The Yellow Mountain ** (1954, Lex Barker, Mala Powers, Howard Duff) – Classic Movie Review 13,109

The well produced 1954 Technicolor Western film The Yellow Mountain stars Lex Barker and Howard Duff as Nevada gold prospectors who fight over gold, guns and a gal (Mala Powers).

Director Jesse Hibbs’s 1954 Technicolor Western film The Yellow Mountain is based on a story by Harold Channing Wire, and stars Lex Barker, Mala Powers, and Howard Duff.

Nevada gold prospectors Andy Martin (Lex Barker) and Pete Menlo (Howard Duff) fight over gold, guns and a gal called Nevada Wray (Mala Powers), in this well produced but rather ordinary, predictable Fifties B-movie Western, but with some good performances in the lower ranks, especially from William Demarest, John McIntire and Leo Gordon.

With so many Westerns being turned out at the time, it is unremarkable and does not stand out from the crowd, apart from the character acting, Jesse Hibbs’s efficient direction, and a good Universal Pictures production by Ross Hunter, with shooting on location in the Mojave Desert, California, (as well as at Universal Studios of course) and excellent Technicolor cinematography by George Robinson. The problem is the routine story and script.

Also in the cast are Dayton Lummis, Hal K Dawson, William Fawcett, and James Parnell.

Release date: November 16, 1954 (US) and March 5, 1955 (UK).

The Yellow Mountain is directed by Jesse Hibbs, runs 78 minutes, is made by Universal International Pictures, is released by Universal Pictures (US) and General Film Distributors (UK), is written by Robert Blees, Russell S Hughes and George Zuckerman, is shot in Technicolor by George Robinson, is produced by Ross Hunter, is scored by Henry Mancini, Herman Stein and Stanley Wilson, and is designed by Alexander Golitzen and Alfred Sweeney.

Mala Powers in Cyrano de Bergerac.

The cast are Lex Barker as Andy Martin, Mala Powers as Nevada Wray, Howard Duff as Pete Menlo, William Demarest as Jackpot Wray, John McIntire as Bannon, Leo Gordon as Drake, Dayton Lummis as Geraghty, Hal K Dawson as Sam Torrence, William Fawcett as Old Prospector, and James Parnell as Joe.

John McIntire is billed as John Mc.Intyre, but at least he could take comfort from being on the poster, and spelled correctly too.

Jesse Hibbs (January 11, 1906 – February 4, 1985) started as director in 1953, on the Tony Curtis football drama The All American. Seven of his 11 feature films are Westerns, including Audie Murphy’s Ride Clear of Diablo, Walk the Proud Land, and Ride a Crooked Trail, as well as Murphy’s biopic To Hell and Back.

Later, Hibbs worked mainly in TV, directing 43 episodes of Perry Mason, 28 episodes of The F.B.I., and 20 episodes of Gunsmoke.

Mala Powers appeared in more than 100 TV episodes, and made five appearances on Perry Mason in the 1950s and 1960s.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,109

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