Light of Western Stars (1940)

I love this movie so much

So much average

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Present-day fans will probably find it hard to believe that Alan Ladd was once a top Western star. In fact, a top movie star, period. In England, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, he always rated well ahead of John Wayne. In fact, Ladd's name on a cinema billboard guaranteed sell-out business. The only time that Wayne ever achieved this sort of overseas popularity was when he co-starred with Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man (1952). Ladd's following was highest of the high in the States too. In 1953, over two million readers of Photoplay magazine voted him as the world's number one male movie star. (Marilyn Monroe was the 1953 female choice). Ladd westerns that continued to draw huge British, Irish and Oz crowds long after their original release, included: The Light of Western Stars (1940) (available on Public Domain DVDs) in which Ladd's role was small and which director Lesley Selander had him play mostly with his back to the camera - an exciting film anyway, the third version of the Zane Grey novel, produced by "Pop" Sherman on a top budget, this one also starred Victor Jory and Jo Ann Sayers;

Victor Jory gets drunk and bets he can marry the next girl who comes into town. He finds pretty Jo Ann Sayers, who is the sister of his good friend, Russell Hayden, slugs the sheriff and high-tails it to Mexico, where he becomes a pistolero in the fifth -- and so far, the latest -- filmed version of the Zane Grey western.Jory is great in it, big and bluff and talkative, or drunk and self-pitying as the scene calls for. His career was on the downslide and he would take leading roles in westerns and the occasional supporting role in other B productions, but he was recognized as a fine actor and was in demand for small roles through his death in 1982. Miss Sayers is not very good, and her career went to pieces soon afterwards. Her three-year credited career ended with the picture after this one, although she had an uncredited bit a dozen years later. The cast is ably eked out with J. Farrel MacDonald, a brief appearance by Alan Ladd at the beginning and Noah Beery Jr. in a sizable role as a Mexican (!).It's one of 20 Zane Grey westerns filmed by by Paramount from 1930-1940. It is well directed by Lesley Selander and produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman, Paramount's go-to producer for western programmers. He is probably best remembered for producing the Hopalong Cassidy movies, before William Boyd bought the rights and took the franchise independent.

Superb actors with an excellent script are skillfully directed by Lesley Selander and beautifully photographed by that great veteran Russell Harlan.Don't let the inventiveness and beauty of the camera work and directing distract you from the skill and beauty of, for example, actress Jo Ann Sayers, of whom I know nothing else than that she was marvelous in this role. She expresses so much with her eyes and face and doesn't need words.Victor Jory is probably better known as a villain, but in "The Light of Western Stars" he is a great hero cowboy, giving one of his best performancess of my knowledge.Noah Beery, Jr., is somewhat of a disappointment in his role as a "Mexican" sidekick: His accent is less than impressive, though as usual Mr. Beery himself is very likable and, other than the accent, his acting is more than adequate.Russell Hayden, on the other hand, gives one of his very best performances. I have had trouble before with his enunciation; he often sounded as if he had badly fitting dentures.Here, he is clear and solid, and his facial expressions and body movement are those of a real pro.There are other great old veterans giving great performances in this involved story of the not-so-old West, a clever and inventive Zane Grey story, crafted into an excellent script by Norman Houston.I highly recommend "The Light of Western Stars," which you can see at YouTube.

Victor Jory who was so much better as a villain is the hero of this Paramount adaption of Zane Grey's classic western novel The Light Of Western Stars. Jory plays the hell raising foreman of a ranch who makes a bet with crooked sheriff Tom Tyler that he'll marry the next woman who arrives in town. Which happens to be Ruth Rogers brother of Russell Hayden and they're the new owners of the ranch he's foreman of. Hayden is already there learning the ranch business from J. Farrell MacDonald. Tyler provides protection for the gun running and smuggling activities of Morris Ankrum who sets up on the Hayden/Rogers spread. It all ends in a nasty shootout with Ankrum's bunch and still another showdown with Tyler.Noah Beery, Jr. plays the Mexican sidekick of Jory in a role that I can only describe as gay. He's so singularly devoted to Jory you have to believe it's beyond friendship. Alan Ladd is seen briefly as one of the ranch hands and I doubt he could have imagined within two years he'd be ruling the roost over at Paramount.Zane Grey fans should be pleased with this film. For others it's a rather routine shoot 'em up western with a rather unique angle on male bonding for a western. The most unique until Brokeback Mountain.