Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Decidedly Offbeat Western with an Innocuous Title but Otherwise a Winner in All Respects. The Stylist Director Tourneur Brings a European Sensibility to the Hollywood Pioneer Picture Mainstay and Makes It Something Special.The Gorgeous Technicolor is a Surprise for Fans Turning to This Genre Piece and There are More Surprises to Come. The Complex Plot with Subplots Galore, the Mixing of the Community with Many Mixed Up Citizens, the Brutal Saloon Fist Fight Complete with Dripping Skull Fractures, the Indian Raids that Show Some Savage Behavior (although in long shot), and There's More.The Score from Frank Skinner Works Quite Well and Hoagy Carmichael is Along for the Ride with His Own Brand of Warbling. Ward Bond Plays a Very Heavy Heavy in One of His Best Villain Roles. The Two Lead Men Dana Andrews and Brian Donlevy Do Nothing to Detract from the Overall Magnificence of the Movie, and Neither Does Susan Hayward Who Looks Beautiful.There are Supporting Players Moving In and Out Featuring Lloyd Bridges and Andy Devine. But it is the Way the Director Frames the Film with Evil Always Lurking on the Edges and His Genuine Auteur Credentials that Put This All Together to Make it Something Quite Special in a Genre that Includes More Mediocrity than Most.

Recently I came across a disc of westerns I had where Susan Hayward was the star. She didn't make too many films in this genre, but the ones she did appear in were very sharply filmed. One such early picture was Universal's CANYON PASSAGE, produced by Walter Wanger with whom Hayward was under contract at the time.The story goes that several directors were suggested before European-born director Jacques Tourneur was selected. Tourneur began directing shorts back in his native France in the early 30s, and by the time 1946 rolled around, he had already been in Hollywood for several years. He built a name for himself in the industry directing low-budget horror films for Val Lewton at RKO earlier in the decade, and CANYON PASSAGE would be his first western. More significantly, it would be his first motion picture photographed in Technicolor.During his apprenticeship at RKO, Tourneur learned the importance of morally ambiguous story lines that kept audiences guessing about the fate of a story's main characters. The chance to explore these approaches in Technicolor was probably too good to pass up. He would also have a larger budget at Universal.True to form, Tourneur did not disappoint. He made the most of a frontier tale filmed with exciting outdoor scenes on location in Oregon. He used the impressive lush backdrops of the forests, meadows and mountain ranges off in the distance, juxtaposed with shadowy figures, lurking within the landscape, waiting to ambush others with shocking violence at a moment's notice.In a way the use of vivid Technicolor lulls the audience into accepting the bucolic countryside as something pleasant, beautiful and peaceful. But there is a darker undercurrent in the settling of the west, and its real nature becomes apparent with the use of shadows and with morally ambiguous characterizations that choose not to paint things too stereotypically for the viewer.Indeed, there are no traditional white hats (for the heroes) or black hats (for the villains). Instead, we get group shots, where all the men and women, of varying shades of goodness and corruption, populate the landscape side by side. The final result is a rather complex drama about the community's survival existing across a landscape where men and women make mistakes and are not fully good or bad.It might be said that Tourneur's approach in the western genre paved the way for other morally ambiguous stories to follow. Notably, efforts by Anthony Mann and Raoul Walsh.

Jacques Tourneur directed a couple of real winners in the productions of Val Lewton at RKO a few years before this, and then "Out of the Past", a beacon of noir. His career decline in the 50s and he wound up churning out junk on television.This film, made when he was in his early forties, has been criticized because it doesn't seem as skillfully done as such low-budget masterpieces as "Cat People." But it's still a distinctive Western.First of all, Tourneur didn't simply throw away everything he'd learned at RKO. In those psychological horror stories, most of the menace is implied or off screen. He brought that particular trope with him. The majority of significant murders take place off screen. There is a climactic Indian attack but no shoot outs. Nobody is faster with a gun than anyone else. The result is less action and more of an emphasis on the dynamics of personality.Second, it's true that there is little of the Angst here that there was in the horror films but Tourneur has handled the tension well and he's trying to do something here that he didn't try in any of his other movies. He's captured a community. The stars are only cogs in a much more complicated social machine. Jacksonville isn't John Ford's kind of community. The crowd may build a house with joint action but they can turn vicious and judgmental and punitive at a moment's notice.Jacksonville is a peculiar community in some ways. Everyone knows everyone else's name and habits. And, as benign and affable as they usually are, they're intent on shaming Dana Andrews into a fist fight with Ward Bond -- in what is probably Bond's best performance. Of course the same applies to Ford's Irish community in "The Quiet Man." But this isn't a comic fight between Andrews and Bond. It's brief but extremely brutal for 1946. And it's unconventional in other ways. Usually in Westerns, the slug fest begins with fists and when the villain realizes he's outmatched he picks up a piece of furniture or an ax and tries to subdue the hero. In this instance, Bond gets the first punch in. Then Andrews gets to his feet, picks up a chair at once, and slams it down on Bond's back. The chair doesn't break into a thousand pieces either. The bloody fight isn't the least amusing and it wouldn't be equaled until "Shane" in 1952.The principle is Dana Andrews as the level-headed businessman who experiences role conflict. He's a friend to his weak partner, Brian Donlevy, but he abhors his dishonesty. He's had a long-time girl friend, Patricia Roc, but is increasingly attracted to Donlevy's fiancée, Susan Hayward. Hoagy Carmichael is around to add some unnecessary numbers to the musical score. Nobody's but Bond's performance stands out. The Indians are tolerant of whites -- up to a point -- and then they morph into the Goddess of Rhamnous.This is by no means the best Western ever made. (It could be argued that it's not a Western at all.) But it's tidy and deliberate; the dialog by Ernest Pascal has some surprises tucked away in it. "Censure on your lips; approval in your eyes."

From the first scenes of this movie, you get the idea that you are into something a lil' bit special. The colors are like viewing a classically beautiful painting and the production values are superb. Jack Cardiff could have been the cinematographer. Some want to get into all of the psychological aspects of the movie but this is a movie to be enjoyed for what it looks like and is. Logan Stuart as everyman of American West maybe, but other'n that, good ole "B" western entertainment with a lot'a class. Enjoy the beauty of Susan Hayward and Patricia Roc, and maybe figger out what Stogey Charmical's imitation of Mary Worth is doing in this flick, but this is a movie that just seems to wrap itself around you and take you on an interesting journey. Some have noted that the movie might have been better received had John Ford been the director but thankfully, he wasn't. I appreciated Dana Andrews ability even more after watching this movie and recommend it to you for a few viewings because I think with each, you'll find even greater enjoyment of it. You may even come to like "Ole Buttermilk Sky". Oh, and Stogey decides not to follow 'em in the end so pay attention as he waves good-bye to 'em as they ride off into the sunset! You're in for a treat!!