Excellent, Without a doubt!!

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Released in 1948, "Whispering Smith" stars Alan Ladd in the eponymous role of a train detective who's starts to suspect that his friend, Murray (Robert Preston) may be involved with a gang that wrecks and loots trains. Murray's wife, (Brenda Marshall), is concerned about her husband hanging with ne'er-do-wells and wishes she had a righteous man, like Smith.I was surprised at how much I enjoyed "Whispering Smith." It lacks that goofy humor and wacky characters that plague many old Westerns; plus the ancient score is more bearable than usual. Ladd is stunning as the noble and determined protagonist and so is Preston as the amiable husband gone bad. Can Murray be redeemed or has he gone too far? The film runs 88 minutes and was shot in California.GRADE: A-

I must admit, I've only seen a couple of Alan Ladd films, not even "Shane". Here, his character's personality is that of a very private person, who mostly only speaks when he thinks he has something important to say. He appears to be very low key, but behind that languid stony face with penetrating soulful eyes, he's as tenacious as a bull dog about things he thinks are important, as his long time friend Murray Sinclair(Robert Preston) finds out after Smith(Ladd) discovers his criminal activities relating to the railroad he has long worked for, as has Smith, as a detective.Beefy Robert Preston was often cast by Hollywood as a flawed or unlucky character, often a friend of the lead male or female, who is talked into joining a crooked operation. Another classic example of this is seen in the railroad-dominated de Mille epic : "Union Pacific". Other examples include "Reap the Wild Wind" and "The Last Frontier". Usually, as in the present film, he's marked for eventual death. For a rare role where he is the hero, see the oil epic "Tulsa".It soon becomes clear that Murray married Smith's one time girlfriend(Marian), who still pines for Smith: still unmarried. Smith seems uncomfortable in expressing affectionate emotions, except with his eyes, and prefers a life where he travels around a lot, often in danger of being killed. Murray's breezy garrulous extrovert personality is so different from Smith's, its hard to believe Marian would feel comfortable with both. Apparently, she doesn't really. She's constantly expressing concern about Smith's safety and health, which eventually become wearing on Murray, who becomes jealous of Smith. But that's not the only reason Murray's friendship with Smith becomes unraveled during the course of the film. Smith gradually discovers his increasing involvement in staging train wrecks, then claiming that much of the perfectly undamaged freight is damaged, which is pilfered, often carried to the ranch of his neighbor Barney Rebstock(well played by familiar character actor Donald Crisp). After Murray's new superintendent(the no nonsense McCloud) finds out about his misclassification of freight, he's fired, which just makes him form a closer tie with Barney, with more frequent suspicious train wrecks occurring. Presumably, Murray is now leading the staging of these wrecks, Smith having killed the 3 Barton brothers, who presumably previously staged the wrecks. Smith tries to talk him into moving elsewhere and starting over with a new legitimate life. But Murray gets mad and decks Smith, who them turns to Marian to try to talk Murray into pulling up stakes. Surprisingly, Murray agrees, but is already committed to lead one last train wreck heist. Unfortunately, the law is alerted to this one. He gets shot in the arm and is slowly bleeding to death as he heads for home. Smith and sidekick Bill(William Demarest)follow him plus 2 companions. The companions are shot dead, and Smith has a chance to shoot Murray, but declines. The 2 arrive at Murray's after Murray, but Marian tells them she hasn't seen Murray, after giving them some incriminating info. But Smith detects the lie in her body language, as well as the blood spots on the porch, and doubles back after seemingly leaving. There follows a strange confrontation with Murray: partly antagonistic and partly conciliatory. Murray is now very weak, slouched in a chair. He has an opportunity to shoot Smith in the back, but finally declines it as he collapses onto the floor, thus reciprocating Smith's previous restrain(which he doesn't know about).We may wonder why Smith repeatedly bends over backwards to try to give the uncooperative Murray opportunities to rehabilitate himself. We must assume that either their friendship extends to the very distant past, or perhaps Murray once saved his life, or perhaps he has(or had) a homoerotic relationship with the man(Of course, with the film codes of the time, this possibility wouldn't be made obvious). Even as Murray expires, having just nearly decided to shoot him, Smith squeezes his hand, as an expression of lingering affection. Very unusual!The film begins with Smith leisurely riding his horse through the snow of the low slopes of the Sierras(presumably), then being shot at from a distance, wrongly being assumed dead as a result. We have to assume these men knew he was trailing them, otherwise this makes no sense.(They were the 3 Barton train robbers). Smith's horse was badly wounded, hence useless for him to ride. Thus, he walks toward civilization, which appears as a rail line. He builds a big bonfire as a signal for a train to stop, despite the fact that there is a driving rain that should have extinguished such a fire! Brenda Marshall(Marian) repeatedly looks longingly deep into Smith's eyes, suggesting a deeper affection than usual for the leading lady. Although not stated, I suspect that the other, older, occasionally featured woman: Emmy, also red-haired, is Marian's mother. This would also explain why her husband Bill is a frequent sidekick of both Murray and, especially, Smith. Among the pantheon of villains, none is more chilling than the heavy- lidded, mostly silent, Whitey(Frank Faylon): Barney's right hand man and executioner. Eventually, Barney becomes his victim, when Whitey decides to take his cash from the last train holdup. A little later, Whitey becomes a victim of Smith's pursuit of the thieves.Currently available in a DVD package of 4 '50s westerns, with different leading men.

