1953 - THUNDER BAY, not one of the better James Stewart/Anthony Mann films.

The third collaboration between James Stewart and director Anthony Mann was not one of their best.  Stewart plays an oil wildcatter who raises money to set up an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico to "drill baby drill" because as Stewart says, "America needs oil."  However the shrimp fishermen aren't crazy about the oil explorers drilling into their shrimp beds.  There lies the contrived conflict.

This is a mediocre film at best.  The chief offender is the very poor script.  Stewart falls in love with the head shrimp fisherman's pretty daughter played by Joanna Dru one of the blandest performers of the 1950's.  Dru plays a bitter woman who has been "used" by men in the past whatever that means. Their romance is very forced.  Anyway the actors go through the motions with this story for the most part.  James Stewart always brought a kind of integrity to the films he appeared in this one is no different.  Stewart's oil drilling buddy is played by Dan Duryea who always seemed to play weaselly little bad guys especially in some of Fritz Lang's films.  Duryea was always fun to watch in the many films he showed up in throughout his career.  He worked with Stewart for the last time in the excellent Flight of the Phoenix.

 

Anthony Mann had a weak script and apparently knew it.  But Mann and his cinematographer William Daniels managed some nice location photography in Louisiana and the Gulf which is about the only reason to even give this film a look.

 

Stewart and Mann were a good team for a while but their best films were the five westerns they made together which are kind of minor classics in the genre.

The film was written by Borden Chase and John Michael Hayes, the running time is 103 minutes. 

1947 - RAILROADED, early Anthony Mann film

 An early film made near the start of Anthony Mann's career.  The film was shot at the PRC studios (Producers Releasing Corporation), one of the cheap-o studios in the Hollywood that churned out second feature films.

 

Railroaded is apparently based on the same story that was filmed in 1948 as Call Northside 777 at 20th Century Fox.  The film has a very small budget but a fairly decent cast.  John Ireland is the unredeemable bad guy who robs a bookmaking operation and frames an innocent man for the crime.  

Hugh Beaumont is the cop on the case.  Beaumont didn't really gain popularity in the entertainment business until television took over as the public's major outlet for entertainment. Beaumont was chiefly remembered for playing the father, Ward Cleaver on the Leave It To Beaver series.  

  

Anyway Anthony Mann directed and if you are looking for some signs of his talent as a filmmaker you will have to look real hard.  The film isn't anything special and Mann probably had his hands full just getting the scenes filmed considering the next to nothing production budget.

The film was written by John C. Higgins and Gertrude Walker, the running time is a quick 72 minutes.

1968 - A DANDY IN ASPIC, Anthony Mann's final film

It would be nice to say that Anthony Mann's final film would be at the least a decent ending to his great career.  Unfortunately A Dandy In Aspic is what as known as a misfire.  This confusing spy vs spy tale almost rivals Funeral In Berlin for ridiculously complex plotting. 

Anthony Harvey plays a double agent embedded in British intelligence by the Russians.  For reasons to complicated to explain or care he is ordered to find the Russian assassin who has been killing British spies and eliminate him.  Never mind that the person Harvey is hunting is actually himself and around and around we go with this very contrived plot.

 

Tom Courtney is Harvey's coworker who hates his guts, Harry Andrews as usual has the "M" part handing out orders. For reasons I can't even begin to understand Mia Farrow is Harvey's very gratuitous love interest who just kind of shows up at different very contrived times in order to sleep with him.  I have no idea why she is in this film.  Did I mention comedian Peter Cook is in it as a British spy?  A very odd piece of casting.

 

Sadly Anthony Mann died two weeks before he was scheduled to finish filming.  Harvey stepped in and completed the film.  Mann had started his career in the film noir genre but you would be hard pressed to find any noirish touches in this story.  It's difficult to know what attracted Anthony Mann to this story he may have been looking for a change of pace after directing his super epics, El Cid,  Fall of the Roman Empire and Heroes of Telemark, For whatever reason this dull espionage tale just doesn't work.

The film was written by Derek Marlowe based on his book, the running time is 107 sluggish minutes.

1957, THE TIN STAR, disappointing Western from Anthony Mann

 I'm not sure what happened with this film.  The screenplay was by a reliable old pro Dudley Nichols, Henry Fonda gave a good performance as a former sheriff turned bounty hunter.  Fonda has to teach a very new and green sheriff played by the interesting actor Anthony Perkins before he gets shot up by the town bully.  Unfortunately the film just kind of goes through the motions.

This is rather surprising, the director Anthony Mann was a master of the western genre and certainly knew a thing or two about filming in widescreen.  But for some reason Mann didn't seem to be able to work up the interest or enthusiasm for this film.  It's clear they were attempting some sort of "adult" western to compete with all of those TV westerns that were all over the early television networks.  But The Tin Star is just not interesting.  Even the action scenes are somewhat of a dud.

