Such a frustrating disappointment

Pretty Good

Nice effects though.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

While at RKO Pictures, French expatriate Jacques Tourneur directed three low budget horror films for producer Val Lewton: "Cat People" (1942), "I Walked With A Zombie" and "The Leopard Man." (1943). All three are still considered to be classics of their kind. In 1947, he directed "Out Of The Past" starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer and Kirk Douglas. So by rights, "Canyon Passage" should have been a superior Western. It had everything in its favour, a very good director, a top-notch crew and a script based on a novel by Ernest Haycox which was adapted for the screen by Ernest Pascal. The photography was by veteran Hollywood cameraman Edward Cronjager. Frank Skinner wrote the music. Singer songwriter and sometime actor, Hoagy Carmichael performed "Ole Buttermilk Sky" in the film that he composed with Jack Brooks and was a big hit in its day. Sadly I found the film a distinct disappointment, let down in great part by the wooden performances of the two male leads: Dana Andrews as Logan Stuart, a merchant cum entrepreneur, and Brian Donlevy as George Camrose, his gambling addicted erstwhile business partner. It's a moot point whether this is the fault of a weak script, an inattentive director or bad acting,but the fact remains "Canyon Passage" is a lesser film because of it. Thankfully, the film manages to rise somewhat above your average 'horse opera' thanks, in no small part to Susan Hayward as Lucy Overmire, George Camrose's fiancee, British emigre, Patricia Roc as Logan's girlfriend, Caroline Marsh, and a strong performance by a stalwart of John Ford's films, Ward Bond. Such solid actors as Lloyd Bridges, Rose Hobart, Stanley Ridges and Halliwell Hobbes, in turn ably supported them. "Canyon Passage" is a modest attempt to portray what life was like on the Oregon Frontier, and is still worth watching.

Decidedly Offbeat Western with an Innocuous Title but Otherwise a Winner in All Respects. The Stylist Director Tourneur Brings a European Sensibility to the Hollywood Pioneer Picture Mainstay and Makes It Something Special.The Gorgeous Technicolor is a Surprise for Fans Turning to This Genre Piece and There are More Surprises to Come. The Complex Plot with Subplots Galore, the Mixing of the Community with Many Mixed Up Citizens, the Brutal Saloon Fist Fight Complete with Dripping Skull Fractures, the Indian Raids that Show Some Savage Behavior (although in long shot), and There's More.The Score from Frank Skinner Works Quite Well and Hoagy Carmichael is Along for the Ride with His Own Brand of Warbling. Ward Bond Plays a Very Heavy Heavy in One of His Best Villain Roles. The Two Lead Men Dana Andrews and Brian Donlevy Do Nothing to Detract from the Overall Magnificence of the Movie, and Neither Does Susan Hayward Who Looks Beautiful.There are Supporting Players Moving In and Out Featuring Lloyd Bridges and Andy Devine. But it is the Way the Director Frames the Film with Evil Always Lurking on the Edges and His Genuine Auteur Credentials that Put This All Together to Make it Something Quite Special in a Genre that Includes More Mediocrity than Most.

This film opens in Portland, Oregon in the 1850s; businessman Logan Stewart rides into town and withdraws some of his gold from storage; he runs a freight business and wants to expand; ultimately he hopes to bring the stage coach to the growing town. Somebody obviously knows he has gold on him as he is attacked in his room during the night; the assailant gets away but Logan has an idea who it could be; Honey Bragg; a man Logan suspects murdered a couple of miners a few days before. The next morning he leaves town with Lucy, the fiancée of his friend George. They are heading to Jacksonville where George runs the gold store... in effect the town bank. For some time after this nothing much happens; we see the townsfolk coming together to build a house for a couple of newly wed farmers; there is a tense but peaceful meeting with the local Indians and we learn that George likes to gamble rather more than he should. The action kicks off later when a man is murdered shortly after returning to town; George is the chief suspect as it is believed that he had been helping himself to peoples gold. Logan points out that the evidence is circumstantial and their 'trial' isn't legal but it is clear that they intend to hang George at nightfall; when he sees a chance Logan helps his friend escape. Bragg meanwhile has killed again; this time an Indian woman... the rest of the tribe are now on the warpath and many people will die before peace returns to Jacksonville.Given its age I had expected this film to be in black and white but it was in glorious Technicolor... just what the glorious Oregon setting required! The opening half of the film may have been fairly action free but it did a fine job of introducing us to the characters and giving us a glimpse in to the lives of people living far away from 'civilisation'... they may have been in the United States but if something needed doing they had to do it themselves; that included defending themselves when things got dangerous. By the time the action started I had grown to care about the characters. The action when it came was more shocking than I'd expected; among those we see killed are women and children we have been introduced to earlier on. The characters aren't all what one would expect in a western of this era; this is especially true of George who puts his gambling addiction ahead of his fiancée and is almost certainly guilty of the murder he was accused of. The acting was solid with Dana Andrews doing a good job as Logan and Brian Donlevy being equally good as his friend George. Director Jacques Tourneur did a fine job; perhaps it is because he was French rather than American that this feels so different from other westerns of that era I've seen. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to fans of the genre.

Prior to 1947 and Smash-Up, the film that set the pace for Susan Hayward to play emotionally unbalanced women, her earlier films such as Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and I Married A Witch (1944) were simply awful. This film falls in that category as well.Despite the beautiful scenery, the film for the most part is primarily dull. Let's not get into the trap of the hard pioneer life because even the pioneers would have been annoyed with this film.I knew that it was too good to be true when Brian Donlevy was playing a nice business person. I just knew that there had to be murder in his heart. Furthermore, Ward Bond looked so big and heavier in his role as the heavy.The story really doesn't get started until the murders and the Indian uprising. The beginning is very slow moving.In the same year that Andrews gave a memorable performance in "The Best Years of Our Lives," he was given very poor writing material to work with here. Hayward is extremely wooden in the role of Lucy. She just seemed to follow that way in all of her previous performances. Patricia Roc, in the role of Caroline, is the real loser in this film. She loses everything, but vows to remain far away from the town after the uprising. No wonder little was ever heard from her again.A vintage film to forget,please do.