Review of A Man Alone (1955) by Andrew H — 03 Nov 2010

An enjoyable if slow moving western which has quite a good story, which has a bit of a twist at the end of it! It starts of quite gritty, t is a shame that that mood does not continue. There is not a lot of action in it at all and a lot of the film is set in house, which is what makes the film so slow moving. Essentially Wes Steele (Ray Milland) is accused of murder and hides out in a house belonging to Nadine Corrigan (Mary Murphy) and it is a question of does Corrigan trust Steel? Matters are further complicated by the fact that Corrigan is the daughter of the town Sheriff (Ward Bond) who is ill in the same house. The story does pick up pace a bit in the second part of the film, essentially when people find out where Steele is hiding out. The twist in the story is well placed within the film and sort of opens a new chapter within the film.

The acting is not much to speak of but Ray Milland does achieve the role of the nice tough guy, quite well. Raymond Burr is excellent as the villain of the film. The first scene he is in you can tell that he is the villain. Mary Murphy has a large role as the owner of the house and the scenes between her and Milland are quite good. Ward Bond is not really in most of the film as he plays an ill Sheriff. When he is in it properly then he has an instant effect on the film.

A slow moving western, which picks up the pace slightly towards the end. There is also well-placed twist in the story towards the end too. The acting is average really with no one particularly standing out. It's an enjoyable western but it has to be given time to get into.