Sat 21 May 2011
A Western Movie Review: ALBUQUERQUE (1948).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[7] Comments
ALBUQUERQUE. Paramount Pictures, 1948. Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, George “Gabby†Hayes, Lon Chaney, Russell Hayden, Catherine Craig, George Cleveland. Based on the novel Dead Freight for Piute, by Luke Short. Director: Ray Enright.
I don’t know whether the Luck Short novel this above-average technicolor Cinecolor movie is based on takes place in Albuquerque or not, but I suspect it doesn’t, since Piute is in Utah (or California) and therefore not particularly close (as the crow flies) to the titular city in New Mexico using anyone’s map, including Google’s.
The people who made this movie tried to dress it up a bit. Some of the various background settings appear Spanish in origin, such as one scene in particular that takes place on a Sunday morning with worshipers entering a Spanish chapel in their Sunday best finery. Otherwise the town the story takes place in could have been any other place in the West. They all look alike to me, anyway.
Randolph Scott has lead billing, and he’s definitely the star. He plays Cole Armin, who comes to town to work for his uncle John (a not so genial George Cleveland), who owns most of the freight contracts in the area, but when Cole discovers how crooked his uncle is, he goes to work for the competition instead, a brother and sister team played by Russell Hayden and Catherine Craig.
Second-billed Barbara Britton doesn’t show up until at least half the film has gone by, but perhaps she had a good agent to speak up for her. Which is not to say that she doesn’t have an important role. She also comes to town originally to work for John Armin, this time in an undercover capacity; which is to say that her job is to spy on the Wallaces for him.
With more plot to the tale than is usual – compared, that is, to your typical Rex Allen film, for example – there are a few twists and turns to the plot to come, with the whole story ending with a hair-raising trek down a mountain in a pair of freight wagons in an effort to win a new mining contract.
Which not so incidentally makes Dead Freight to Piute a better title, if you were to ask me, and yes, I know it’s too late now. But at least maybe the people who made the film did stick to the novel at least a little bit.
Seeing this movie in color was nice, and Gabby Hayes plays his usual colorful sidekick to the hilt. It’s Randolph Scott who’s the star attraction, though, and he’s given plenty to do to prove it.
May 21st, 2011 at 6:48 am
According to my notes in Garfield’s WESTERN FILMS, I saw this movie about a half year ago and gave it an outstanding rating, mainly because of Randolph Scott and the Luke Short plot. Garfield is just about the toughest western critic but he likes this movie saying, “It’s a good fast Luke Short yarn, well plotted with plenty of twists and fairly adult characters. Minor, but well done by all.”
May 21st, 2011 at 8:37 am
You, I and Brian Garfield pretty much agree then, Walker. I might not go so far as to say “outstanding,” but it’s certainly very very good.
Note that it took Garfield two sentences to sum up the movie, while I managed to restrain myself in using just over 400 words.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:01 am
Scouting around to find other reviews, here’s one from the New York Times, written by someone who doesn’t appear to be much of a western fan:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=980DE7DE123EE03BBC4953DFB5668383659EDE
“For further details, your attention is directed to ALBUQUERQUE, which arrived at the Victoria on Saturday all decked out in Cinecolor photography. It mighty be remarked in passing that the picture is neither especially good nor bad, as Westerns go; that Randolph Scott as Cole seems well able to take care of himself in the clinches; that Catherine Craig as Celia and Barbara Britton as a femme fatale imported by Uncle John to do some spying on Cole and the Wallaces are equally pretty to look at. And, yes, there is some shooting and a runaway stage to liven up the proceedings. But even this doesn’t help very much.”
May 21st, 2011 at 10:05 am
I’ve noticed that the NY Times, in their reviews of the 1940’s, 50’s, and 60’s, often appear to not like movies at all, especially B-movies and westerns.
I like the 7 visitors to the IMDB.com that reviewed the film. 6 out of 7 liked it and the other called it just an average Randolph Scott movie. Of course an average Randolph Scott movie is better than 90% of westerns.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:00 pm
I didn’t care for this picture. Scott, Britton and Hayes all deserve a better picture. Catherine Craig was, I thought, dull and colourless. Hayden and George Cleveland marginally better. On another blog someone made reference to Scott’s indifference to Britton as some kind of gay reference. Scott, of course, plays opposite Craig, who by the way, married Robert Preston. She may have been a lovely lady, but did not register onscreen.
May 21st, 2011 at 9:38 pm
Scott did make a few movies later on that were better than this one, I’d agree to that. I’d call this one a trial run for those he made with Budd Boetticher in the 1950s. I really enjoyed George Cleveland as the wheelchair-bound villain in this one. As for Scott’s indifference to Britton, as someone else’s reference, I didn’t see that at all. In the movie, as you point out, he was supposed to to be romancing Catherine Craig, whose performance was all that was required, but nothing more. Even in a smaller role, Barbara Britton attracted more male eyes in the audience, I’m sure.
May 25th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I’ve been reading some of the collected newspaper reviews of the ’50s and ’60s lately, and NYT primary reviewer Bosley Crowther deserves every insult piled on him in this period. He’s not quite as doltish as a Rex Reed or a Gene Shalit, but perilously close.