The Return of Frank James **** (1940, Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper) – Classic Film Review 1064

Director Fritz Lang’s 1940 follow-up to 1939’s huge hit Jesse James is at least the equal of a marvellous original. Once more, the film was universally considered historically inaccurate but again was a commercial success. In real life, though Frank surrendered six months after Jesse James’ murder, both Ford brothers were already dead and Frank had nothing to do with their deaths.

In Lang’s very sleek, superior and richly enjoyable Western sequel, Henry Fonda returns as Jesse James’s outlaw brother Frank James. This time, in original screenplay writer Sam Hellman’s fictional version of the story, Frank continues to avoid arrest to take revenge on Bob Ford (John Carradine, also returning from the original) and his brother Charlie Ford (Charles Tannen) when the killers are pardoned for their murder of his brother Jesse.

Frank has been laying low, living as a farmer and taking care of Clem (Jackie Cooper), the son of one of the members of the James gang. But, when he goes after the Ford brothers, Clem disobeys his orders to stay on the farm and tags along.

Fonda continues to develop his intense, quietly dignified portrayal of reluctant outlaw Frank, and seems very much at home in the Western setting. Carradine is again an outstandingly scary villain, while Gene Tierney is eye-catching in her notable movie début as newswoman Eleanor Stone, a reporter for the newspaper The Denver Star, who falls for Frank James when she goes to interview him.

The intended idea of Frank being romantically involved with the reporter was dropped because 20th Century Fox feared a possible lawsuit by Frank’s widow or son.

The great Lang directs the revenge Western stylishly and dynamically, in an appropriately dark, moody and brooding fashion. Again, George Barnes’s thrilling Technicolor California outdoor location cinematography is a must-see. Filming took place at Buttermilk Country, Inyo National Forest, Round Valley, Lone Pine and Sonora.

Fritz Lang also directed Henry Fonda in You Only Live Once (1937).

(C) Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Film Review 1064 derekwinnert.com