InformationRap
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
Hayden Kane
There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Anoushka Slater
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
George Redding
In this B&W modern western from Universal-International, Jeff Chandler and Orson Welles do give great performances and thus show great acting skills in this tense drama which, as has been noted, is an a la "High Noon" western: Chandler is very much the answer to the marshal Gary Cooper did portray in the latter-mentioned allusion. In the movie the marshal is forced to stand alone against the wealthy crazed-bigot ranch owner (whom only the sheriff is willing to defy), the role portrayed by Welles. You can't keep from hating the ranch owner and his cohorts as well. The beautiful Colleen Miller does performs well the role of Welles' daughter. Barbara Lawrence, the "nut" Gertie Cummings in "Oklahoma!", is here a totally different person in the role as the sheriff's wife; here, she is a very serious, scared, yet staunch-looking lady. The movie hits hard at the matter of bigotry which is, to state it extremely mildly, politically incorrect. A Chicano is murdered and the sheriff must go after the killer responsible for it taking place. The climax is totally surprising, I feel. I have watched it more than once and the acting and tension sell it more than anything else connected with it. It is worth the time, basically for those reasons.
LeonLouisRicci
Less Metaphorical, than the Director's Sci-Fi of the Decade, and more to an Obvious Observation in an Eisenhower Era of Overlooked and Unspoken Racism. The Post-War Spoils enjoyed by Americans of the White-Bread variety were not readily Available to People of Color and Non-Christians.This type of Social Criticism was usually not spoken of in "Polite" Company or around the Dinner Table in White-Picket Fence Suburbia. It was "Left" to the Fringe Elements like B-Movies and Lurid Faced Paperbacks.Socially Conscious Director Jack Arnold, considered one of the Best B-Movie Auteurs teams up with a "Behemoth" of Filmland Orson Welles, who by the Mid-Fifties was fighting for His Life in Hollywood. Out of Favor, Wells was forever Financing His Pictures with "Work for Hire" Acting Gigs, and this was one of them.He brings to the Movie a Larger than Life Character who literally Dominates the Frame with that Booming Voice and Big Stature. Jeff Chandler is meekly dwarfed by Orson in every Scene as the Sheriff with a Moral Compass Standing Alone among the Cowering Townspeople completely Corrupted by Capitalism represented as the "Golden Empire" Ranch, clouding Their Vision with little effort.Film-Noir's Edgy influence is present here, but by this Time in Hollywood moved more often from the City to the Country or Suburban Landscapes where Americans were trying to Escape Urban Squalor becoming more Populated with "Sub-Humans", only to find, at least in the Southwest, "Wetbacks" who weren't even Citizens, let alone Caucasian.Overall, far from being Subtle, this In-Your-Face look at "Trouble in Paradise", combines Genres as it made its "Liberal" Talking Points, and now could be Considered a "Voice in the Wilderness" for the Population that at least Tried to be a Guiding Light to a New Era of Concern yet to be Fulfilled, Sadly, to this Day.
gordonl56
MAN IN THE SHADOW – 1957This Universal Studio's production is sort of a western updated to 1957. We have Orson Welles as the big land owner, Colleen Miller as his daughter and Jeff Chandler as the local Sheriff. The film is set in the American Southwest.The film starts on Welles' Golden Empire Ranch. A young Mexican farm hand, Joe Schneider, is dragged out of one of the ranch bunkhouses by two men, John Larch and Leo Gordon. They take Schneider to a nearby shed where they start to work the lad over. It seems that the young man has been over friendly with ranch owner Welles' daughter, Miller. Welles sent the two men to teach him a lesson. Schneider however is a stronger go than Gordon and Larch expected. A handy pick axe handle soon ends the fight by splitting the lad's skull open. Watching this whole thing from the shed window is, Martin Garralaga. Garralaga is another one of the many Mexican farmhands employed by Welles' ranch. He fades back into the dark and returns to the bunkhouse.The next morning, Garralaga decides to pay a visit to the law in the local town of Spurline. Spurline is a small one horse town with just a Sheriff, Jeff Chandler and one deputy, Ben Alexander. The town survives on the business it gets from Welles "bigger than some countries" Golden Empire Ranch.Garralaga tells his story to Chandler and Alexander. Alexander does not believe the "wetback" and urges Chandler to do the same. No point in rocking the boat with Welles without any proof. Chandler, newly elected, tells Alexander the law applies to everyone. He will go out and at least see if the young man is still there.Welles, who takes security serious, has armed men at the entrance to his property. After Welles has his men let Chandler in, Chandler politely asks about a possible "disturbance" on the ranch the night before involving a Mexican farmhand. "I have hundreds of