Don't we all love trains? Railroads as a crucial element in the settlement of the West and the general prosperity of 19th century America seldom get their due in the western movie genre. Whispering Smith, a beautifully crafted 1948 Technicolor Allan Ladd vehicle, fills the gap nicely. Almost every character in this handsome horse opera -- or should I say "locomotive opera" -- makes his scratch either by working for the railroad or robbing it. The town saloon is called "The Roundhouse" and features a mural of a train coming. When soft-spoken, straight-shooting railroad detective Smith (Ladd) goes after the bad guys, he and the posse take a train with their horses riding penned flat cars.Frank H. Spearman's long, complex 1916 novel, which yours truly read as a youngster 50-some years ago, has been distilled down by the Frank Butler/Karl Kamb screenplay to concentrate on a love triangle of Smith, his good friend Murray (Robert Preston), and Murray's wife Marian (Brenda Marshall) who is Smith's lost love. Murray is a heel who doesn't deserve the pretty, gentle Marian. Even worse, when he gets fired from his job as foreman of the railroad wrecking crew, he becomes deeply and inextricably involved with a gang of rustlers, train robbers, and general baddies. Though Smith is very proper and stand-offish with Marian, it's obvious he still loves her. But she poorly hides her love for Smith, fueling Murray's volatile temper and wanton disposition with jealously.While there is plenty of action, Whispering Smith, like most of the better westerns, concentrates on character development, period color, and cinematography. Ladd, though known as a stone-face, was very expressive with his soulful eyes. He plays the stern, upright, and fearless, but friendly, kind, and loyal Smith to perfection. Preston, always fun to watch, essentially reprises his boisterous, happy-go-lucky good guy gone bad character from the even bigger and better train picture Union Pacific (1939). Brenda Marshall plays her tormented role with sensitivity, never forgetting that she is portraying a Victorian lady. In fact one of the charms of this movie is that little of the time period (1940's) in which it was made creeps in to spoil the late 19th century atmosphere. Thanks to the script and Leslie Fenton's expert direction, supporting and even minor characters show robust personalities. William Demarest as Smith's friend and the wrecking crew straw boss is allowed to play it straight, instead of hamming it up as he so often did, and he comes off very nicely. Donald Crisp, seldom a villain in the sound era, is colorful and dastardly as the smarmy, ruthless leader of the outlaw band. Frank Faylen gives a chilling performance as Crisp's main henchman Whitey, an evil, weird-looking albino. Kudos also to Fay Holden as Demarest's boarding house proprietress wife, who sings a duet on the porch with Ladd in a charming scene of 19th century Americana.The splendid three-strip Technicolor cinematography is provided by Ray Rennahan, who put on film a number of grander Technicolor oaters, such as the exotic Duel In The Sun (1946) and California (1946) (see my review), as well as another very interesting railroad epic The Denver And Rio Grand (1952) (see my review). He no doubt got much good advice, wanted or not. from the Technicolor Corporation's top adviser Natalie Kalmus. She had a reputation for intruding herself into set decoration and costuming, but she usually knew what she was doing. In Whispering Smith it seems everyone's revolver is a nickle-plated one, and the same can be seen in many of Natalie's Westerns. No doubt she thought the nickeled pistols looked prettier in Technicolor than the blue ones! Sets and decorations in this picture, provided by Sam Comer/Betram Granger, and costumes by Mary Kay Dodson are superb. My wife, who claims to know about such things, says the women's dresses were perfectly accurate to the time period.Editing was silky smooth as in most 'forties productions. All-important pacing was perfect. The story moved fast, but took plenty of breathers for color, character development, and tension building. Credit Fenton and editor Archie Marshek. My only complaint, and it is a minor one, is that Adolph Deutsch's score was perhaps slightly too pat and restrained. It was good, but could have been better. Western movies practically demand grand, operatic scores like those of Steiner and Tiompkin. They should be horse operas literally as well as figuratively!Colorful, authentic, thrilling, and dramatically absorbing, Whispering Smith is a top-notch, adult, "A" western, an under-appreciated classic from Hollywood's Golden Era.

Too bad Paramount couldn't have found a better script on which to lavish good Technicolor and handsome sets for ALAN LADD's first western.It's really a below average western story about a good railroad man (Ladd) who resumes friendship with an old friend from his past (ROBERT PRESTON) who is married to Ladd's former childhood sweetheart (BRENDA MARSHALL). The set-up is predictable once Ladd starts to see through Preston's villainous behavior after Preston has joined a train robbery gang headed by DONALD CRISP.WILLIAM DEMAREST does his usual dependable job as Ladd's friend, while Crisp is only slightly menacing in his bad guy mode. FRANK FAYLEN plays a squinty-eyed albino with a poker face and is supposed to be chilling as a merciless gunman. Unfortunately, his make-up is ridiculous.ALAN LADD makes a handsome hero and plays his role in usual low-key style. ROBERT PRESTON does okay as the loutish friend turned bad guy, while BRENDA MARSHALL makes very little impression in a weak supporting role.Summing up: Below average western is enhanced by gorgeous Technicolor.