The Man from Colorado | |
---|---|
Directed by | Henry Levin |
Screenplay by | Robert Andrews Ben Maddow |
Story by | Borden Chase |
Produced by | Jules Schermer |
Starring | Glenn Ford William Holden |
Cinematography | William Snyder |
Edited by | Charles Nelson |
Music by | George Duning |
Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Columbia Pictures |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1 million [1] |
Box office | $2 million [2] |
The Man from Colorado is a 1948 American Western film directed by Henry Levin, produced by Jules Schermer for Columbia Pictures, and starring Glenn Ford as a Union officer who becomes addicted to killing during the American Civil War, William Holden as his best friend, and Ellen Drew as their common love interest. Robert Andrews and Ben Maddow based the screenplay on a story by Borden Chase. Although Ford received top billing as the mentally ill villain, Holden's role as the sympathetic hero is slightly larger.
Levin replaced Charles Vidor during filming. [3]
Union Colonel Owen Devereaux (Glenn Ford) orders his regiment to fire on a detachment of Confederate soldiers, even though he (and only he) has seen that they are signaling their surrender with a white flag. Immediately after the battle, the soldiers learn the war has ended. As they celebrate, Sergeant Jericho Howard (James Millican) drinks while on duty, and Devereaux has him arrested. Later, the mayor announces Devereaux's appointment as federal judge for the region. He proposes to Caroline Emmett (Ellen Drew), who agrees to the marriage.
Afterwards, a veteran of the Confederate detachment confronts Devereaux about the white flag. Devereaux disarms him and then shoots him several times, even though the man has already been subdued. Devereaux's best friend, Del Stewart (William Holden), witnesses the act. Based on the rebel soldier's anger and apparent veracity, Del concludes Devereaux must have seen a white flag. He further surmises the war has unhinged the new judge's mind. Nevertheless, Del agrees to serve as Devereaux's marshal. Devereaux's first big case as judge involves the taking over of mines from individual soldiers once they marched off to war. They want their mines back, but businessman Ed Carter argues that according to law, the mines are rightfully his. Devereaux upholds Carter's claim.
Led by the insubordinate Jericho Howard, a contingent of ex-soldiers and miners pull off a series of robberies designed to cripple Carter's mining venture. Devereaux threatens to hang Jericho's younger brother Johnny (Jerome Courtland), based on circumstantial evidence, even though Johnny is not part of his brother's gang. After warning Devereaux not to hang Johnny, Del persuades Jericho to turn himself in. But when Devereaux hangs Johnny, Stewart resigns as marshal in disgust and joins Jericho's gang. Meanwhile, Devereaux's unstable judgment finally convinces the people to alert Colorado's territorial governor. The story finally climaxes in a confrontation between Devereaux and Jericho. They both die when a wall from a burning building falls on them. In the final scene, Del boards a stage for Washington, D.C. to plead on behalf of the dispossessed miners.
William Franklin Holden was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film Stalag 17 (1953) and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for the television miniseries The Blue Knight (1973).
The year 1950 in film involved some significant events.
The year 1939 in film is widely considered the greatest year in film history. The ten films nominated for Best Picture at the 12th Academy Awards —Dark Victory, Gone with the Wind, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, and Wuthering Heights—range in genre and are considered classics.
Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford, known as Glenn Ford, was a Canadian-American actor. He was most prominent during Hollywood's Golden Age as one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, who had a career that lasted more than 50 years.
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The Secret of Convict Lake is a 1951 American Western film directed by Michael Gordon and starring Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore and Zachary Scott. The film was a critical and commercial success. The story is fiction, based on legends of Convict Lake, located in the Sierra Nevada mountain ranges of northern California. and a short story by Anna Hunger and Jack Pollexfen. The film is the final role for Ann Dvorak before her retirement from the screen.
Jerome Courtland was an American actor, director and producer. He acted in films in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and in television in the 1950s and 1960s. Courtland also appeared on Broadway in the musical Flahooley in the early 1950s. He directed and produced television series in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He served in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
Ellen Drew was an American film actress.
Night Editor is a 1946 American film noir directed by Henry Levin and starring William Gargan, Janis Carter and Jeff Donnell. It was based on a popular radio program of the same name. The script for the film was based on a previous radio program episode "Inside Story." A B-movie produced by Columbia Pictures, The movie was to be the first in a series of films featuring stories about the graveyard-shift police beat reporters at a fictional newspaper, the New York Star, but no other Night Editor films were made.
The Colorado Territory was formally created in 1861 shortly before the bombardment of Fort Sumter sparked the American Civil War. Although sentiments were somewhat divided in the early days of the war, Colorado was only marginally a pro-Union territory. Colorado was strategically important to both the Union and Confederacy because of the gold and silver mines there as both sides wanted to use the mineral wealth to help finance the war. The New Mexico Campaign was a military operation conducted by Confederate Brigadier General Henry Sibley to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of Colorado, the mineral-rich territory of Nevada and the ports of California. The campaign was intended as a prelude to an invasion of the Colorado Territory and an attempt to cut the supply lines between California and the rest of the Union. However, the Confederates were defeated at the Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico and were forced to retreat back to Texas, effectively ending the New Mexico Campaign.
Henry Levin began as a stage actor and director but was most notable as an American film director of over fifty feature films. His best known credits were Jolson Sings Again (1949), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) and Where the Boys Are (1960).
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Convicted is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Henry Levin and starring Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford. It was the third Columbia Pictures film adaptation of the 1929 stage play The Criminal Code by Martin Flavin, following Howard Hawks's The Criminal Code (1930) and John Brahm's Penitentiary (1938).
Father Is a Bachelor is a 1950 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Abby Berlin and Norman Foster. It stars William Holden and Coleen Gray.
James Millican was an American actor with over 200 film appearances mostly in western movies.
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The Great Missouri Raid is a 1951 American Western film directed by Gordon Douglas and written by Frank Gruber. The film stars Wendell Corey, Macdonald Carey, Ellen Drew, Ward Bond, Bruce Bennett, Bill Williams and Anne Revere. The film was released on February 15, 1951, by Paramount Pictures.
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