Classic movie site with rare images, original ads, and behind-the-scenes photos, with informative and insightful commentary. We like to have fun with movies!
Archive and Links
grbrpix@aol.com
Search Index Here




Thursday, March 10, 2016

Passing Of The B's At Warner


Stock Footage Stampede in Cattle Town (1952)

Dennis Morgan going out from Warners with a whimper, Cattle Town a drop even from Raton Pass, neither tall in saddle beside westerns WB had done long ago (Cattle's neg cost a mere $594K). Now they merely pillaged off time when likes of Dodge City defined "Big" for outdoor stock (Maltin Reviews calls Cattle Town a "sad echo of a slick western," overlooking ones of us who answer to sad echoes). Had viewers by 1952 memorized Dodge City? --- because they sure got recycling from it. I wonder how many times the outsize barroom fight was used, or the race between wagon and train, or latter on fire set by baddies. And here was the thing: Dodge City itself was back in 1951, on a double with Virginia City, and in black-and-white rather than original Technicolor. Early 50's was disrespected time for oldies, a situation to worsen when Dodge City and whole of the pre-49 library went TV-way a few years later to be sandwich-sliced by local stations, for most part again in B/W. Even color prints of Dodge City would remain substandard for years. What I had in 16mm looked inconsistent, OK at times, faded or soft for most part. It's only recent put right thanks to Blu-Ray release. Best then, to view Cattle Town as an archeologist, and enjoy guess game of ID'ing old footage, a same joy found in Bob Shayne shorts WB did in early-to-mid 40's.


The pleasure in Cattle Town comes in seeing just where corners will be cut. It was virtually last among B's done by Warners as means of trimming overhead and increasing volume. 1952 saw twenty-six features from WB. Arriving as it did at the end of the year, Cattle Town saw out not only Dennis Morgan, but cheapie westerns that wouldn't be re-upped until Warners began doing them even cheaper, and en masse, for television. Being assigned to Cattle Town was surely letdown for most of cast, though Paul Picerni in memoirs said it was fun, even as he realized Cattle was a cheat. Notable is fact this may have been a dead last throwback to singing-plus-sidekicks of yore, Cattle Town braking often for Dennis Morgan to sing, oft to concertina accompany by George "Eight-Ball" O'Hanlon, beloved of the concurrent Joe McDoakes series. Does all this amuse? At times, yes, and there's only 71 minutes of it. Noel Smith directed, if that needs mention, though I was dumb to fact he'd done most of 30's "B" Dick Foran for WB, and dated back, in fact, to teens-era Larry Semon shorts at Vitagraph. If Cattle Town has a precursor, it would be the Forans, for placed side-to-side, I doubt we'd see much vary amongst them. Warner Archive has Cattle Town on DVD.

7 Comments:

Blogger MikeD said...

Since you mentioned 'Dodge City a couple of times, can you explain the ending to me? Bruce Cabot and his henchmen are jumping off the burning train onto horses in order to get away from Errol Flynn and his buddies who are on the train. Instead of just stopping the horses or riding away from the tracks, the baddies just ride alongside the train to be picked off like shooting gallery ducks. Even as kid watching it a long time ago on TV, that bothered me. Did I miss something?
Yeah, I know, you're gonna ask me why the Indians just didn't shoot the horses in 'Stagecoach'.

8:26 AM  
Blogger John McElwee said...

Yes, I always thought "Dodge City" kind of fell apart at the end.

8:45 AM  
Blogger Mike Cline said...

Bought CATTLE TOWN from Warner Archive a couple of years back. Boy, it is weak.

9:56 AM  
Blogger Dave K said...

Just watched the Blu-Ray of DODGE CITY about two weeks ago. While watching it, I wondered 'why don't I remember the ending?' Then it ended and I remembered why I didn't remember... like you said, a bit of a let down.

10:02 AM  
Blogger Scott MacGillivray said...

I did a big double take when I saw your 1952 ad in the banner: "Directed by Noel Smith?! In '52?!" I always thought Smith packed it in after Universal's GANG BUSTERS serial 10 years before. You learn things at Greenbriar!

