Bend of the River (Mann, 1952): Regent Street Cinema, 1pm
Time Out review:
Anthony Mann's finest Western casts James Stewart as a wagon train leader, guiding a
group of settlers through Indian country to the Oregon Territory.
Stewart is a man haunted by a secret, his violent past as a Missouri
border raider - a past which catches up with him when another former
raider (Arthur Kennedy) joins the wagon train. The two men are paralleled
throughout, Kennedy representing the old violence which may yet erupt in
the reformed Stewart, and the whole film is concerned with the testing
of Stewart's capacity for change. Continually provoked by his spiky
relationship with Kennedy, Stewart is a man who must clarify and
reaffirm his new relationship with a peaceful society. Lighthearted
comedy, majestic scenery, and superbly handled action are fused into a
unifying moral vision which, though it deals with abstractions, always
expresses itself through visible actions and tangible symbols.
Nigel Floyd
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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