 

Mann had filmed all of those great James Stewart westerns so maybe he had lost interest in the genre by the time this film rolled around.

 

Running time, 93 minutes.

1950 - DEVIL'S DOORWAY, good revisionist western

 A good western from Anthony Mann with an able assist from his cameraman John Alton.  Devil's Doorway speaks to the mistreatment of the Native American at the hands of a bunch of racists white men.

Robert Taylor plays the Native American, Lance Poole a Civil War veteran medal of honor winner who is cheated out of his land by an unethical attorney.  Let's face it Taylor is completely miscast in the role but does a very good job as Lance Poole, who isn't going to roll over and let white men walk all over him.

 

The action when it comes is very good and the film makes it points without hammering the viewer over the head about the mistreatment of Native Americans.

The film was written by Guy Trosper and runs 84 minutes.

1955 - THE MAN FROM LARAMIE, Anthony Mann, James Stewart

The fifth and last western from the team of Anthony Mann and James Stewart. The setting is New Mexico the action is good as usual.  The film has a streak of brutality particularly in the scene where Stewart gets his finger shot off.

Mann was scheduled to direct Stewart's next film about an accordion playing cowboy but complained about the script and the accordion.  An angry Stewart (in real life an actual accordion player) broke off his relationship with Mann.  So it goes with Hollywood prima movie stars.

 

Still, an excellent western.  Philip Yordan and Frank Burt wrote the screenplay,  The picture runs 102 minutes.

1965 - THE HEROES OF TELEMARK, Anthony Mann's last completed film

No wimp actors allowed in Anthony Mann's last completed film before he died. Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris are clearing freezing their butts off on location in Norway during the filming of this story during the winter months.

The film is based on a true story of Norwegian saboteurs blowing up a "heavy water" factory which the Nazi's were using to develop the atomic bomb during World War 2.  I would say based on is to put it mildly somewhat of a long stretch.  The screenplay wants to incorporate a love story, a spy story and finally a war film.

In spite of the film's shortcomings, Anthony Mann still stages the action scenes with his usual skill.  Shooting on location really brings an almost documentary like reality to the film.  Frankly it looks cold and very foreboding in Norway during the winter.

An interesting fact, Kirk Douglas was the producer of Spartacus and fired Anthony Mann and replaced him with Stanley Kubrick while filming that epic.  Douglas apparently felt guilty about the whole affair and years later tried to pay Mann back by starring in this film.

 

The film was written by Ben Barzman and Ivan Moffat the running time is 130 minutes.

1954 - THE FAR COUNTRY, another fine James Stewart/Anthony Mann Western

The 4th in the Mann/Stewart western series.  This one is set in Alaska during the gold rush but actually filmed in Alberta Canada.  The Far Country is part of the adult western film fad that set in during the 1950's. Basically the western film toughened up after surviving lots of light weight films in the 1940s (singing cowboys anyone).

As usual Mann has the cast riding over real locations not some comfy studio set back at Universal Studios.  At one point the production even filmed on a glacier.  Mann knew how to stage on location action scenes.

 

In a Mann film, these stories brought out the harder side of Stewart's character.  It was a very welcome change of pace for the good actor.

 

The film was written by the reliable Borden Chase and runs 97 minutes.

1952 - BEND OF THE RIVER, 2nd in the Anthony Mann James Stewart western series

Within the restrictions of a typical western film plot, this is a good tough film from Anthony Mann and James Stewart.  Anthony Mann liked his actors out in real locations, he felt it contributed to the overall feeling of the film.

Stewart abandoned at lot of his usual acting ticks and played an actual tough guy for a change. Arthur Kennedy was a good foil as Stewart's friend/foe.

A good western however you cut it.  Mann was an underrated director but when it came to staging scenes on location he was the equal to John Ford and John Sturges.

 Borden Chase an expert in writing interesting westerns was the screenwriter on this film.  The photography on location at Mount Hood and the Columbia River is a real plus.  The film runs a brisk 91 minutes.

1961 - EL CID, hugh epic filmed on an epic scale

The director is Anthony Mann, the producer is Samuel Bronston.  The film is huge.  A cast literally of thousands, real castles and massive battle scenes.

Charlton Heston is the legendary Spanish knight fighting to save his country from the Moors while dealing with a worthless King. Sophia Loren is his impossibly beautiful wife and the rest of the cast is the usual bunch of British actors hired to class these kind of films up.

They don't make them like this anymore and they never will again.  Viewing the film just for the large scale production values is certainly worth it.  The film also has a very memorable ending.

 

The film was written by Philip Yordan, Fredric M. Frank and Ben Barzman.  It has an epic running time of 184 minutes.

1955 - STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND, the shame of James Stewart and Anthony Mann

The actor James Stewart was a patriotic guy, so the chance to pay tribute to the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command must have been irresistible. The director of Strategic Air Command, Anthony Mann should have known better.

