. Edgar Buchanan is, well... Edgar Buchanan.

The on-location filming in the Carlsbad Caves New Mexico adds handsomely to the atmosphere. Elizabeth Wilson does well with her story despite some lapses in the screenplay. Universal International must have had their own Technicolor Lab, as they were very often willing to make small scale westerns in the glory of true I.B. Technicolor. The DVD transfer for this little film is very good indeed. Looks like U.I. must have had the wisdom to keep their original negatives.

Between films about talking mules and an assortment of cowboys, Director of Photography Irving Glassberg did not get many chances to showcase his talents but does have a few specials to his name: "The Web" interesting Noir from'47 ~ "The Strange Door" '51 ~ "Tarnished Angels" '57 ~ "The Lawless Breed" '53

Expect little and it could entertain on a slow day.

B-Horror Huckster Icon William Castle Directed this, aside from the Unusual Cave Scenes, Average Western Story about Hidden Treasure and the Lust for Gold.

Macdonald Carey Looks more like a "Dude" then a Man who Spent the Last 15 Years in Prison.

When He is Released, Returns to the Scene of the Crime and the Town-Folks Fawn at His Feet.

Because, Supposedly, He knows where the Gold from the Robbery that sent Him to Prison is Hidden.

You Guessed it...In the Cave.

It's all Rather Far-Fetched and Less than Engaging and is Staged Without much Flare.

The Highlights are "The Cave", of course, but Also Alexis Smith and Her Stunning Wardrobe and Edgar Buchanan Against Type as a Sober Agent.

Watchable but Unremarkable, Except for the Odd Cave Scenes.

The Rest is Ho-Hum Action with Ho-Hum Results.

Cave of Outlaws is directed by William Castle and written by Elizabeth Wilson. It stars MacDonald Carey, Alexis Smith, Edgar Buchanan, Victor Jory, Hugh O'Brian and Houseley Stevenson. A Technicolor production out of Universal International Pictures, with music scored by Joseph Gershenson and cinematography by Irving Glassberg.

1895 and Pete Carver (Carey) is released from Kansas State Prison, he is the only survivor of a gold robbery 15 years earlier that saw his father killed in caves near Cooper Bend, Arizona. The gold was never recovered, and now Carver is back in Copper Bend, and this place, its inhabitants, are about to be privy to greed, treachery and murderous secrets of the past.

William Castle was 7 years away from making his lasting mark on cinema, where his scare tactic gimmicks used to accompany his horror movies ensured him a lasting reputation as a showman producer with tactical nous. Prior to this he was a jobbing director, churning out a number of low rank and file pictures that are rarely mentioned and mostly forgotten about. The odd one, mind, is worthy of spending time with on a Sunday afternoon. One such film is Cave of Outlaws, a Western that certainly doesn't shake the earth or raise the pulse considerably, but has enough interesting locales and quality of story to render it as watchable fodder for the B Western fan.

Standard formula applies here, man has mission to accomplish, gold is the route of all evil, pretty girl offers hope of romantic redemption, but villains and the law are spoiling the broth. There's no great stand out action sequences, but they are well handled by the director and stunt men, with a couple of good old fist fights to brighten the day. The Technicolor print is nice and with Glassberg and Castle making great use of the eerie Carlsbad Caverns and the lovely exteriors at Vasquez Rocks, picture is always pleasing on the eye. Cast are modest, but nothing to annoy or hinder, though it's unusual to see Buchanan turn in an average portrayal. 6/10

Fifteen years ago, a gang of bandits hid a stash of stolen gold in a cave. Now Pete Carver (Macdonald Carey) has returned, after serving a long prison sentence, to collect the loot. The trouble is, everybody in town wants a piece of his action. He helps the pretty widow Liz Trent (Alexis Smith) to re-launch her newspaper, The Clarion - but what is Ben Cross's interest in her?

Apart from a big, elaborate cave set with realistic stalactites and stalagmites, this listless western doesn't have much to offer. Ever-present western character actor Edgar Buchanan is good as Dobbs the Wells Fargo investigator, and the two leads are adequate, but that's it.

Some of the ludicrous touches include the cave interior being brighter than day, and Carver's ability to overcome two armed heavies, even though he has recently been shot and beaten up. The denouement is preposterously neat.

Verdict - slack, run of the mill horse opera.

I wasn't going to bother with this minor western but for the fact that it was being shown on a wet afternoon. In the event I'm glad that I did watch it as it was quite good. The caves provided a realistic and novel setting for many scenes, and the colour generally throughout the film was good. And when people got wounded they bled, unlike in many westerns of this period when a man is shot in the chest but continues to wear a spotless shirt! The spanking scene that has been mentioned in the trivia section was omitted from the version I saw, perhaps because what audiences in the 1950s thought was harmless fun has more in the way of sexual implications sixty years later.

Macdonald Carey (a cut-price Gregory Peck, with a slight facial resemblance to the more famous star) was just about adequate, and Edgar Buchanan wasn't as gruff as usual.