Cattle Drive *** (1951, Joel McCrea, Dean Stockwell, Chill Wills, Leon Ames, Bob Steele) – Classic Movie Review 8399

Director Kurt Neumann’s 1951 Universal International Western movie Cattle Drive may not be outstanding, but it is well crafted, entirely amiable and appealingly acted – Joel McCrea and Dean Stockwell are excellent – with outstanding Death Valley cinematography in Technicolor by Maury Gertsman.

Stockwell plays the accidentally abandoned toffee-nosed teenager Chester Graham Jr, who has to hitch a ride home from the desert with cowboy Dan Mathews (McCrea)’s cattle drive. And hey presto, it makes a man of him in this surprisingly unclichéd Western update of an old coming-of-age theme that goes back to Freddie Bartholomew’s day.

The only woman in the picture is on a photo in the possession of McCrea’s character of the actor’s own real-life wife, actress Frances Dee!

Also in the cast are Chill Wills as Dallas, Leon Ames as railroad magnate Chester Graham Sr, Bob Steele as Charlie Morgan aka Careless, Henry Brandon as Jim Currie, Howard Petrie as Cap, Griff Barnett as Conductor O’Hara, Harry Carey Jr, Harold Goodwin, Carol Henry as Cowpuncher, Cactus Mack, Chuck Roberson, and Bob Burns.

The score is composed of stock music arranged by Joseph Gershenson (musical director).

Cattle Drive is directed by Kurt Neumann, runs 78 minutes, is made by Universal International Pictures, is released by Universal Pictures (1951) (US) and General Film Distributors (GFD) (1951) (UK), is written by Jack Natteford and Lillie Hayward, is shot in Technicolor by Maury Gertsman, is produced by Aaron Rosenberg, is scored by Joseph Gershenson (musical director) and is designed by Hilyard M Brown and Bernard Herzbrun.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8399

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