Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

zardoz-13 "Sands of Iwo Jima" director Allan Dwan doesn't squander a single second in his suspenseful RKO western saga "Silver Lode" about an innocent man driven to prove that he has been framed for both murder and robbery. "Saga of Death Valley" scenarist Karen DeWolf thrusts the protagonist into an obstacle course of predicaments as he struggles to convince the town citizens about his inherent virtuosity. Dwan and DeWolf keep our hero jumping through hoops. About midway through the narrative, things begin to unravel for the villains. One of them is willing to tell our hero the truth about the frame-up. The filmmakers confine the same day action to the frontier town limits of Silver Lode. The citizens are celebrating the Fourth of July. The performances are all strong and the casting credible. You'll recognize several familiar faces, among them Harry Carey, Jr., Stuart Whitman, Emile Meyer, and Morris Ankrum. John Payne looks appropriately anxious as the incriminated hero, while Dan Duryea is a sinister lawman Fred McCarty who claims that our hero not only stole twentieth thousand dollars but also shot his brother in the back. As his future wife, Lizabeth Scott refuses to believe that he could be guilty of those crimes. Town sentiment starts out strongly in the hero's favor. Gradually it swings in the opposite direction. Initially, Duryea and his deputies interrupt Dan Ballard's wedding, but he has trouble getting his credentials approved. Dwan and his scenarists make "Silver Lode" into a gripping cat & mouse showdown between the hero and the villain.

cstotlar-1 Some have claimed how "impossible" it is not to compare this with "High Noon". I haven't seen "Noon" in years but this film was fresh in every way. Just to think of it - here is a collaborator with D. W. Griffith who has made more films during his successful career than any ten directors combined - and many of them Westerns! He was wowing audiences with his technical know-how long before "High Noon" was a twinkling in anyone's eye. How much the villain and McCarthy have in common is more in the domain of the scriptwriter than the director, perhaps - after all, the scriptwriters got the shaft more often than anybody else during the witch hunts. This is a lively tale and it moves quickly. The colors are wonderful and the tracking shots vivid. Come to think of it, I might just prefer it. It doesn't talk itself to death, but neither do the other Dwan films I've seen over the years.Curtis Stotlar

dbdumonteil A good western by Allan Dwan,much better than his exotic extravaganzas of the era ("Escape from Burma" "Pearls of the South Pacific").A transparent metaphor of the witch hunt.The villain is called McCarthy .The hero is a well-respected man,about to marry the daughter of a wealthy inhabitant.Up comes a so called US marshal,and he is accused of a crime ."We are behind you!" the incredulous people of Silver Lode say.But not for long.Without any real proof,the villain succeeds in turning the opinion round and the groom into an outcast.Only the bride and a "bad" gal working in the local saloon ,Dolly,still believe in him.Overnight,an honest man becomes the one you've got to get rid of.SPOILERS The ending climaxes the movie:the chased man takes refuge in a church (a symbol:since the Middle Ages ,such a place has been a sanctuary ,a place where even a criminal must not be arrested (remember "the hunchback of NOtre Dame").By entering the sacred place with a gun,McCarthy braves the law of God .That he can be killed by a bullet ricocheting off a bell on Independence day is ,as the priest says,a divine intervention.Like this?Try this "High Noon" Fred Zinnemann 1952

FilmFlaneur Veteran director Dwan made hundreds of films over a long career (and indeed was of the most prolific of the classic Hollywood school) yet even amongst a body of distinguished work this tour de force is a masterpiece.Produced during the McCarthy period, when film directors, writers and stars where called to account in a political witch hunt, Silver Lode (like another colour Western laced with similar concerns, Ray's fabulous Johnny Guitar) is concerned with the nature of liberty, truth and memory in a free society.Dan Duryea is superb as the scheming villain 'McCarty' and John Payne makes a Ballard a suitably stalwart hero who has to prove his innocence before a deadline.The plot is structured around a number of instances which, each in turn, ostensibly weaken Ballard's claim to innocence. Ultimately he finds he is on the run - alone in a town full of people formerly his friends, but who now aim to hunt him down on the basis of accusation, suspicion and circumstantial evidence alone. Ballard's travails also reflect the nature of substantiation and memory, both in a political and cinematic sense, as he undergoes his constant quest for redemption.John Payne's stoic exterior has never been put to better use as he grabs desperately to each chance to prove his innocence as, one by one, those who welcomed him into their community as 'respectable' fall away. This may be his best film. The repetitive nature of this process, as incident follows incident only highlights the significant nature of his predicament and makes the audience 'could this happen in real life?' The answer in the 50's, sadly, was 'yes'. SPOILER In the superbly staged ironic finale, Ballard and McCarty fight it out in the town clock tower, and the villainous false Marshall is killed by his bullet ricochet from the Liberty bell. In a further ironic note, the document which has relieved Ballard from suspicion is itself a forgery, accepted unquestioningly by his supporters. And this all takes place on a national holiday, amongst flags and patriotic celebration, and on the eve of Ballard's wedding.Within the constrictions of a B-movie, and the repression of a communist witch hunt, this movie manages to slip through a neat and entertaining indictment of a system that forces the innocent to defend themselves against accusation, slander and lies. What adds to all this is the consistency of the film, its reiteration of political truth without digression or fudge.