Black Bart (1948) Online

Black Bart is an interesting movie and well above the norm for the standard studio product of its day.Not only is it splendidly photographed,with a lustrous use of colour that sets it apart from the herd,it has a wonderfully dry and laconic wit that adds a touch of verbal eloquence to proceedings.Indeed I was reminded at times of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"in the banter between characters some of which would have sat well in the mouths of characters in a Philip Barry movie or other practitioners of the drawing room comedy.The script is also insouciantly epigrammatical with a pleasing sense of amorality--its leading characters are outlaws and perfectly at home with themselves and their profession.Naturally.this being a 1948 movie they are not allowed to get away with it but the morality is quite unique for the period

We first meet Charles Bowers,later to become the title character,when he and his compadre "Lance"are about to be hung,a fact they greet with stoicism and flippant banter,when they are rescued by ex banker turned outlaw the grizzled veteran Jersey--well played by Percy Kilbride(old Pa Kettle Himself)They split up and Charles ,with the connivance of an old friend,sets himself up as Black Bart a black garbed highwayman making away with Wells Fargo bounty in a series of stagecoach robberies.Lance and Jersey re-appear,recognise him and try to cut in on the deal.Matters get complicated when Bart falls in love with Lola Montez the celebrated singer and dancer who reciprocates the feeling but insists Bart lay aside his illegal trade and turn to more legitimate pursuits

It is a well acted movie with Duryea and Kilbride especially fine and De Carlo enters into the spirit of things with a brash and outgoing performance

Minor but interesting and I enjoyed it .Give a go -you won't regret it

....including:

a) Technicolor photography so bright and fresh it looks as if the film was made yesterday!

b) Yvonne De Carlo at her most gorgeous, in a role that allows her to dance and doesn't require her, most of the time, to take matters too seriously.

c) The often smart, snappy dialogue. In many Westerns the dialogue is simply functional; in this one, much of the dialogue seems to have been written for the sheer joy of its own writing.

d) Well-done action and stunts

e) An unexpected finale, followed by a funny gag that's diametrically opposite to the tone of what has just happened!

The film IS a little slow to start, but stick with it. *** out of 4.

Gorgeous Miss De Carlo often portrayed historic figures:from Sephora to Calamity Jane and from La Castiglione to Lola Montès (spelled "Montez" ,unlike in Europa).Many users probably know Max Ophuls' last opus (1954) which showed a Lola short of the readies,(Martine Carol)who had to work in a circus -under a cynical MC 's Thumb played by Peter Ustinov) Lola was king of Bavaria LudwiG Der Erste 's lover (not to be mistaken for gay Ludwig Der Zweite)and in the movie,you can hear Lola talk about the jewels he bestows on her;"you look at my jewels the way the king used to look at me" ) The story is a bit tongue in cheek and the tale of this masked brigand is not particularly exciting but Lola adds some spice to it.

This film manages to be relatively non-formulaic, and even more non-historical, though the real Black Bart was indeed named Charles E. Boles as portrayed. British-born Boles, however, did not conduct his outlaw career as a Zorroesque black-clad horseman, but hiked to all his holdups and wore a long linen duster, with a flour sack over his head. He was also pushing 50 when he started robbing the stage. So much for a romantic image! If the intention was to make Bart/Boles a dashing figure, I think another actor would have been a better choice than Dan Duryea, who after all pretty much built his career on playing creeps. But it's always interesting to see a departure, and the script is more clever than that of the routine horse opera of the day.

As Lola Montez, Yvonne De Carlo makes no effort at a real characterization of the famous Countess (former mistress to Ludwig I of Bavaria), but acts-- well, like Yvonne De Carlo, delivering her lines in her usual flat New World tones. The witty, volatile and multilingual Lola (nee Eliza Gilbert), though Irish by birth, affected a sort of Spanish accent to go with her assumed Sevillian identity. De Carlo's dancing, I fear, bears little resemblance to Lola's, but it's always a pleasure to watch Yvonne in her early roles; this film came only three years after her dazzling debut in 1945's "Salome, Where She Danced", in which she played a quasi Lola Montez, thereby confusing the record considerably.

In reference to this: the real Lola never danced as Salome nor visited Arizona, and the town there called "Salome, Where She Danced" was named in 1904, and for quite another lady. To play Lola or a quasi-Lola, De Carlo does certainly fit the bill visually as a stunning blue-eyed brunette with a memorable figure. As to Lola ever encountering Black Bart-- well, when he began his career as a highway robber in 1875 Lola had been in her grave for fourteen years. So much for romance!

Three tricky outlaws part ways, only to meet up later on opposite sides.

