A Man Alone *** (1955, Ray Milland, Mary Murphy, Ward Bond) – Classic Movie Review 7922

Ray Milland’s début as director is this thoughtful, well-made 1955 Republic Pictures Western A Man Alone, in which Nadine Corrigan (Mary Murphy), the beautiful daughter of a lawman, Sheriff Gil Corrigan (Ward Bond), conceals in their basement a gunslinger on the run, Wes Steele (Milland), from an angry rabble out for his blood.

Unfortunately Wes Steele has stumbled across the aftermath of a stagecoach robbery in the Arizona desert where there were no survivors, takes one of the horses to ride into town to report the massacre and finds himself accused of it.

Of course, to provide some irony as well as romance, the gunfighter is innocent of the stagecoach massacre he is suspected of, and of course he falls for the daughter.

The plot is as old as them thar hills, but Milland’s imaginative handling, John Tucker Battle’s decent screenplay from a story by Mort Briskin, and some fine acting make A Man Alone, a little bit special.

And Milland has the good sense to work with unique scene-stealing character stars, Bond, Raymond Burr, Lee Van Cleef, Arthur Space and Alan Hale Jr.

Also in the cast are Douglas Spencer, Thomas Browne Henry, Grandon Rhodes, Martin Garralaga, Kim Spalding, Howard Negley, Frank Hagney, Thorpe Whiteman, Dick Rich, Minerva Urecal, Julian Rivero and Lee Roberts.

It is shot in the ironically named Trucolor process by cinematographer Lionel Lindon on striking locations in St George, Utah (sand dunes); Snow Canyon, Utah; New Mexico: Paiute Wilderness Area, Arizona; and Colorado City, Arizona. The studio work is done at Republic Studios, 4024 Radford Avenue, North Hollywood, Los Angeles.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7922

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