Coroner Creek (1948)

He's lost his spirit, you can see it in his eyes.

Out in the remote Southwest a stagecoach his held up by renegade Apache Indians led by a mysterious white man. All bar one of the passengers are killed, the other, a female, is taken as captive but takes her own life rather than suffer any more indignities. That woman was the fiancée of cowboy Chris Denning, who upon learning of the news vows revenge and goes in search of the mysterious leader. A search that takes him to the small town of Coroner Creek...

Coroner Creek doesn't mess about, it's a tough, no nonsense Oater that may have flecks of humour, and pretty gal familiarities, but most assuredly thrives on its darkly revenge driven core. Directed by Ray Enright and starring genre supremo Randolph Scott as Denning, Coroner Creek is adapted by Kenneth Gamet from the novel written by Luke Short. Very much following the old biblical thematic of "an eye for an eye", Enright's film, produced by Harry Brown, boasts rousing fist fights, simmering sexual tensions and a riveting finale.

Scott is terrific, as he mostly always is in these genre pieces. Denning's sense of pain and hunger for revenge is perfectly brought home to the viewers by Scott, an actor who has the ability to express so much with darkened eyes and a down-turned mouth. And of course more crucially, Scott brings believability to his characters. You really wouldn't know he was 50 years of age whilst making this picture, such is the gusto he puts into the role. He's backed up by George Macready doing a solid line in scar faced villainy, the always enjoyable Wallace Ford as Denning's newly formed confidante Andy West, while Sally Eiles and Marguerite Chapman fill the important female roles with professional turns.

On the minor downside is the use of Cinecolor, a two colour process that fails to bring Fred Jackman's cinematography to life, whilst simultaneously giving the actors an odd looking sheen. DVD and TV viewers may find they have to tone down a couple of hues on this one to find a decent colour balance. Still it be a fine genre entry and one that is a must see for Randy Scott enthusiasts. 8/10

Randolph Scott is "Danning", a man bent on revenge after his fiancée is killed. He learns early on from the local hotel owner "Kate" (Marguerite Chapman) that the culprit was George Macready ("Younger Miles") and now employed by determined local ranch owner "Della" (Sally Eilers) he plots his revenge. The storyline of this film all now follows a pretty well trodden path, though it is interesting to see Scott play someone a little nastier than usual and the women in the film are given much more substantial roles in the development of the story. Edgar Buchanan turns in a lively cameo as the sheriff but otherwise Macready is pretty hopeless as the baddie, and the plot sort of stutters along until a really disappointing, slightly puritanical, ending. It's an adequate western that runs bang on ninety minutes - but I can't say I would watch it again.