Change Your Image
jackbherman
Reviews
Westbound (1958)
Solidly Entertaining Demi-Classic
The Western films directed by Budd Boetticher and starring Randolph Scott under the production name Ranown are considered classics. They are immaculately executed B-movies that, despite their modest production value, impressively punch above their weight.
Boetticher was a director with a talent for depicting conflict and adventure, And Scott, while too old at this point in his career to be a romantic lead for the ingenue, could still look heroic even while lying down and taking a nap. (Almost like he was the Liam Neeson of the 1950s!) But the secret ingredients were a hard-boiled script, a landscape so interesting looking that it might as well be a character in the film, and efficient, effective visual storytelling techniques.
Westbound is not one of the films bearing the offical Ranown label, but yet it is one frequently included when discussing this cycle of films due to the flavor brought by the presence of Scott and Boetticher. It seems Boetticher himself wasn't particularly fond of it, and it apparently it was made only to fulfill a contractual obligation to the studio that released it. But I'm happy to report that this film is better than its reputation.
For me, you can rate these Ranown and Ranown-adjacent films by the percentage of the film that takes place and is shot outdoors. The less time the better spent confined in a studio interior set where, as was seemingly the mandated style of the day, everything is so evenly and brightly lit that we might as well be watching a stage play.
By that standard Seven Men From Now, The Tall T, Ride Lonesome, and Comanche Station are the best of this bunch. Westbound falls into the lower half of litter. Better than Decision at Sundown and about as good or probably a little better than Buchanan Rides Alone.
One aspect of the best of the Ranown films is the presence of a dark motivation for the hero. Usually Scott is looking for revenge, redemption for a tragic failure, or simply getting out of the trouble he got into from his own extreme hubris. Scott in Westbound reluctantly accepts a mission that has an incidental link to his past, but there is nothing in the plot that ratchets up the tension as well as in some of the more memorable Ranowns.
While it sounds like I might be damning Westbound with faint praise, all of these films are worth a watch. Seeing every film in the extended Ranown cycle, including Westbound, is essential for any serious western enthusiast.
The Black Cat (1934)
A Major Event in Horror Movie history
Even in a decade like the 1930s which is so resplendent with clever, artful and historically significant classic horror films, The Black Cat is something special.
This, the first screen teaming of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff finds them both at the height of their powers. Lugosi and Karloff were indelibly connected with their signature roles of Dracula and Frankenstein, respectively, and never moreso than at this stage of their careers. So it is quite a treat seeing them essentially assigned each other's roles, playing the opposite of their typical screen persona.
Karloff plays the irredeemably evil Big Bad, nominally based upon Aleister Crowley, with his Frankenstein monster angular gaunt physique and perfectly ice cold charm. His full on punk rock hairstyle is 40 years before punk rock itself.
Lugosi plays the "protagonist" as deliriously tormented and dangerously erratic. Nominally based after Karl Jung, he trades the darkly radiant sociopathy of Dracula for an insane ambiguity with no less of his trademark intensity.
Although the credits state that this is inspired by the Edgar Allan Poe story, it bares no resemblance whatsoever to that famous tale.
The film itself is dream-like. Not only are the backstory, the plot and character behavior just short of non-sensical, but doors that slide open in one scene pull open swinging in the next. But it would be a mistake to attribute what we see here to Ed Wood-Ian style film flubs. It all hangs together as a beautifully surreal nightmare. Like David Lynch, in the context of itself it somehow all makes perfect sense.
While Lugosi's Murders In The Rue Morgue precedes it as talkie Poe adaptation, this very well may be the first Hollywood talkie horror film to portray Devil Worship.
The mass death of the First World War gave rise the mass interest in Spiritualism and both that war and its morbid after effect loom large here like in no other horror film.
The direction is crisp and the supporting cast is excellent. Even the smug David Manners, who always seems like he feels he is doing everyone a special favor just for showing up in these early Universal horror films, here gives one of only a handful of decent performance. And keep a sharp eye out for an uncredited appearance by the ubiquitous John Carradine.
The success of The Black Cat led to a string of wonderful Lugosi/Karloff team ups. It also played a significant role in the British horror ban and the eventual creation of the Hayes Code. As such, this film marks the beginning of the apex of the original Golden Age or monster and horror pictures.
The Bates Haunting (2012)
An Ersatz addition the Psycho series?
Just like the apparently real-life attraction from which it gets its name, The Bates Haunting squats upon the name Norman Bates, the iconic horror figure from Robert Bloch's story and Alfred Hitchcock's film. This film is no better or worse than your average xerox copy "mock-buster" or Asylum knock off.
Normally I would say a film like this should not exist as it is only destined to eventually take up space in a landfill. But The existence of The Bates Haunting is justified because, sadly, it is probably now the closest we will ever get to an actual film adaptation of Bloch's own Psycho House.