Pretty good Western— somewhere between an A-production and a B. It's an unusually distinguished supporting cast from Lovejoy to McIntyre to Kilbride, along with some good scenic outdoor set-ups that keep the eye entertained even when the action slows down. Reviewer lorenellroy is right—the amorality of Lynn and Duryea is unusual for the period, 1948. It's hard at times to know where their loyalties lie, making the script somewhat—and refreshingly-- difficult to predict. Add a luscious De Carlo who looks ravishing in Technicolor, while turning in a surprisingly artful performance.

So, with these positives, why doesn't the movie impact more strongly than I believe it does. Now I'm as big a Duryea fan as anyone. In fact that's why I tuned in. But for some reason he looks less motivated than usual, draining Bart of needed character color. There's not the usual relish of his better performances. Add to that the other lead, Jeffrey Lynn, who's just naturally colorless, and there's not the needed drive at the movie's center. At the same time, director Sherman has to work in the romantic angle without sagging the tempo, which he does pretty well. But the staging of the final ambush scene is clumsily done—how could the ambushers miss their shots at such close range as Bart and Lance race for the cabin.

Anyway, there's real offbeat potential in the various ambiguities that the script doesn't develop adequately until the end. Nonetheless, the compensations are enough to make this a generally entertaining 80-minutes of cowboy intrigue.

Three thieves in the old west decide to split up their money and go their separate ways. However Lance and Jersey try to double-cross Charlie and leave him. Some time later Lance and Jersey come across Charlie, who appears to be doing well as a rancher. However the mysterious Black Bart is robbing Wells Fargo stagecoaches with help from inside information. Things are complicated by the arrival of the beautiful singer Lola Montes who attracts interest from Lance, Charlie and Black Bart himself.

This is a standard western that never threatens to replace John Ford's westerns at the top of the list of greatest of all time. However it does have plenty of things that make it entertaining to watch. The story is a mix of mystery with some nice twists before the tragic but witty finale. The film never really sags and manages to mix action with romance with humour with western. It's not the best film ever made but it is a gentle bit of entertainment.

Dan Duryea is not great as Charlie - he feels too wooden, and as Black Bart he is totally covered by a mask and can't manage to bring his character to life. Jeffrey Lynn is good as Lance and benefits from having a double act with Percy Kilbride's Jersey. Yvonne DeCarlo is stunning as Lola but she doesn't have much to do and is just part of the studio's habit of adding feisty female roles to westerns of the time.

Overall this is nowhere near a classic but it is well shot and is quite fun.

Legendary characters of the wild west often get the same treatment in the movies. Their crimes are made understanding by the writers who show them as wronged heroes who turn against the law to right the wrongs done to them. Jesse James, Belle Starr, Billy the Kid, among many others, got lush colorful movies made about them that when you do real research on them seem totally fictionalized. In many cases, their lives other than their criminal proclivities were rather boring, so to make a good movie, elements had to be added to make their lives seem more exciting other than the chase of the law that usually ended up with a shoot-out and the criminal's violent death. Dan Duryea, one of the great movie scoundrels of the 1940's, is very credible as the titled character, a nobleman who turned to crime and during one of his stagecoach robberies came across the elegant Lola Montez, the famous Spanish dancer.

The camera loves Yvonne de Carlo, seen here wearing tons of make-up and ruby red lipstick, but looking gorgeous as Lola, knowing his true identity, but keeping his secret after he returns one of her valuable jewels to her. Duryea's rival for her affections happens to be his old friend Jeffrey Lynn who is on the stagecoach when Duryea makes his attempts. Percy Kilbride offers amusing side-kick comedy relief and is a step above the silliness of such old grizzled character actors such as Fuzzy Knight and Gabby Hayes. Gorgeous Technicolor photography adds well to the many outdoor scenes, although it seems odd that De Carlo didn't recognize Duryea as the man who robbed her. In spite of a few minor short-comings, this is still very entertaining and fast moving. So take it as legend rather than truth (I could not locate any proof that Black Bart ever met Lola Montez) and simply enjoy the beautiful Yvonne (great in the dance sequences) and the wonderful adventure.

This Universal B picture is yet another example of Hollywood taking a famous character of the old west and fashioning their own story about him without a bit of reality to it. All that I can say is that Black Bart did go by the real name of Charles Bolles and they did do his crime thing in California in the 19th century. Other than that this film has nothing to do with Black Bart's real story.

Among other things Black Bart was always a gentleman and left a bit of poetic verse at the scene of each robbery. Not a line of poetry comes from Dan Duryea's lips. As Black Bart died in 1888 and Lola Montez died in 1861 it's highly unlikely they ever even met.

