Tall in the Saddle

"Edwin L. Marin's Tall in the Saddle was an odd Western in John Wayne's output, made for RKO (and, as a consequence, now in the hands of Warner Home Video) but without John Ford. It made it onto a pretty fair laserdisc by way of Image Entertainment, and has been seen occasionally on cable channels such as American Movie Classics, as well as in a ""colorized"" version back in the 1980s. In terms of production values, it stands midway between the best of Wayne's Republic Pictures vehicles and the early productions of his own (principally through Warner Bros.). The casting also bridges those two gaps, with George ""Gabby"" Hayes and Ward Bond both playing prominent roles and Ella Raines in a provocative part as a woman whose every impulse seems tied up with violence. Indeed, had it been made a little bit later, one would almost suspect that Tall in the Saddle was influenced by Duel in the Sun (a production for which Wayne had been considered, early in its planning, for the role that Gregory Peck ultimately got), but it wasn't -- it just has this strangely dark side to the characterizations, along with some pronounced and awkward comic relief. In other words, the movie is a mess, but an interesting and well-produced one, and it looks great here, the full-frame (1.33:1) image much sharper and brighter than the laserdisc or earlier VHS editions, and even Roy Webb's score is well represented by the rather robust audio track, which is mastered at a healthy volume. The 22 chapters are more than generous in breaking down the 87-minute Western, and the only bonus materials consist of the trailer for the film and a selection of trailers for other John Wayne movies, including Blood Alley, The Sea Chase, The Train Robbers, Cahill: U.S. Marshal, McQ, and Fort Apache. The trailers are very funny to watch at times, especially as the producers desperately try to market some of the more difficult titles -- such as The Sea Chase, the trailer for which manages to avoid telling us that Wayne is playing a WWII German ship captain, trying to use phrases calling to mind Wayne's successes of the era, such as The High and the Mighty."