rec.arts.movies.past-films

On Sep 5, 1:28 am, Joe Gillis wrote:
> On Sep 4, 5:33 pm, Dave in Toronto wrote:
>
> > On Sep 4, 6:14 pm, le...@ wrote:
> > >Probably my favorite Ladd performance of
> > > the 1950s is in THE IRON MISTRESS (1952), where he plays Jim Bowie in
> > > the New Orleans stage of his life, long before the Alamo. Easily the
> > > best movie about Bowie I've ever seen.- Hide quoted text -
>
> > "The Iron Mistress" was a terrific movie - loved that "duel in the
> > dark" illuminated only by lightning flashes. I'm also very fond of
> > Ladd's first Western "Whispering Smith" - a bit slow but a very
> > handsome production.
>
> > Dave in Toronto
>
> The Iron Mistress novel was MUCH superior to the rather dreary film
> version (and I'm a sucker for old N'Awlins movies).
>
> A few years ago I went on a Paul Wellman kick and read a bunch of his
> books. The Comancheros is also better as a novel (it's told from the
> Whitman character's POV -- the Wayne character is very minor in the
> book).


Agreed about The Comancheros. The novel is a good one the movie only
so-so. I seem to remember Wayne and Marvin wore some rather strange
head gear throughout that gave the whole movie a rather comic look.
Director Michael Curtiz was never very good with Westerns and this was
his last movie. He died shortly after.

I notice that I have one Paul Wellman book as yet unread "Spawn of
Evil" (non-fiction). Have you read this?

Dave in Toronto