Sat 17 Jun 2017
Archived Western Movie Review: PASSION (1954).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[5] Comments
PASSION. RKO Radio Pictures, 1954. Cornel Wilde, Yvonne De Carlo, Raymond Burr, Lon Chaney Jr., Rodolfo Acosta, John Qualen, Anthony Caruso. Director: Allan Dwan.
A conflict over land in old Spanish California flares up into the deaths of several members of one homesteading family, and one of the survivors vows vengeance.
Cornel Wilde and Yvonne De Carlo strike me as being a couple who are absolutely meant for each other, but surprisingly, in this movie they don’t even get to kiss. She’s the tomboy (!) sister of the woman who’s the murder5ed mother of Wilde’s son, and while she is obviously making eyes at him, he is so busy with revenge, he hardly notices her at all. A passionate affair it isn’t.
Raymond Burr plays the officer of the police who must bring his old friend to justice. If it weren’t for him, I’d never even have considered saving this movie on tape. (And even so, I didn’t.)
COMMENT: In Brian Garfield’s book on western movies, he calls what this film as a “Bob Steele” plot. If it weren’t such an obvious slur on Bob Steele, I’d agree 100 percent.
June 17th, 2017 at 1:08 pm
In the photo, Yvonne DeCarlo is looking an awful lot like Gene Tierney (?).
June 17th, 2017 at 1:21 pm
You’re right. You have good eyes. Scratch that one. I’ll go look for another image or two to use. Thanks!
June 17th, 2017 at 6:42 pm
This is one of many Allan Dwan films I’ve never succeeded in tracking down.
Dwan made an earlier film with a Spanish California background, the silent “Tide of Empire” (1929). Oddly enough, this silent is easily available in a good print.
June 17th, 2017 at 6:51 pm
Since my review says I watched it on tape, I must have caught it on either TCM or American Movie Classics. It should still be around today in hands of collectors.
This one I taped over, but I still have 100s of VHS cassettes with 3 or 4 movies on them that still play fine.
June 18th, 2017 at 12:09 am
It’s available on YouTube.
Not a lot going on, but it sure is ‘purty’ in color.