Films which the cinemagoers in this country and the world over
acknowledged in the days of yore. Through this series of review we
intend to feature classic English films from different genres (Westerns,
War Movies, Adventure films, Musicals and Comedies not to mention Film
Noir etc). To begin with we take pleasure in highlighting a 1948 Western
titled ‘Yellow Sky’ directed by versatile film-maker William A.
 Wellman.Writer’s Comment - It seems no one has ever had an unkind
word for ‘Yellow Sky’, yet somehow this solid, hard-edged and very well
executed late 40’s oater remains lost in the sands of time. That may
change though, with its release on DVD, so crisp and luminous one wants
to swear off Technicolour and luxuriate in the frosty glow of its
highlights, the velvet blackness of its shadows and the electric
silvergray of its desert skies.
The film, re-teams director William A. Wellman and writer producer
Lamar Trotti, who five years earlier had made ‘The Ox-Bow Incident’
(along with two character actors), but this time around, the director
eschews self-importance and just concentrates on spinning a gritty yarn
(from a novel by W. R. Burnett).
Plot - A band of bank robbers on the run from a posse, flee into the
desert. Near death from lack of water, they stumble into what appears to
be a ghost town (Yellow Sky) only to discover, an old prospector and his
granddaughter living there.
The robbers learn by and by that the old man has been mining gold and
set out to make a quick fortune by robbing the pair. Their plans however
goes pearshaped, when the gang leader `Stretch’ (Gregory Peck) falls for
the granddaughter (Anne Baxter), which sets off a showdown among the
entire gang.
Cast - Gregory Peck (James Stretch Dawson),Anne Baxter (Constance Mae
Mike),Richard Widmark (Dude), Harry Morgan (Half Pint),James Barton
(Grandpa)
Running Time - 98 mts
Colour - Black & White
Language - English
Trivia - Lead star of this film legendary actor Gregory Peck,
initially felt that he was somewhat miscast as the leader of the outlaw
gang, but ended up giving one of his better performances in the 1940s
Westerns.
Awards - Director William A. Wellman was presented with a `Special
Prize’ in 1949 at the Locarno International Film Festival. Writer cum
producer Lamar Trotti was given the WGA Award (Screen) in the category
`Best written American Western’ by the Writers Guild of America, USA in
1950.
Suggestion - See it before it’s too late and recommended for the
entire family.
(JK)
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