Branded (1950)

It’s not so often that you see Alan Ladd play the bad guy, but he’s certainly up to no good here. His “Choya” is recruited by the manipulative “Leffingwell” (Robert Keith) to play the long lost son of the wealthy “Lavery” family. Their son was abducted over two decades ago and so dad “Richard” (Charles Bickford) has all but given up on ever seeing him again. When he arrives and declares his progeny - supported by an unique tattoo - he is welcomed by a father and sister “Ruth” (Mona Freeman) but what they don’t know is that he is really there to facilitate a robbery from this cattle-rich family. What “Choya” hadn’t factored in, though, is his gradually building affection for a family that has so enthusiastically welcomed him and so it’s after an heart-to-heart with “Ruth” that he not only vows to thwart his conniving partner, but also to try and track down the real son, if he still lives. Just to further complicate matters, “Rubriz” (Joseph Calleia) and his men also have their axes to grind, and soon “Choya” is fighting on different flanks whilst barely disguising his affections for his new sibling. I reckon this is one of Ladd’s more characterful efforts. There is some action here, but this is a much more considered effort from a star who obviously wanted to imbue “Choya” with a sense that redemption was always on his cards. Likewise, Keith delivers well as the odious puppet-master and Bickford plays strongly, if maybe a little too sparingly, as the whole concept of just what constitutes family builds to it’s conclusion. The settings provides plenty of scope for some grand cinematography and both the dialogue and the romance are kept to a minimum as this quite thoughtfully presents us with another western that’s as much about the evolution of the genre as it is about that of the country.