Albuquerque (1948)

Director:

Ray Enright

Writers:

Gene Lewis (screenplay)
Luke Short (novel)

Release Date:

30 January 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

BLAZING GUNS MADE HISTORY EACH DAY...AND WARM LIPS MADE MEMORIES AT NIGHT...

Plot:

Cole Armin (Randolph Scott) comes to Albuquerque to work for his uncle, John Armin (George Cleveland)...

Plot Keywords:

Agent | Freight Line | Henchman | Czar | Freight

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Cole Armin
Barbara Britton	...	Letty Tyler
George 'Gabby' Hayes	...	Juke
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Steve Murkill (as Lon Chaney)
Russell Hayden	...	Ted Wallace
Catherine Craig	...	Celia Wallace
George Cleveland	...	John Armin
Irving Bacon	...	Dave Walton
Bernard Nedell	...	Sheriff Ed Linton (as Bernard J. Nedell)
Karolyn Grimes	...	Myrtle Walton
Russell Simpson	...	Abner Huggins
Jody Gilbert	...	Pearl Eager
John Halloran	...	Matt Wayne
Dan White	...	Henchman Jackson
Walter Baldwin	...	Judge Fred Martin

Also Known As:

Silver City (UK)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12428)

Filming Locations:

Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. Possibly because of legal complications, this title was not included in the original television package, and may never have been actually shown. It has since been released by Universal on DVD.

Soundtrack:

De Camptown Races

Gets better as it goes along

At first I thought this was going to turn into another B western since it has a cast that includes Gabby Hayes, Russell Hayden and Lon Chaney in it, but then the plot quickens and it starts to get better as time goes on.

Randolph Scott plays Cole Armin, a happy-go-lucky guy who decides to come to Albuquerque and work for his wheelchair-bound uncle, John Armin (George Cleveland) in his freight business, only to find out that his uncle has got the town under his thumb and is willing to resort to murder in order to keep it that way.

Cole decides he doesn't want any part of his uncle's business and goes to work for honest-guy Ted Wallace (Hayden) and his sister Celia (Catherine Craig) who are the only freight competition in town against his uncle. They get a contract to transport ore for the miners down from the mountains, but Cole's uncle tries to sabotage it every step of the way, including bringing in beautiful Barbara Britton to spy on them and having Lon Chaney pick fights with Cole.

But that's all for naught because Britton starts to fall in love with Hayden and she informs Cole as to what his evil uncle is up to. It all ends in a gun battle on the street and the bad guys get their just rewards, including John Armin.

I'm glad the previous poster mentioned the cheap "Cinecolor" process that Paramount originally used because I was wondering why the film had a washed-out, 'colorized' look to it. It's even more apparent on the new Universal DVD that's recently come out.

Still, it not bad. Even Gabby Hayes was bearable.

6 out of 10