classicsoncall Whoever came up with the line in my summary above ought to get a prize. It was spoken by Robert Mitchum's character Jim Garry right before he went mano a mano with bad guy Riling (Robert Preston) at the Commissary saloon. It was a see-saw battle for a time and might have been curtains for Garry but for the intervention of old Kris Barden (Walter Brennan), who by that time had had his fill of Riling's underhanded dealings with his fellow ranchers.Well ordinarily you wouldn't get such a fine story coming out of a late Forties Western. The plot contains an element I haven't seen before, whereby baddie Riling enlists the aid of government Indian agent Pindelast (Frank Faylen) to seize the cattle herd of rancher Lufton (Tom Tully) if he's still grazing on reservation land by a certain deadline. Lufton plants a false message with his daughter Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes) on where he'll transfer his herd, as Jim Garry is caught up in the intrigue while straddling both factions until he gets the lay of the land.If your only memory of actress Bel Geddes is from her role as matriarch of the Ewing Family on the hit TV series 'Dallas', you'll probably be surprised to see what a good looking woman she was in her early years here. The same can be said of other actresses like Angela Lansbury and Bette Davis, so being an avid film fan has it's unexpected surprises and rewards. Her character Amy Lufton gets off on the wrong foot with Garry, but winds up heading off into the proverbial sunset with him by film's end.But on the way there, the dusty trail is replete with villainous plots and double cross, and in a way, one could argue that Jim Garry pulled off his fair share as well. But only after seeing how Riling was using his position to deceive his fellow ranchers and try to corrupt one of the Lufton daughters to set up her Dad. Speaking of which, how did Garry know that Riling was seeing Carol Lufton (Phyllis Thaxter) on the sly? There wasn't even a hint in the story line of how he could have learned that.Other reviewers here comment on the noir-like nature of this picture and I guess I'd have to concur. There's that scene of Mitchum coming out of the shadows right after his fight with Riling that could serve as a poster shot for the genre if this wasn't actually a Western. Other elements serve as well, particularly the dark atmosphere and the presence of Carol Lufton before she has her reality check with Riling. And you can't get any more noir than having a title like "Blood on the Moon".

utgard14 Cowboy Robert Mitchum comes to help old friend Robert Preston, only to find himself in the middle of a war between Preston and rancher Tom Tully. He soon realizes his buddy might not be the good guy in this particular fight. Excellent shadowy western from director Robert Wise with touches of film noir. Mitchum is solid. Preston makes an interesting villain. Nice support that includes Walter Brennan, Charles McGraw, Frank Faylen, and Phyllis Thaxter. Barbara Bel Geddes plays Mitchum's love interest. The abrupt change in her character's personality is one of the film's weaker points. She starts out as hotheaded tomboy then, without explanation, turns into a sweet, sympathetic lady. Fistfight in a darkened bar between Mitchum and Preston is a highlight. Western fans will enjoy this one a lot.

