Silver Lode (1954)

Director:

Allan Dwan

Writer:

Karen DeWolf (story)

Release Date:

23 July 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

WHEN THEY GRIP THEIR GUNS...YOU'LL GRIP YOUR SEAT! Revenge erupts into a frantic man-hunt...in this compelling picture of the Pioneer West! (original ad sheet)

Plot:

Dan Ballard, a respected citizen in the western town of Silver Lode, has his wedding interrupted by four men led by Ned McCarthy...

Plot Keywords:

U.S. Marshal | Brother | Murder | Saloon | Evidence

Cast

John Payne	...	Dan Ballard
Lizabeth Scott	...	Rose Evans
Dan Duryea	...	Ned McCarty
Dolores Moran	...	Dolly
Emile Meyer	...	Sheriff Wooley
Robert Warwick	...	Judge Cranston
John Hudson	...	Michael 'Mitch' Evans
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Johnson
Alan Hale Jr.	...	Kirk
Stuart Whitman	...	Wicker
Frank Sully	...	Paul Herbert, Telegrapher
Morris Ankrum	...	Zachary Evans
Hugh Sanders	...	Reverend Field
Florence Auer	...	Mrs. Elmwood
Roy Gordon	...	Dr. Elmwood

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | Sweden:15

Company:

Benedict Bogeaus Production

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Ballard hides near a haystack outside the Evans house, his shadow and the shadows of his pursuers fall on to the painted backdrop, revealing it as canvas and not a real landscape.

Movie Connections:

Featured in A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) (TV)

Mob Violence

Federal Marshal Dan Duryea arrives in the town of Silver Lode with three deputies to arrest one of its citizens, John Payne, on a charge of murder. As things start to happen, Payne who at first has the whole town behind him, loses all his friends save for fiancé Lizabeth Scott and former girl friend Dolores Moran who works in the saloon. By the way, Duryea arrives on the 4th of July which was also to be Payne's wedding day.

This is a classic version of the ill effects of mob violence. Some have said it's a polemic against McCarthyism, no doubt helped by the fact that Duryea's character name is McCarty. For myself Silver Lode is in the tradition of The Oxbow Incident and Fury, both classic films from major studios about vigilante justice.

Silver Lode doesn't have the production values that 20th Century Fox or MGM could bring to a movie, it was done by RKO. Nevertheless supporting Payne, Duryea, and Scott are a solid cast of players, very much at home in westerns. This was also Dolores Moran's last film, she was married to producer Benedict Bogeaus.

Payne had already essayed a very good role in Kansas City Confidential of a wrongly accused man and he follows it up here with an equally good portrayal. It's one of his best film parts.

Allan Dwan keeps things moving at a brisk pace, Silver Lode doesn't bog down for a fraction of a second. One of the best B westerns ever done.