A Man Alone (film)

Last updated

A Man Alone
AManAlone1955Poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by R. Milland
Screenplay by John Tucker Battle
Story byMort Briskin
Produced byno credit
(Herbert J. Yates presents)
Starring Ray Milland
Mary Murphy
Ward Bond
Cinematography Lionel Lindon, A.S.C.
Edited by Richard L. Van Enger, A.C.E.
Music by Victor Young
Color process Trucolor
Production
company
Republic Pictures
Distributed by Republic Pictures
Release date
  • October 28, 1955 (1955-10-28)
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

A Man Alone is a 1955 American Western film directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Mary Murphy, Raymond Burr and Ward Bond. The story involves a man who stumbles onto the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery in the Arizona desert from which there were no survivors. [1]

Contents

Plot

On foot after the mercy killing of his horse, Wes Steele finds a stagecoach and a number of dead passengers. He takes a horse and rides to Mesa.

A corrupt banker, Stanley, and his partner Joiner discuss their stagecoach holdup with Clanton, their hired gun. Joiner, upset over the deaths, begins to leave, but Clanton shoots him in the back.

Stanley tells the townspeople that Steele is responsible for the robbery and murder. Steele hides in the cellar of the house of sheriff Gil Corrigan, who has yellow fever. Gil is under the care of his daughter Nadine and the home is quarantined. Steele nurses the sheriff back to health after Nadine collapses from fatigue. Gil worries about Nadine but has ensured her financial security. Nadine and Steele kiss.

Steele confronts and fights Stanley, causing a lynch mob to form. Gil allows Steele to escape.

Gil has been receiving bribes from Stanley, and the mob wants to hang him, but Steele returns to rescue him. Steele kills Clanton and is placed under arrest. He is warned to leave the town, but Steele decides to remain.

Cast

Production

In August 1954, it was announced that Ray Milland would direct and star in a Republic Pictures Western, The Gunman. [2] The film was based on an original script by John Tucker Battle and Talbot Jennings. [3] Milland directed episodes of his 1953–55 sitcom Meet Mr. McNutley in order to prepare. [4]

Filming began in March 1955. [5] Parts of the film were shot in the sand dunes outside St. George, Utah. [6] In April, the unit returned to Los Angeles. [7]

Milland received a percentage of the profits. [4] After A Man Alone, producer Herbert T. Yates hired Milland to direct one film per year for four years. [8]

Reception

In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles Times , critic Philip K. Scheuer wrote: "Milland's direction is, on a scene-by-scene basis, professional enough. For the first 25 minutes or so there were even intimations that he might rise into the exceptional class, for in these his 'man alone' was required to rely mostly on silence and pantomime to get over what was happening to him. Unfortunately, too much happens to him to be very credible." [9]

In the Chicago Tribune , reviewer Will Leonard wrote: "Milland makes a pretty good western hero, once he finds his tongue after the first half hour. ... The love stuff may be a little too thick for thoro cowhand fans, but the heavy doses of gunplay make up for some of the sentiment." [10]

Marjory Adams of The Boston Globe called A Man Alone "rich in suspense and audience appeal". [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Milland</span> Welsh-American actor and film director (1907–1986)

Ray Milland was a Welsh-American actor and film director. He is often remembered for his portrayal of an alcoholic writer in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945), which won him Best Actor at Cannes, a Golden Globe Award, and ultimately an Academy Award—the first such accolades for any Welsh actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Derek</span> American actor and filmmaker (1926–1998)

John Derek was an American actor, filmmaker and photographer. He appeared in such films as Knock on Any Door, All the King's Men, Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950), and The Ten Commandments (1956). He was also known for launching the career of his fourth wife, Bo Derek.

<i>Black Bart</i> (film) 1948 film by George Sherman

Black Bart is a 1948 American Western Technicolor film directed by George Sherman and starring Yvonne De Carlo, and Dan Duryea as the real-life stagecoach bandit Charles E. Boles, known as Black Bart. The movie was produced by Leonard Goldstein with a screenplay written by Luci Ward, Jack Natteford and William Bowers. The film, also known under the alternate title Black Bart, Highwayman, was released by Universal Pictures on March 3, 1948.

<i>Bolero</i> (1934 film) 1934 film by Wesley Ruggles

Bolero is a 1934 American pre-Code musical drama film directed by Wesley Ruggles and starring George Raft and Carole Lombard. The Paramount production was a rare chance for Raft to play a dancer, which had been his profession in New York City, rather than portraying a gangster. The film takes its title from the Maurice Ravel composition Boléro (1928). The supporting cast includes William Frawley, Ray Milland and Sally Rand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Murphy (actress)</span> American actress (1931–2011)

Mary Murphy was an American film and television actress of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chubby Johnson</span> American character actor and journalist

Charles Randolph "Chubby" Johnson was an American film and television supporting character actor with a genial demeanor and warm, country-accented voice.

<i>Overland Stage Raiders</i> 1938 film

Overland Stage Raiders is a 1938 "Three Mesquiteers" Western film starring John Wayne and directed by George Sherman. The film is notable for being the final film in which silent film icon Louise Brooks performed. Wayne played the lead in eight of the fifty-one films in the popular series.

