Black Bart (1948)

Powerful

best movie i've ever seen.

Blistering performances.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

....including:a) Technicolor photography so bright and fresh it looks as if the film was made yesterday!b) Yvonne De Carlo at her most gorgeous, in a role that allows her to dance and doesn't require her, most of the time, to take matters too seriously.c) The often smart, snappy dialogue. In many Westerns the dialogue is simply functional; in this one, much of the dialogue seems to have been written for the sheer joy of its own writing.d) Well-done action and stuntse) An unexpected finale, followed by a funny gag that's diametrically opposite to the tone of what has just happened! The film IS a little slow to start, but stick with it. *** out of 4.

Yvonne de Carlo was a pretty girl, but somehow they gave her roles where she was supposed to be astonishing beautiful making all men fall for her. She wasn't that great, as a matter of fact very few are. "Salome Where She Danced" was one of the worst films I have ever seen and Black Bart saves itself because of a decent script and good actors like Dan Duryea, Jeffrey Lynn and Percy Killbride. Masked main characters at those times (1948) used to be heroes, like the Zorro and the Durango Kid. They wore their masks to defend poor people's rights, or the law. In Black Bart, Duryea's mask is for pure self interest, but in the film he is not quite the bad guy, the spectator will sympathize with him. In those westerns where the outlaw was the hero, he either had to die at the end, or go to jail for a number of years, with his woman waiting for him. That made them different from the standard "good guy happy ending". Conclusion: any western with Dan Duryea, the eternal Waco Johnnie Dean (Winchester 73) is worth seeing, even this average one.

Three tricky outlaws part ways, only to meet up later on opposite sides.Pretty good Western— somewhere between an A-production and a B. It's an unusually distinguished supporting cast from Lovejoy to McIntyre to Kilbride, along with some good scenic outdoor set-ups that keep the eye entertained even when the action slows down. Reviewer lorenellroy is right—the amorality of Lynn and Duryea is unusual for the period, 1948. It's hard at times to know where their loyalties lie, making the script somewhat—and refreshingly-- difficult to predict. Add a luscious De Carlo who looks ravishing in Technicolor, while turning in a surprisingly artful performance.So, with these positives, why doesn't the movie impact more strongly than I believe it does. Now I'm as big a Duryea fan as anyone. In fact that's why I tuned in. But for some reason he looks less motivated than usual, draining Bart of needed character color. There's not the usual relish of his better performances. Add to that the other lead, Jeffrey Lynn, who's just naturally colorless, and there's not the needed drive at the movie's center. At the same time, director Sherman has to work in the romantic angle without sagging the tempo, which he does pretty well. But the staging of the final ambush scene is clumsily done—how could the ambushers miss their shots at such close range as Bart and Lance race for the cabin.Anyway, there's real offbeat potential in the various ambiguities that the script doesn't develop adequately until the end. Nonetheless, the compensations are enough to make this a generally entertaining 80-minutes of cowboy intrigue.

Black Bart is an interesting movie and well above the norm for the standard studio product of its day.Not only is it splendidly photographed,with a lustrous use of colour that sets it apart from the herd,it has a wonderfully dry and laconic wit that adds a touch of verbal eloquence to proceedings.Indeed I was reminded at times of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"in the banter between characters some of which would have sat well in the mouths of characters in a Philip Barry movie or other practitioners of the drawing room comedy.The script is also insouciantly epigrammatical with a pleasing sense of amorality--its leading characters are outlaws and perfectly at home with themselves and their profession.Naturally.this being a 1948 movie they are not allowed to get away with it but the morality is quite unique for the periodWe first meet Charles Bowers,later to become the title character,when he and his compadre "Lance"are about to be hung,a fact they greet with stoicism and flippant banter,when they are rescued by ex banker turned outlaw the grizzled veteran Jersey--well played by Percy Kilbride(old Pa Kettle Himself)They split up and Charles ,with the connivance of an old friend,sets himself up as Black Bart a black garbed highwayman making away with Wells Fargo bounty in a series of stagecoach robberies.Lance and Jersey re-appear,recognise him and try to cut in on the deal.Matters get complicated when Bart falls in love with Lola Montez the celebrated singer and dancer who reciprocates the feeling but insists Bart lay aside his illegal trade and turn to more legitimate pursuitsIt is a well acted movie with Duryea and Kilbride especially fine and De Carlo enters into the spirit of things with a brash and outgoing performance Minor but interesting and I enjoyed it .Give a go -you won't regret it