This sent me to the IMDB and there it was, CATTLE TOWN. I also noted that Smith absented himself from the Hollywood scene for years at a time. I think I read somewhere that Smith was a real hard case, blunt and insistent, which might explain his occasional absences.

Now we can add Noel Smith to the list of A-list directors who worked steadily in the '20s but could only get cheapies by the '40s: William Beaudine, Christy Cabanne, Elmer Clifton, Lambert Hillyer, and Harry Fraser come to mind.

4:57 PM  
Blogger lmshah said...

I don't think it's fair to look down one's nose at any of the Directors listed for having long careers in various levels of the Movie Industry, and I would also question the idea that the Directors mentioned were all "A-List" Directors (actually the only one who would qualify for any reasonable amount of time would have been William Beaudine in the 1920's), what they were were solid, dependable directors of programmers, and the fact that they all continued to perform that function for decades is actually very commendable, their names on any film usually guarantees at least watchability and frequently delivers more.

In an industry where an average career at the top even back then was lucky to last a decade, it says something to their talents and dependability, much less stamina, that they continued working. And if you were a Director of programmers, you were going to be moving to places like Republic, Monogram, and PRC that took up that slack as the major studios quit making that sort of product (and, if you lived long enough, you then moved on into television as places like Republic, Monogram, and PRC also went away, as Beaudine and Lambert Hillyer did).

And don't kid yourself that there wasn't a decent living to be made for these guys, Harry Fraser said he made more money off of WHITE GORILLA than any other film he made, he owned a piece of it and the Weiss's circulated that one forever, and William Beaudine also made a packet off of MOM AND DAD as well.


RICHARD M ROBERTS

7:44 PM  
Blogger Scott MacGillivray said...

Amen, Mr. Roberts. The directors I mentioned were all skilled professionals, and I share your positive opinion. No slight of any kind was intended (my affection for William Beaudine's work knows no bounds) and I could shake my fist in the faces of the authors who branded Beaudine "One-Shot" because he seemed to bother with only one take of any sense. This of course is hogwash, but people actually think Beaudine's nickname really was "One-Shot."

Both William Beaudine and Harry Fraser are subjects of book biographies, and I recommend both highly.

11:07 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home

grbrpix@aol.com
  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • July 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • November 2014
  • December 2014
  • January 2015
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • May 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • August 2015
  • September 2015
  • October 2015
  • November 2015
  • December 2015
  • January 2016
  • February 2016
  • March 2016
  • April 2016
  • May 2016
  • June 2016
  • July 2016
  • August 2016
  • September 2016
  • October 2016
  • November 2016
  • December 2016
  • January 2017
  • February 2017
  • March 2017
  • April 2017
  • May 2017
  • June 2017
  • July 2017
  • August 2017
  • September 2017
  • October 2017
  • November 2017
  • December 2017
  • January 2018
  • February 2018
  • March 2018
  • April 2018
  • May 2018
  • June 2018
  • July 2018
  • August 2018
  • September 2018
  • October 2018
  • November 2018
  • December 2018
  • January 2019
  • February 2019
  • March 2019
  • April 2019
  • May 2019
  • June 2019
  • July 2019
  • August 2019
  • September 2019
  • October 2019
  • November 2019
  • December 2019
  • January 2020
  • February 2020
  • March 2020
  • April 2020
  • May 2020
  • June 2020
  • July 2020
  • August 2020
  • September 2020
  • October 2020
  • November 2020
  • December 2020
  • January 2021
  • February 2021
  • March 2021
  • April 2021
  • May 2021
  • June 2021
  • July 2021
  • August 2021
  • September 2021
  • October 2021
  • November 2021
  • December 2021
  • January 2022
  • February 2022
  • March 2022
  • April 2022
  • May 2022
  • June 2022
  • July 2022
  • August 2022
  • September 2022
  • October 2022
  • November 2022
  • December 2022
  • January 2023
  • February 2023
  • March 2023
  • April 2023
  • May 2023
  • June 2023
  • July 2023
  • August 2023
  • September 2023
  • October 2023
  • November 2023
  • December 2023
  • January 2024
  • February 2024
  • March 2024