Yvonne DeCarlo plays the exotic dancer who had King Ludwig of Bavaria panting for more. But that's all done with, Lola's in America on a tour and she's now in San Francisco. On the way there she meets up with Black Bart when he holds up the stagecoach. Also along are a pair of Duryea's associates from his past, Jeffrey Lynn and Percy Kilbride. They know Duryea even behind the mask and want in on the set up. Lynn also wants in on Lola Montez.

Black Bart despite its gross historical inaccuracies is an interesting and unique film. No happy endings for anyone here as Duryea and Lynn go out like Butch and Sundance. Yvonne DeCarlo is properly fetching as Lola though I think the one who should have played Lola in a better film of her life should have been Greta Garbo.

Can you be disappointed if you had no expectations in the first place? In this case: yes. This less than a classic western has an above average idea it fails to deliver. The triangle romance between the zorro- like masked villain, the posing- as- a- good- guy villain and the European dancer- and- mistress- to- the- emperor- of- Austria- turned- saloon singer is actually quite original.

The film, however, is not. The standard western imagery and unimaginative cinematography/direction condemns this film into the "forgettable"- category. Still it must be noted that there is no hero in this western: just two outlaws and a corrupt dame. Although they get their due in the "grand" finale, themes like that are not frequent in the westerns of the classic era but associated usually to westerns in the late 60's and 70's.

Copyright 24 March 1948 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York opening at the Winter Garden: 3 May 1948. U.S. release: April 1948. U.K. release through Eros (the film was turned down by Rank): floating from November 1949. Australian release: 12 August 1948. 7,247 feet. 80 minutes. U.K. release title: BLACK BART, HIGHWAYMAN.

SYNOPSIS: This film is based on the adventures of Charles E. Bolton, poet-highwayman who committed 28 hold-ups before he was apprehended, and Lola Montez, the internationally famous dancer. That they ever did meet is not impossible but highly improbable, for Lola was touring the U.S. under the direction of P. T. Barnum at the time Black Bart was on the rampage. This is a dashingly-played (particularly by Dan Duryea and lovely Yvonne De Carlo), fast-moving and very exciting melodrama, very competently directed with appealing Technicolor photography. - E.V.D.

COMMENT: Quite an entertaining "B", photographed in most attractive Technicolor by Irving Glassberg, this classy Universal entry features an interesting and highly rewarding group of players, led by Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Jeffrey Lynn and Percy Kilbride.

Very capably directed by George Sherman from a taut, well-constructed and peopled-with-interesting-characters screenplay (to which William Bowers doubtless made a major contribution), Black Bart (despite its off-putting title) rates as a must-see western.

Before he directed "Black Bart," George Sherman had helmed over 40 B-westerns. Despite his prolific output, Sherman challenged John Ford for artistry mastery of the genre. Nevertheless, "Black Bart" qualifies as an entertaining but formulaic tongue-in-cheek oater. Three scenarists--Luci Ward, Jack Natteford, and William Bowers—knew something about writing horse operas. Ward & Natteford collaborated together on 11 westerns, including "The Last Bandit," "Return of the Badman," Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado," and "Badman's Territory." William Bowers wrote "The Law and Jake Wade," "The Sheepman," "Support Your Local Sheriff," "The Gunfighter," and "Advance to the Rear." Ostensibly about a real life character who used the alias "Black Bart," this colorful western takes place in California and concerns a clever bandit who dresses like Zorro and skillfully wields double-barrel, sawed-off shotgun. He robs stagecoaches, and his legend spreads across the southwest much to the chagrin of the Wells Fargo Company. Unlike the remake, "Black Bart" unfolds in flashback narrated by outlaw Jersey Brady (Percy Kilbride of the "Ma & Pa Kettle" series at Universal. According to Brady, our notorious protagonists, Charles E. Boles (Dan Duryea of "Winchester 73") and Lance Hardeen (Jeffrey Lynn of "Underground") are being taken to the hanging tree by the authorities because they robbed two banks, rode out on stolen horses, and took the mayor's wife with them in the same day. Meantime, Jersey has planted explosives at the base of the tree, and he blasts the tree, gets the drop on the lawman with his rifle.

