Mon 13 May 2019
A Western Movie Review: GHOST TOWN (1956).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[10] Comments
GHOST TOWN. Bel Air Productions / United Artists, 1956. Kent Taylor, John Smith, Marian Carr, Serena Sande, John Doucette, Joel Ashley, Gilman Rankin, William ‘Bill’ Phillips (the latter uncredited). Director: Allen H. Miner.
When it comes to westerns made in the 1950s, I find that independently produced black and white movies such as this one are often a lot more fun to watch than some of those filmed in color with big name stars. It may be my own skewed vision of the world, but I think the more personal approach says more to me than do pictures filtered through the eyes of corporate accountants, say.
This one starts slow, but the story wouldn’t have worked as well as it does without establishing who exactly the characters are and what’s motivating them, beginning with the four passengers in a stagecoach heading west through Indian territory: a young woman from Boston going to meet the man she is going to marry; a Bible-thumping preacher who has nothing but brotherly love for the noble savages; a doctor who spends most of the day taking long swigs from a bottle; and a well-dressed but still shady-looking gentleman of uncertain profession (Kent Taylor).
Along the way they are joined by the young woman’s fiancé (John Smith) and his crusty old sidekick Crusty (an unbilled Bill Phillips); an Army sergeant and his young son; and eventually a tongueless and disgraced Indian chief and his young mixed-heritage female companion.
The stagecoach chased by a band of angry Indians, they manage to find refuge in an abandoned town, and that’s when all of their various secrets start to come out. None of these come as a complete surprise to those of us who have seen a lot of western movies, but it’s as smoothly done as it ever was ins bigger productions. There’s lot of action, too, for those who watch westerns only for the action.
A couple of quibbles. The Indians at first abandon their chase when the stagecoach reaches the town — totally abandoned because of disease, they discover, and so, they assume, the Indians have marked the town as taboo. But for the sake of the story, though, once the fugitives are “safely” holed up inside the local saloon, the Indians show no signs of concern about bringing up the attack again.
Which, of course, brings out either the best, or the worst, of each of those trapped inside, with very little ammunition to aid them.
The other question I have is why on earth Bill Phillips gets no screen credit. He’s there primarily for comic relief, true, but he’s on the screen a lot more than some of the others who do get screen credit.
May 13th, 2019 at 10:53 pm
I saw this a couple years ago and liked it a lot. Sort of a B-version of STAGECOACH and also I see some film noir elements. In fact it is praised in THE FILM NOIR BIBLE as a western film noir.
May 13th, 2019 at 11:39 pm
The STAGECOACH connection is clear, but I think it’s a stretch to call it noir. I agree that there are hints of it now and then, but not much more. On my own personal Noir scale from 1 to 10, I’d give this one a 3.5.
May 14th, 2019 at 10:17 am
Noting that here (as elsewhere) you haven’t included credit for the screenwriter:
Trot on over to IMDb and look up Jameson Brewer, who wrote this one.
His credits are all over the place – indeed, they’re all over several places, in early TV and programmer movies (including a few that have been written up here in the past).
Take your time; we’ll all be here when you get back.
May 14th, 2019 at 12:40 pm
You’re quite right, Mike. He had quite a long writing career, with 62 credits on IMDB, though his early ones were very minor. Looks like most of his work was for TV.
Here’s his link:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0108163/
May 14th, 2019 at 3:52 pm
I have a weakness for these one-shot independent B-westerns. Seems like Kent Taylor was in a lot of them.
May 14th, 2019 at 6:24 pm
This was that period when you could sell a film to someone just by putting a horse and a cowboy in it.
May 14th, 2019 at 6:50 pm
And most of them weren’t very good. This one’s one that’s worth the effort in trcking it down.
I don’t know anything about Bel Air Productions, the company that actually made this film, while (as I understand it) United Artists was only the distributor.
Maybe some research is in order.
May 14th, 2019 at 6:53 pm
Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
“Revolt at Fort Laramie (working title Fort Laramie) is a 1957 Western directed by Lesley Selander and produced by Howard W. Koch and Aubrey Schenck for their Bel-Air Productions that produced second features for United Artists.”
May 15th, 2019 at 11:08 am
Evidently Bel-Air Productions didn’t confine themselves to Westerns; remember CRIME AGAINST JOE?
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=960
To judge from how many films, most of them Westerns, the lovely Julie London made with Bel-Air, she could have been a contract player and/or a stock holder.
May 15th, 2019 at 11:18 am
I remember your review, Mike, but that it was a Bel Air production, no, not at all. Another good movie from them. (Well, almost good.) Thanks for the reminder!