The Spoilers **½ (1955, Anne Baxter, Jeff Chandler, Rory Calhoun, Barbara Britton) – Classic Movie Review 5524

The two clashing 1899 Alaska adventurers fight for gold and a gal for the fifth time in director Jesse Hibbs’s routine and lesser but still enjoyable 1955 film version of the novel by Rex Beach.

It has the sole big advantage of colour – it is shot in lovely Technicolor by Maury Gertsman – over the previous versions The Spoilers in 1930 (with Gary Cooper as Roy Glennister and William Boyd as Alex McNamara) and The Spoilers in 1942 (with Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott and John Wayne).

Alas, nobody could say that Jeff Chandler (as Roy Glennister) and Rory Calhoun (as Alex McNamara) have the punch of their predecessors. But the famous scene where they slug it out for saloon gal Cherry Malotte (Anne Baxter) is spectacular, and Baxter impresses in a striking performance.

Also in the cast are Barbara Britton (in her final film), Carl Benton Reid, Ray Danton, Wallace Ford, Raymond Walburn, John McIntire, Ruth Donnelly, Willis Bouchey, Forrest Lewis, Roy Barcroft, Dayton Lummis, John Harmon, Paul McGuire, Frank Sully, Bob Steele, Byron Foulger, Arthur Space, Lane Bradford and Terry Frost.

It runs a short 84 minutes, is a Universal, is written by Oscar Brodney and Charles Hoffman, is produced by Ross Hunter, is scored by Joseph Gershenson, and designed by Alexander Golitzen.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5524

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