ALBUQUERQUE (1948)
By Ralph Santini - ***
Albuquerque is another of the various independent productions that Randolph Scott was concentrating on
at the time and this one is his second western filmed in Cinecolor. For more information of the minor
cinematic process see my review for The Cariboo Trail.
Again I
must discuss my own methods for criticisms in for this kind of production;
story rather than process related. Cinecolor may not please every movie lover but
that still doesn’t prevent me from recommending this movie since I also see
effective writing here. This could well be another of the better Cinecolor westerns
that come to my mind because of the storyline. This time Scott plays Cole
Armin, the nephew of a corrupt businessman named John Armin (veteran character
actor, George Cleveland) , who ordered an organized gang of cutthroats to assault
a stage hold up in which Cole himself was present in. This resulted in the
robbery of $10,000 a woman, Celia Wallace (the beautiful Catherine Craig) was
carrying and even the murder of a bystander which shocks the driver Juke (the
ever lovable Gabby Hayes) whom he befriends with Cole and has an obsession with
not wanting to cut out his whiskers that his fiancée barber (I’m not kidding)
Pearl doesn’t want to have. Worse yet, this crime has been reported to
Albuquerque’s equally corrupt Sherriff Linton (Bernard Nedell, always
despicable in westerns as far as I’ve seen). After the emergency arrival, Cole
is at first rejected by Celia’s brother Ted Wallace (B-movie Icon Russell
Hayden) because he suspects that he is too loyal to his evil uncle, until Cole
finds out from one of the John’s henchmen that he now understands his elder’s
wrongdoings and decides to give the Wallace’s money back and form a partnership
against wicked Uncle John.
Yes I
know, this film is yet far from another masterpiece but I think still contains
a satisfying story. I really like how brave Randolph Scott’s character of Cole
Armin is as he is willing to defy a greedy and treacherous uncle who will stop
at nothing to get the Wallace siblings out of business even if he hires a
seductive henchwoman, Letty Tyler (The stunning and demure blonde Barbara
Britton) by tricking Ted into falling in love with her. Also Britton
demonstrates that she is not only of the most underrated beauties of
Hollywood’s golden age but also a very underrated talent by an actress
standards. Her Letty Tyler role is simply irresistible and whenever she appears
in this film, I’d say Britton does steals the show. I also a have soft spot for
the underappreciated talent of Russell Hayden. Granted I have not seen a number
of western featurettes he has made for independent film producer Robert L.
Lippert, but in this film he seems to know how to act too because his character
is often tortured by his fear of failure of battling against John Armin’s
somewhat near-successful attempts of acquiring a monopoly in the freight mining
business. But Mr. Wallace is thankfully helped by the bravery and confidence he
has with the Randolph Scott hero of Cole Armin, who can be a minor but
effective variation of Hamlet anytime. Sure there are some occasional formula
scenes like when Scott is actually imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit and
even another long fight scene he has with Lon Chaney, Jr. who plays John
Armin’s bullying henchman as if he would nearly kill Cole before it’s conclusion.
I also don’t mind the silly nature of a young girl named Myrtle, sure she is a
little kid with very little adulteration but, still I think she’s a rather cute
kid who would help Cole anytime with support by her likeable father (the always
good-natured character actor Irving Bacon).
“Albuquerque”
is another good example of those Cinecolor westerns that does contain a decent
storyline, despite it’s flaws. As I mentioned in my review for “The Cariboo
Trail” other westerns may not match good premises with decent executions like
neither that one nor this western. Again, even if you don’t care about this
kind of film, you should also give this one a second look. But still this also
another film for die-hard Randolph Scott fans and Cinecolor historians alike to
enjoy passionately.
