Brilliant and touching

A Disappointing Continuation

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

No question this isn't a great film, but I have to say it had me hooked from the outset. I haven't seen Jeff Chandler in much before, but I got into his earnest portrayal of a small town sheriff out to do the right thing, even if it meant bucking up against the local town boss and riling the citizens of Spurline. This had the feel of 'Dragnet' crossing paths with 'Wanted:Dead or Alive', and having Orson Welles on hand was just a bit of icing on the cake.One thing for sure, this picture is a treasure trove of character actors that will have you grasping for names because you've seen them so many times before (at least for old timers like me who grew up on TV fare of the Fifties and Sixties). In no particular order, you've got Paul Fix, John Larch, Leo Gordon, Mort Mills, William Schallert and Royal Dano. Rocco looked familiar too though I couldn't readily place him. TV Westerns of the era would pop one of these guys into a story one at a time, but having them all together in one place is a neat trip down memory lane.No sense in beating a dead horse regarding the story as other reviewers have done so nicely. The payoff here is having the local town folk arrive at the final showdown just in the nick of time since no way it was going to be a fair fight. In that respect, the picture does a one eighty against one of my all time favorites, "High Noon". The look on Orson Welles' face when he realizes the jig is up is just priceless, especially since daughter Skippy (Colleen Miller) earlier vowed she would see him pay for his ruthlessness. Wait a minute - Skippy? Who came up with that one? Interesting side note - who would ever have guessed back in 1957 that a half century later, you could reverse the Royal Dano character's name and come up with an American Idol superstar. There's a trivia question you could have some fun with.

Universal International's MAN IN THE SHADOW is a modestly entertaining thriller! Produced in 1957 by Albert Zugsmith it was adequately written for the screen by Gene L. Coon and was crisply photographed in black & white Cinemascope by Arthur E. Arling. Also known as "Pay The Devil" it was directed in a fine workmanlike fashion by the king of the B movies Jack Arnold. Now the picture has just recently been released on DVD in a splendid and sparkling widescreen transfer which in itself is something of a surprise since the movie isn't that well known or that well appreciated. But one could suspect that the reason for its DVD appearance is the presence in the cast of the great Orson Welles who takes second billing to the picture's star Jeff Chandler. Welles' part in the movie isn't very distinguished. In fact it isn't distinguished at all and could have been played by any one of a dozen Hollywood character actors such as Charles Bickford, Robert Middleton, George MacReady etc. One could further suspect that Welles took up the assignment simply to woo Universal so they would back him the following year when it came to producing his masterpiece "Touch Of Evil". Whatever the reason the great actor here just chews up every bit of scenery there is and acts the socks off everyone around him.Spurline is a quiet little modern cow town in the south west were nothing really very much happens until one day the local sheriff Ben Sadler (Jeff Chandler) gets a complaint from an old Mexican farm hand (Martin Carralaga) that his young friend and co-worker, at The Golden Empire ranch where they both work, has been beaten to death by two of the ranch foremen (John Larch and Leo Gordan). The Golden Empire is a ranch of gargantuan proportions - "Why sheriff there are some countries in Europe not as big as this ranch" stoutly declares its owner the powerful Virgil Renchler (Orson Welles) who doesn't take too kindly to Sadler when he comes to see him about the young farm hand's death. He threatens and intimidates him and not only that but the town council also want Sadler to cease his investigation so as not to compromise Renchler's investments in the town. But Sadler is not for turning and continues to probe resulting in two attempts on his life. The picture ends when after been dragged through the streets of Spurline on the end of a rope a badly beaten Ben Sadler arms himself and with no one to help him goes to The Golden Empire to arrest Renchler and his cohorts. But Renchler's men overpower him and just as they make plans to kill him the town's leading citizens, with changed hearts and minds, arrive to help their sheriff arrest Renchler and his men.Of course the acting honours goes to Welles. As the all powerful and brash land baron he just runs away with the movie whenever he's in it. Regrettably though Jeff Chandler is as wooden as ever complete with irritating facial expressions, that camera conscious manner and that affected gait when he walks. But there is some nice playing from a good supporting cast like Martin Carralaga as the old bracero, Paul Fix and William Schallert as members of the town council, John Larch and Leo Gordan as the killers, the attractive Coleen Miller as Renchler's daughter and there's a fine cameo from James Gleason as a guest of the county who sleeps it off every night in Sadler's jail cell. Also of note is the splendid score contributed by Hans Salter and Herman Stein both of whom shamefully go uncredited as was the norm for a Universal picture of the period.MAN IN THE SHADOW is by no means a great movie but it's a handsomely mounted black & white Cinemascope offering which flows quite comfortably with Arnold keeping a tight rein on the proceedings. So to sum up there are worse ways one could spend 83 minutes.

The law in the nineteen fifties was straight forward enough, if you happen to be white. Minorities on the other hand were lucky if ever there were men behind the badge with the willingness to stand up to wealthy, powerful men. This 1950's film was directed by Jack Arnold and written by Gene L.Coon. It depicts the story of Ben Sadler (Jeff Chandler) the town's sheriff, who is informed of the death of Jesus Cisneros (Martin Garralaga), an immigrant worker or 'Bracero' who is murdered by two ranch hands. From the moment the sheriff begins his investigation into the murder, he is besieged by local town's people of the danger of taking on Mr. Virgil Renchler (Orsen Wells) the most powerful man in the state. Still, Sadler is determined to bring the two men to justice. John Larch, Royal Dano, Paul Fix, Leo Gordon and William Schallert are among the most notable actors who give life to this otherwise Black and white picture. The acting is good and so too is the dark drama, which allows the movie to be interesting. Chandler gives a powerful performance and shows why he became a popular staple of the era. ****

This is a great film with great Classic actors and producers, namely: Jeff Chandler, (Ben Sadler),"Return to Peyton Place",'61, who plays the role of a Sheriff in town and has to deal with race relations and bigots. Orson Welles,(Virgil Renchler),"Hot Money",'83, is the so-called boss of the town and has all the town folks wrapped around his little pinkie. Colleen Miller,(Skippy Renchler),"Step Down to Terror",'58, is married to Virgil and is a pretty hot number that puts some sex into this semi-Western. Barbara Lawrence,(Helen Sadler),is the wife of Ben and does her very best to stand by her man no matter what people think of him and punch him to death quite often. Jeff Chandler passed away at the early age of 42 and was at the height of his career and made only a few more pictures after this Classic film of 1957.