Steffi_P Although RKO was a major studio, in the 1940s an unusually large proportion of its output was low-budget B-movies. And not just any B-movies – psychological urban horrors from the Val Lewton unit, and plenty of gritty thrillers of the type that would come to be known as film noir. There was also a brisk trade in Westerns at all the studios, and RKO was no exception, but perhaps no picture better demonstrates that the studio was practically stuck in "noir" mode than the literally dark Western Blood on the Moon.Much of Blood on the Moon's bleak look is down to director of photography Nicholas Musuraca, who did the job on many of the Lewton horrors, including the seminal Cat People. Musuraca was quite capable of doing regular (and still very accomplished) cinematography – take a look at I Remember Mama, for which he received his only Oscar nomination – but his speciality was cloaking the screen in vast swathes of black. You would think this would be difficult in a Western, which ought to be full of vast empty plains and sunny skies. But Musuraca uses lighting techniques that can turn anything into a silhouette, or edges and corners into indistinct patches of darkness. He even makes clouds and buttes into foreboding black blobs. But he does not simply dim everything darker – his craft is very precise, and he is capable of throwing sharp white light where it is needed, or creating layers of grey amidst the gloom. Incidentally, while this adds immensely to the atmosphere, it is also probably part of RKO's general trend of hiding the lack of lavishness on a cheap production. After all, who needs a big town set when all you can make out is a door frame and a hitching post? Musuraca's partner in crime is director Robert Wise, another graduate of the Lewton unit. Wise adds to the atmosphere by composing tightly framed shots with bits of scenery and foreground clutter obscuring chunks of the screen. And look at how much of the movement is in depth rather than across the screen. Often characters are moving straight towards us, virtually staring into the lens, and this adds to the aura of menace. Just like in a well-made film noir (as well as those Val Lewton horrors) the overall impression is of a surreal nightmare world from which there is no escape. That is quite an achievement in a Western.Wise was also an expert at handling the pacing of his pictures, here shooting intense and nasty action sequences, spaced out by moody and measured dialogue scenes. This latter actually gives room for some nice acting performances. Robert Mitchum – a man who made an art form out of laconic moodiness – is perfect for those quieter moments. Like Humphrey Bogart, he was at first mistaken for a supporting player, but film noir gave him a niche as a leading man. Barbara Bel Geddes seems really cut out as Mitchum's tomboyish love interest. Active and assertive parts like the one she has here did not come up often for women in this era, and she gives it her all. Best of the bunch though is Walter Brennan, who looks and sounds like the typical crusty old man, and as such played a part in dozens of Westerns in his time. But under his character actor exterior he could emote beautifully, and in Blood on the Moon you really believe his mourning for his son.What we have here isn't simply a case of Wise and Musurasca giving a mischievous murky makeover to a good ol' cowboy flick. It seems the project was in noir territory right from the outset. Lillie Hayward, who I don't recall seeing credited anywhere else, but seems to have done a top job, has really just given us a gritty PI thriller out West. Mitchum is not so much the iconic drifter and more a grudgingly moral gun for hire. There is little distinction between the cowpunchers and the homesteaders (although in any case these two groups tended to be fairly interchangeable as villains and heroes from one Western to another – a bit like the North and South in Civil War movies). And interestingly this is one of the few pictures of this time to feature bona fide cowgirls, who shoot, talk and ride like the men. Parasols and petticoats are out of the question in this Western.Leaving aside all social context and genre subversion, the most important question is surely, is it actually any good? The answer is yes. Blood on the Moon does what any decently made B-flick ought to do – it is neither deep, moving or intelligent, but it gives a quick and reliable round of entertainment.

krorie This is perhaps the greatest of the noir westerns. Director Robert Wise had been in charge of the mythical "The Curse of the Cat People," not a sequel to the horror classic, "Cat People," as the studio expected, rather a fantasy film highlighting the imagination of a little girl.Working with darkness and shadows emphasizing the mood of the picture makes "Blood on the Moon" seem gloomy and pessimistic, but actually the film is more about the redemption of a hopelessly lost cowboy, Jim Garry (Robert Mitchum), who finds meaning in life through the love of a woman, also named Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes) as was the little girl in "The Curse of the Cat People." The opposite of Jim Garry is his so-called pal, Tate Riling (Robert Preston). Rather than redemption, Riling falls deeper and deeper into the maelstrom of depravity, murder, and deception. Even his romance with Amy's sister, Carol Lufton (Phyllis Thaxter), is a treacherous, deceitful one. Riling uses Carol for his advantage, at times against her own family, while she is truly in love with him. Riling has few redeeming qualities and is bad through and through. The relationship between the two, Riling had actually invited Garry to join him, knowing what an expert he was with a gun, is the crux of the film. The story about the feud between the homesteaders, pawns for Riling, and the ranchers is a superficial one. Character studies make the movie worthwhile.Walter Brennan as Kris Barden, a homesteader fooled by Riling for awhile, has a pivotal role showing how Riling's double dealings and egomania eventually catch up with him and destroy him. "One may smile, and smile, and be a villain" only so long. Barden is a counterpart to Garry's character. Frank Faylen, as Indian agent Jake Pindalest, in collusion with Riling's schemes for self-aggrandizement, on the other hand represents a counterpart to Riling's character.The title is one of the best ever for a western. Supersitition has it that when there is blood on the moon (a particular atmospheric appearance of the moon), it's a sign that someone is going to be killed. When I was a boy one of my friend's dads operated a movie theater. He had accumulated a closet full of movie posters over the years. One day he was cleaning out his closets and asked me if I wanted the old posters. I eagerly latched on to them. Two posters impressed me above all the others. One was " The Grapes of Wrath" poster; the other was the "Blood on the Moon" one. Something about those titles and the art work on the posters grabbed my mind and my imagination. I didn't get to see either film for many years, eventually seeing them on TV. To me the magic of the posters matched the magic of the movies.