WHISPERING SMITH
(Paramount) [FANS who haven’t yet seen this picture can rest assured that Alan Ladd successfully wins his spurs as a two-gun cowboy hero. The story is based on Frank Spearman’s novel, and has been filmed twice before and made into a serial called Whispering Smith Rides. It is therefore a well-tried one (railroad detective versus train wreckers) that is sure to please all lovers of the (fictional) Old West. Apart from Ladd’s meritorious performance as a killer on the right side of the law ("I’ve seen him put six slugs into a guy’s belly-button without even seeing him draw his guns"), the most oustanding features are the rich technicolour, the robust, manly acting of Robert Preston, and some unusually good atmosphere for such a romantic picture. There is one scene in particular, when the posse are setting off at dawn to the scene of another wreck along the line, when you can almost smell the frost in the air. The villains, Donald Crisp and Frank Faylen ("as cruel. as a soft-nosed bullet"), are just sufficiently sinister and unreal for even the youngest member of the audience to know that right will triumph in the end. And what adds to the enjoyment is the complete absence of any of the sadism and violence for its own sake that have scarred so many recent films of this type.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19490520.2.39.1.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 517, 20 May 1949, Page 17
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228WHISPERING SMITH New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 517, 20 May 1949, Page 17
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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