This is a 1950's feature length recruiting film for the Air Force. What you get here are over 2 hours of watching bombers with hydrogen bombs in them flying around the world. The idea of the United States Air Force in the 1950's was to keep a permanent fleet of flying bombers loaded with atomic weapons in the air at all times in case we went to war with someone, i.e. Russia or "the other guy" as they are referred to in this film.

 
This movie is so loaded to appeal to the Republican conservative base, you could probably dust it off and run it at a Tea Party rally.   James Stewart plays a star baseball player called back to duty to serve in the Strategic Air Command thus giving up a lucrative career as a baseball star.   Along with Stewart is his whiny virginal wife June Allyson who is such a pain in the ass it's a puzzlement how they ever got together in the first place.


June Allyson is such a sexless actor that when she announces she's pregnant, it's kind of a wonder how that exactly how that would have happened. Later in the movie when she is 9 months pregnant she still looks like a virgin. Anyway June's role in the film is to complain about Stewart being back in the Air Force or squeeze oranges for his fresh orange juice.  She just doesn't get that he is flying around saving the United States from godless Communism.  After a while you start hoping someone will drop an A bomb on her to end her constant bitching.
In fact the entire film is pitched around the premise that people who don't willingly give up their nice civilian careers and join the United States Air Force to fly around in planes with atomic weapons in them are unpatriotic ingrates.


This was the final film collaboration between Anthony Mann and James Stewart. It's amazing that the liberal Mann and the conservative Stewart stayed together as long as they did. I would certainly rate their film collaborations higher than that of Hitchcock and Stewart. It's regrettable that this film with was a piece of right wing propaganda.

Stewart and Mann were scheduled to film one more western together called Night Passage. Stewart was to play a railroad agent/detective. Stewart decided that he wanted the character to be an accordion playing railroad agent/detective. Anthony Mann finally had enough and ended their working relationship.

So what do you get out of watching Strategic Air Command?  Well they filmed it in Vista Vision so the aerial shots of the big bombers still look pretty cool even on my TV screen. The only reason to even watch this is to see the B-36 which is one big mother of a bomber, it must have looked pretty cool on the big screen. Anthony Mann's professionalism as a filmmaker pretty much keeps this movie from hitting rock bottom.

 

It's a little unfair to rip on Stewart too much for this movie. Compared to me he was an actual military hero. He took part in the United States Air Force's worst raid into Germany during World War II which resulted in the deaths of 650 Air Force personnel, a major screw up. The guy certainly put his money where his mouth was unlike a lot of Hollywood stars during World War II.  It's just unfortunate Stewart associated himself with this piece of junk.


He does look good in a uniform since he actually knew how to wear one.

112 patriotic minutes.

1957 - MEN IN WAR-one of the better films about the Korean War

The Korean War isn't a fun war like World War II. It doesn't have the larger than life villains like Hitler and Mussolini. It lacks the fanatical onslaught of hoards of the "yellow peril" of Japanese fighters descending on Pearl Harbor. It wasn't fought in Europe where you got all of that picturesque local European flavor to shoot up, or in the South Pacific, where apparently the sailors had time to stand around and sing "Bali Hai." Hollywood had a hard time making films about the Korean War, nobody really understood what the hell we were doing there other than it had something to do with communism and communism was going to destroy our way of life in the 1950's. Consequently there are not a lot of cool war movies made about the Korean war. Men in War is one of the few decent movies I've seen along with Pork Chop Hill and The Steel Helmet which is almost the entire list of Korean War films made in Hollywood.

The film focuses exclusively on a platoon of soldiers who are trapped behind enemy lines during one day. The plot has to do with them making their way back to safe ground, but this story spins it in interesting ways. The director is Anthony Mann who preferred to shot on location and who felt it was more realistic in a film to have the actors actually run up real hills than studio sets. The leads are Robert Ryan and Aldo Rey, two good actors but not big names. Ryan plays the Lieutenant in charge of the platoon. At the start of the film he seems sure of himself and in charge, by the end of the film he's lost control of the situation and is hoping he can keep himself alive. Rey is a Sergeant who is probably a psychopath who just happened to luck out by joining the army so he can kill people legally. Towards the end of the film Ryan comes to the realization that this is probably the type of guy the army needs as soldiers.

The scenes where the Americans kill the Koreans and then go through their pockets looting them were very effective. All of the Korean soldiers have pictures of their families in their pockets. The slow decimation of the platoon is also well done. Anthony Mann was always good at placing his actors in impressive compositions when filming. Here he has an interesting visual scheme with his actors wandering in tall grass and fields.

 

 The film was made on a small budget, but it was very carefully put together, photographed and edited for strong visual impact. The film is also extremely well acted, another good Anthony Mann film.

102 minutes, written by Phillip Yordan.