Silver Lode

A Federal Marshal and his deputies ride into the western town of Silver Lode during 4th July celebrations claiming to have a warrant for the arrest of one of its citizens Dan Ballard on this his wedding day. Slowly the townsfolk turn against Ballard leaving him with only the support of the two women in his life. The stoic hero is played by John Payne with his back against the wall for most of the film and Dan Duryea is the villain of the piece. Lizabeth Scott is Ballard's fiance and Dolores Moran plays the saloon girl. The film moves along at a fine pace well directed by Allan Dwan John Payne turns in a fine performance as the hero and "Baddies" don't get much better than Dan Duryea! Altogether a fine western DVD movie plus Trailer etc

DVD arrived quickly and in great condition. Thanks Thrift-Books Motor City. Above average, color B-Western, ok print, with a few "bullet holes". No subtitles, but it has a couple of extras. A very young Stuart Whitman joins a good cast of western regulars. Good story, with a "different" ending. Not easy to find, for a reasonable price.

I'm not too big on western's, but I wanted to see Lizabeth Scott in a different role. I was surprisingly satisfied with this one. Dan Duryea, always the bad guy, even as a law man, didn't disappoint me. He comes to town (Silver Lode) with his posse, looking for blood. John Payne is accused of killing Duryea's brother during a card game. Payne (Scott's husband) has to go into hiding with help from the town's people, until he can prove his innocence. As for the lovely Lizabeth Scott, I still found her to be very appealing in western garb. I'm so used to her wearing form-fitting dresses and sometimes playing the bad girl in those 'film noirs'. Good ending.

About the only positive comment that can be made about this movie was the outstanding sets. A remarkably attractive setting for a remarkably bad and low-rent movie. The acting was mostly terrible in spite of two future stars (Stuart Whitman & Alan Hale Jr.) who got to say little beyond ignorance responses. And then actors who should have known better - Dan Duryea, John Payne, and Lizabeth Scott deliver such sophomoric performances that their status as great actors went straight to the cellar. What were they thinking? I'm especially disappointed with Dan Duryea, who was singularly the best talent on the set - yet he displayed none of that genius in this movie - they must have made this thing on a Saturday afternoon. Terrible Movie!!!!!

An elder gunslinger is marrying a beautiful young blonde when a posse of Trouble ride into town. The townsfolk forsake him and, save for the women who love him, he stands alone to meet his fate. Welcome to High Noon Redux, also known as SILVER LODE. SILVER LODE is a `message' movie, with more or less the same message its illustrious predecessor had - McCarthyism is bad. Or, as the dvd jacket blurb begins, "A fictional account of the most shameful moments in American history. McCarthyism justice western style: a case of guilty by association." On the off chance that the original audience missed the connection, the chief bad guy in this one, wonderfully played by A-List heavy Dan Duryea, is named `Ned McCarthy.' Get it? I don't have much patience for message westerns, and SILVER LODE definitely fits into the Ox-Bow Incident/High Noon continuum. I find myself drawn out of the movie too often, usually to criticize minor plot points (No judge would ever have so cavalierly allowed a shady, unidentified US Marshall extradite one of his town's citizens!) or to whine about how preachy it is. Still, SILVER LODE boasts a strong cast, headed by Gary Coo...er, I mean John Payne as the innocent accused and B-movie queen Lizabeth Scott as his almost-bride. Duryea is, as usual, excellent and great fun to watch. SILVER LODE also contains more than its fair share of well choreographed and photographed action scenes. A bit heavy handed, SILVER LODE is a movie with a message that borrows liberally from the mother lode of anti-McCarthyism westerns, HIGH NOON. The higher your tolerance for being preached at, the more you'll enjoy this movie.

I have always rather appreciated the films of John Payne, whose talents ranged all the way from dapper crooner in the 30s to swashbuckling, to charming Christmas hero in "Miracle on 34th Street" to tough guy westerns...all in a rather long career. A much neglected actor I think. This turned out to be quite an interesting film....calling up comparison with Gary Cooper and Grace Kelley's High Noon from about the same period. But there turned out to be much more to the story, since it dates from about 1954 and thinly veils the deplorable mob mentality of the McCarthy era. I think the actors, director, and writers should be commended for tackling such a subject at a time when actors' careers were being ruined by innuendo.

The movie itself is an excellent 'small' western of the 'town' variety, a transparent critique in 1954 of the McCartheism then afflicting the US. Very well done & a credit to Dwan & its other makers. Unfortunately, this new "special edition" released in spring 2010 is terrible: Silver Lode - Special Edition - far inferior to earlier edition from same company. Image quality is more contrasty than previous ed, & horizontally truncated just as former release. The earlier ed, which is also not very good but somewhat better in image quality & contrast, is available from amazon used at half the price of new special ed. Thus recommend Silver Lode earlier ed, until a good restored version is hopefully offered.

John Payne, Dan Duryea and Lizbeth Scott gave tense, very good performances in this color western. John Payne was especially good at showing what can happen to a person as he is slowly stripped of his self-respect, reputation and every friend in town, who desert him. Finally, he is down to nothing but self-preservation and survival. Lizbeth Scott is Payne's loyal love interest and Dan Duryea plays a convincing and clever villain. There are insinuations of 'McCarthyism' in the film, but they are too simplistic to be taken seriously. The career of Senator Joseph (Tailgunner Joe) McCarthy had a lot more to it than could be talked about here. I thought the color balance, sound and image clarity were very good for this DVD.