Canyon Passage (1946)

There are 2 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 2,964 times. The latest Post () was by lasbugas.

Participate now!

Don’t have an account yet? Register yourself now and be a part of our community!

  • CANYON PASSAGE


    DIRECTED BY JACQUES TOURNEUR
    UNIVERSAL PICTURES



    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    In 1856, backwoods businessman Logan Stuart escorts Lucy Overmire, his friend's fiancée, back home to remote Jacksonville, Oregon; in the course of the hard journey, Lucy is attracted to Logan, whose heart seems to belong to another. Once arrived in Jacksonville, a welter of subplots involve villains, fair ladies, romantic triangles, gambling fever, murder, a cabin-raising, and vigilantism...culminating with an Indian uprising that threatens all the settlers. No canyon in sight.
    Written by Rod Crawford


    Cast
    Dana Andrews ... Logan Stuart
    Brian Donlevy ... George Camrose
    Susan Hayward ... Lucy Overmire
    Patricia Roc ... Caroline Marsh
    Ward Bond ... Honey Bragg
    Hoagy Carmichael ... Hi Linnet
    Fay Holden ... Mrs. Overmire
    Stanley Ridges ... Jonas Overmire
    Lloyd Bridges ... Johnny Steele
    Andy Devine ... Ben Dance
    Victor Cutler ... Vane Blazier
    Rose Hobart ... Marta Lestrade
    Halliwell Hobbes ... Clenchfield
    James Cardwell ... Gray Bartlett
    Onslow Stevens ... Jack Lestrade
    Tad Devine ... Asa Dance (as The Devine Kids) (as Tad and Denny)
    Denny Devine ... Bushrod Dance (as The Devine Kids) (as Tad and Denny)
    and many more...


    Directed
    Jacques Tourneur


    Writing Credits
    Ernest Haycox ... (adapted from the Saturday Evening Post novel "Canyon Passage")
    Ernest Pascal ... (screenplay)


    Produced
    Alexander Golitzen ... associate producer
    Walter Wanger ... producer


    Music
    Frank Skinner ... (uncredited)


    Cinematography
    Edward Cronjager


    Trivia
    "The Hedda Hopper Show - This Is Hollywood" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on October 19, 1946 with Susan Hayward reprising her film role.


    Crazy Credits
    In place of the glittering black-&-white Art Deco glass globe ("A Universal Picture") with rotating stars that opened Universal films from 1939-46, this early Universal Technicolor film opens with a still card, a colored globe with letters superimposed: "A Universal Picture".


    Goofs
    Continuity
    At the beginning of the film, after Logan deposits his gold,
    he is shown crossing the street in the rain. In the long shot he gets one foot on the sidewalk, but in the next closer shot he is still a few feet from the sidewalk and then steps onto it again.


    Memorable Quotes


    Filming Locations
    Crater Lake National Park, Oregon, USA (Indians on warpath at 1: 14)
    Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA (Laramie Street area in 1959)
    Diamond Lake, Oregon, USA
    Umpqua National Forest, Oregon, USA


    Watch the Movie


    [extendedmedia]

    [/extendedmedia]

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 5 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • Canyon Passage is a 1946 Technicolor Western film directed by Jacques Tourneur and set in frontier Oregon.
    It starred Dana Andrews, Susan Hayward and Brian Donlevy.
    Featuring love triangles and a Native American uprising,
    it was adapted from the Saturday Evening Post novel Canyon Passage by Ernest Haycox.
    Hoagy Carmichael (music) and Jack Brooks (lyrics) were nominated for
    Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Ole Buttermilk Sky".


    Besides Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward
    look out for other Duke 'Pals' Ward Bond, Andy Devine



    User Review


    CANYON PASSAGE (Jacques Tourneur, 1946) ***1/2
    28 May 2007 | by MARIO GAUCI (Naxxar, Malta)


    Quote from mario

    A bland, generic title disguises a sublime little Western which, despite being one of a string of prestige genre pictures shot in color around the same time – like DUEL IN THE SUN (1946) and California (1946; included in Volume 2 of Universals Classic Western Round-Up series) – only in recent years did its reputation soar considerably through the championing of renowned admirers like Martin Scorsese and Jonathan Rosenbaum. It is also important in that it marked Jacques Tourneurs first film in color and for being the first of several Westerns he would go on to helm, the most distinguished of which was the black-and-white STARS IN MY CROWN (1950) with Joel McCrea.



    All the familiar Western ingredients are present (love triangles, crooked bankers, bar-room brawls, Indian attacks, impromptu court hearings turning into lynch mobs) but which are literally rendered fresh once more by impeccable handling and production values – the beautiful color photography (courtesy of color lighting expert, Edward Cronjager), skillful music accompaniment (composer Frank Skinner) and a splendid cast who rise up to the occasion of breathing life into their three dimensional characters: Dana Andrews restless hero, Brian Donlevys likable rogue, Susan Haywards feisty heroine, Ward Bonds mean town-bully, Hoagy Carmichaels balladeer-cum-cynical observer, etc. Besides providing notable roles also for Lloyd Bridges (as a hot-headed miner), Stanley Ridges (as Haywards lawyer father), Onslow Stevens (as a tubercular conman) and Rose Hobart (as Ridges enigmatic, exotic wife), screenwriter Ernest Pascal – working from material originally published by noted Western writer Ernest Haycox – adds the nice touch of introducing English émigrés (Patricia Roc and Halliwell Hobbes) into this community, which further aids the film in standing out from the crowd of similar fare.
    CANYON PASSAGE is undoubtedly one of the most vivid portrayals of pioneer life in the Old West ever brought to the screen, certainly on a par with John Fords DRUMS ALONG THE MOHAWK (1939) but arguably working on a greater level of sophistication: for one thing, the relationships between the characters are more complex in nature than they at first appear (practically every major character is engaged to marry someone but is truly in love with somebody else) and the fact that Tourneur boldly chooses to have some of the films major events take place off-screen – Donlevys killing of the miner whose money he has been pilfering (which leads to the trial in the bar), Ward Bonds slaying of the Indian girl (which leads to the climactic Indian attack), Andy Devines death at the hands of the Indians, Donlevys own execution by the villagers, etc. – also hints that we are watching is indeed something quite special.
    Director Jacques Tourneur and leading man Dana Andrews went on to collaborate on two more films a decade later – the superlative occult chiller, NIGHT OF THE DEMON (1957; which is apparently getting a fully-loaded release on R2 DVD later on this year) and the obscure Cold War thriller, THE FEARMAKERS (1958). One final note about CANYON PASSAGE: multi-talented Hoagy Carmichael composed and sang four songs for the film – one of which, Ole Buttermilk Sky, became a hit tune and was, sadly, also the films sole Academy Award nomination!

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 5 times, last by ethanedwards ().