<i>A Life of Her Own</i> 1950 film

A Life of Her Own is a 1950 American melodrama film directed by George Cukor and starring Lana Turner and Ray Milland. The screenplay by Isobel Lennart focuses on an aspiring model who leaves her small town in the Midwest to seek fame and fortune in New York City. The film was produced by Voldemar Vetluguin and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>Lisbon</i> (1956 film) 1956 American crime film directed by Ray Milland

Lisbon is a 1956 American film noir crime film produced and directed by Ray Milland and starring Milland, Maureen O'Hara, Claude Rains, Edward Chapman, and Jay Novello. An American smuggler based in Lisbon is hired to rescue a wealthy industrialist from behind the Iron Curtain.

<i>Last of the Wild Horses</i> 1948 film by Robert L. Lippert

Last of the Wild Horses is a 1948 American Western film directed by Robert L. Lippert and starring James Ellison, Mary Beth Hughes and Jane Frazee.

<i>Beyond Mombasa</i> 1956 film by George Marshall

Beyond Mombasa is a 1956 British-American Technicolor adventure film directed by George Marshall and starring Cornel Wilde, Donna Reed and Leo Genn. It was set in Kenya and shot on location there and at the Elstree Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Elliot Scott.

<i>Three Brave Men</i> 1956 film by Philip Dunne

Three Brave Men is a 1956 American drama film directed by Philip Dunne and starring Ray Milland, Ernest Borgnine and Frank Lovejoy.

<i>Gunmans Walk</i> 1958 film by Phil Karlson

Gunman's Walk is a 1958 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Van Heflin and Tab Hunter.

<i>Albuquerque</i> (film) 1948 film by Ray Enright

Albuquerque is a 1948 American Cinecolor western film directed by Ray Enright and starring Randolph Scott, Barbara Britton, George "Gabby" Hayes, and Lon Chaney Jr. Based on the novel Dead Freight for Piute by Luke Short, with a screenplay by Gene Lewis and Clarence Upson Young, the film is about a man who is recruited by his corrupt uncle to inherit his freight-hauling empire in the southwest, and who eventually defects to his uncle's honest business rival.

<i>The Plunderers</i> (1960 film) 1960 film by Joseph Pevney

The Plunderers is a 1960 American Western film directed by Joseph Pevney and starring Jeff Chandler, John Saxon and Dolores Hart. It was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1960.

<i>Colorado Sunset</i> 1939 film by George Sherman

Colorado Sunset is a 1939 American Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Gene Autry, Smiley Burnette, and June Storey. Written by Betty Burbridge and Stanley Roberts, based on a story by Luci Ward and Jack Natteford, the film is about a singing cowboy and his buddies who discover that the ranch they bought is really a dairy farm—and worse, it's subject to intimidation from a protection racket that prevents dairy products from safely reaching the market.

<i>Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone</i> 1994 TV film

Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone is a 1994 American Western television film starring Hugh O'Brian as Wyatt Earp, featuring new footage mixed with colorized sequences from O'Brian's 1955–1961 television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.

<i>The Purple Hills</i> 1961 film by Maury Dexter

The Purple Hills is a 1961 American Western film directed by Maury Dexter and written by Russ Bender and Edith Cash Pearl. The film stars Gene Nelson, Kent Taylor, Danny Zapien, Medford Salway, Russ Bender and Joanna Barnes. The film was released in November 1961, by 20th Century Fox.

<i>Deputy Marshal</i> 1949 film

Deputy Marshal is a 1949 American Western film directed by William Berke and starring Jon Hall, Frances Langford and Dick Foran.

Man Crazy is a 1953 American film noir drama film directed by Irving Lerner and starring Neville Brand, Christine White, Irene Anders, Colleen Miller and John Brown.

References

  1. ↑ "A Man Alone". Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 22, Iss. 252, (Jan 1, 1955): 154.
  2. ↑ Looking at Hollywood: 'Little Caesar' and 'Scarface' to Play in Gang Town Movie Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune7 Aug 1954: 16.
  3. ↑ Milland is Named to Direct a Movie: Actor Also Will Star in 'The Gunman,' Big-Scale Western Planned by Republic Special to The New York Times. 7 Aug 1954: 7.
  4. 1 2 Louella Parsons: Ray Milland Shines Six-Shooter The Washington Post and Times-Herald 21 Jan 1955: 40.
  5. ↑ Ray Milland Preparing 'Gunman' Film Los Angeles Times 12 Jan 1955: B7.
  6. ↑ D'Arc, James V. (2010). When Hollywood Came to Town: A History of Moviemaking in Utah (1st ed.). Layton: Gibbs Smith. p. 289. ISBN   978-1-4236-0587-4. Wikidata   Q123575108.
  7. ↑ 'Mystery Man' Readied for Milland; Sombrero Show May Arrive Here; Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 2 Apr 1955: 15.
  8. ↑ Drama: Milland Will Direct, Costar With Maureen, Los Angeles Times 27 Oct 1955: A6.
  9. ↑ Scheuer, Philip K. (November 3, 1955). "Milland Acts and Directs". Los Angeles Times . p. 9, Part II.
  10. ↑ Leonard, Will (November 4, 1955). "Milland Western". Chicago Tribune . p. 9, Part 3.
  11. ↑ Adams, Marjory (September 24, 1955). "New Film: Milland in 'Man Alone' at Paramount & Fenway". The Boston Globe . p. 12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.