wetbacks working here. You think I keep track of them all?' "Probably a couple of them got drunk and got in a fight." Welles also broadly hints that if Chandler wishes to keep his job, he best drop the matter. Chandler knows he'll need to dig up more evidence before pushing the matter. Back to town he goes to have a further talk the witness. Welles had only ordered his thugs to rough up Schneider. But since it ended up in murder, he is as guilty as Larch and Gordon. He calls the two into his office where they come up with a way to end the matter. Gordon takes the body of the slain young man down to an isolated spot on the highway. He dumps the body and then drives over it several times. He then contacts the Sheriff's office. He claims that the lad must have been drunk and wandered out into traffic. Deputy Alexander has no problem taking this story as gospel. When Welles' daughter, Miller, hears about Schneider's death, she contacts Chandler. Schneider and Miller had become friendly. Miller figures it most likely upset her father. Chandler adds this to the growing list of evidence. He decides to take precautions with his witness, and hides Garralaga at the farm of Royal Dano. Welles continues to stir the pot as he contacts the town managers, Paul Fix and William Schallert, and threatens to take his ranch business elsewhere. The less than subtle hint, "Get rid of Chandler or else". Welles' men also sabotage Chandler's Police car. Chandler is lucky to escape the wreck with only a few bumps and bruises. Besides the pressure from the town council to lay off the investigation, Chandler's wife, Barbara Lawrence is getting threatening phone calls. Add to all this is that the witness to the murder, Garralaga is himself murdered. This of course just makes the Sheriff all the more determined to solve the case.Welles now pulls out all the stops and has two of his men, Leo Gordon and Charles Horvath, jump Chandler. They lay a solid beating on the man and then drag him through the town streets from a rope tied to the back of a pickup. The message, Welles is really the man in charge. Chandler, who has been patched up by the local doc, Harry Harvey, has had more than enough. He arms himself with a shotgun and roars off to confront Welles at his ranch. The townsfolk, shamed by letting Welles walk all over them, arm up and likewise set off for the ranch. Needless to say there is a showdown at the ranch with several of Welles henchmen eating far too much lead than is good for them. Welles is slapped in cuffs and loaded up for a trip to jail. This one comes off as an upper level b-film, not great, but quite watchable. Welles is good as the old style land baron type. Chandler, is Chandler, he does nothing different here than we've seen in a dozen other films. Colleen Miller is more or less simply eye candy.The director, Jack Arnold, is best known for a series of great sci-fi films he made in the 1950's. These include, IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE, CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, TARANTULA and THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN. He touched on noir with, THE TATTERED DRESS and OUTSIDE THE LAW. He would end his career helming episodes of THE LOVE BOAT. Some nice black and white work is supplied by Oscar winning (The Yearling) cinematographer, Arthur E Arling. Arling also received an Oscar nomination for his work on, I'LL CRY TOMORROW. The following year, Welles would make, TOUCH OF EVIL.
dinky-4
In a bit of a departure for its time, this movie begins with a brief pre-credits sequence, and it delays some of its credits till the very end. (During these closing credits, music is played which was also used in "It Came from Outer Space.")Aside from these minor touches, however, "Man in the Shadow" is a traditional, straightforward effort which would have once fitted unobtrusively into the bottom half of a double-bill. By 1957, however, these "B" movies were rapidly being replaced by TV programming and "Man in the Shadow" could easily have been converted into a one-hour television drama. The script might have been edited down by eliminating the role of Orson Welles' teenage daughter who only figures tangentially into the plot and who does not provide any "romantic interest" for Jeff Chandler since his character is already happily married.The plot is one of those "politically correct" affairs about the small-town lawman standing up against a powerful citizen in defense of a racial-minority member. The lawman's urged by his family and friends to leave well enough alone but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
You might expect here one of Orson Welles' flamboyant (a.k.a. "hammy") performances but he's surprisingly restrained due, one suspects, simply to lack of interest in such a minor project. Jeff Chandler, amazingly enough, seems more compelling, and in the movie's most memorable moment he's dragged by his wrists down Main Street, sometimes on his belly, behind a pick-up truck. Jack Arnold directed this movie competently but without distinctive touches in a series of standard expository scenes. It pales in comparison to his other 1957 movie, "The Incredible Shrinking Man."