Afterward, the three outlaws split up, with Boles decides to ride to California, while Lance talks about heading to Texas. Boles prefers to be done with reckless Lance. Lance was the one who brought along the mayor's wife during their twin-bill bank robbery. "You're bad news, Lance," Boles complains, "you're not interested in growing old." "There ain't no permanence in this business," Jersey observes. "Just begin to like somebody and he turns up dead." Lance points out, "You lose a lot of people you don't like that way, too." Unlike Jersey and Lance, Boles aims to make a stake and then turn respectable. Lance laughs at Boles' ambition, "You don't have a respectable bone in your body. You've got larceny pumping through your bones the same as me. You'll never make it." The three have $3-thousand buried nearby, but Lance and Jersey double-cross Boles and leave him afoot so he cannot claim his share. They ride off, while he pulls that $3-thousand wad out of his pocket. Indeed, Boles has the last laugh on Lance. Sherman makes a clever transition to California. As Boles rides into another standard-issue western town, a covered wagon passes in front of the camera, and stenciled on the canopy is Sacramento. Typically, a set of graphic titles would have been superimposed on the screen to identify the setting, but this organic introduction looks far better. Boles drifts into a bar and encounters an old friend Clark (John McIntire of "Backlash"), who invites him to sit down. Clark had been participating in a conversation with a Wells Fargo representative. Clark informs Boles that he has become a legitimate lawyer because there are no records to condemn him as a criminal.

Clark concocts an audacious scheme based on the widespread discovery of gold in the state. Indeed, Clark is referring to the Sutter's Fort gold rush. Clark poses a sarcastic question to Boles:"How would you like to be in the banking business?" Multiple newspaper headlines appear about the celebrated gold rush. Afterward, we catch our first glimpse of Boles dressed up in black, riding a galloping black horse, and wearing a black bag over his face. He robs his first stagecoach. Before long, Wells Fargo has placed a $10-thousand bounty on Black Bart's head. You see, Boles and Clark have gone into business. Inevitably, Lance and Jersey show up, and they persuade the stagecoach company to hire them as drivers. Things get even livelier as dance hall girl Lola Montez (Yvonne De Carlo of "Brute Force") arrives via Wells Fargo in Sacramento. She is riding on the same coach that Lance and Jersey have taken, and they admire her diamonds worth over $100-thousand dollars. Naturally, Black Bart strikes.

"Bend of the River" lenser Irving Glassberg's Technicolor cinematography is vivid and some of the scenery looks imposing. The other natural beauty is not mountainous. De Carlo performs a dance number that shows a lot of leg. The dialogue is above-average and leavened with humor. Duryea makes a good outlaw, but Lynn seems distinctively out of place. Percy Kilbride serves as comic relief, and there is a surprise ending. In some ways, "Black Bart" surpasses "Ride to the Hangman's Tree." The amazing thing is that Universal Pictures was able to insert some of the action footage from this 1948 movie into the 1967 remake.

Yvonne de Carlo was a pretty girl, but somehow they gave her roles where she was supposed to be astonishing beautiful making all men fall for her. She wasn't that great, as a matter of fact very few are. "Salome Where She Danced" was one of the worst films I have ever seen and Black Bart saves itself because of a decent script and good actors like Dan Duryea, Jeffrey Lynn and Percy Killbride. Masked main characters at those times (1948) used to be heroes, like the Zorro and the Durango Kid. They wore their masks to defend poor people's rights, or the law. In Black Bart, Duryea's mask is for pure self interest, but in the film he is not quite the bad guy, the spectator will sympathize with him. In those westerns where the outlaw was the hero, he either had to die at the end, or go to jail for a number of years, with his woman waiting for him. That made them different from the standard "good guy happy ending". Conclusion: any western with Dan Duryea, the eternal Waco Johnnie Dean (Winchester 73) is worth seeing, even this average one.

This film starts with two outlaws by the names of "Charles E. Boles" (Dan Duryea) and "Lance Hardeen" (Jeffrey Lynn) being led to a hanging tree out of town after committing several crimes. However, before the nooses can be put around their necks another outlaw named "Jersey Brady" (Percy Kilbride) ambushes the hanging party and springs his two friends. Once freed Charles decides to split up from the other two and heads for California with all of the money taken from a previous heist. Not long afterward he dons a mask and upon assuming the nickname of "Black Bart" proceeds to rob stagecoaches belonging to Wells Fargo. As luck would have it one of the stagecoaches he robs has both Lance and Jersey as passengers along with a famous dancer from Europe by the name of "Lola Montez" (Yvonne De Carlo). Needless to say, their lives become intertwined from this moment on. Now, rather than reveal any more of the film and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a watchable Western movie for the most part. Although I liked the performances of Yvonne De Carlo and Percy Kilbride to a certain extent, to be quite honest I didn't think Dan Duryea possessed the necessary screen presence to handle the starring role. Likewise, I also thought some of the scenarios were a bit too fanciful and unrealistic for my tastes. Again though, it's certainly watchable and worth the time spent if one is inclined to movies of this type. I rate it as average.