Montagne rouge

I quite like Director William Dieterle's work. He first impressed me with PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (1948), a rather whimsical love story, and SEPTEMBER AFFAIR (1950) only confirmed in my mind his penchant for directing love stories with a sensitive touch.

Of course, RED MOUNTAIN does have a love angle, too, which ultimately symbolizes the union of North and South, for the US to become one nation. But it involves a triangle: Ladd, playing Captain Sherwood, carries a torch for lovely Lizabeth Scott... pity that she is married to Arthur Kennedy!

The film opens with the murder of an assayer weighing gold on a scale. The assailant's face is not shown but by the short steps I had an inknling as to the killer's identity: "Nah, can't be Ladd!" - I thought - "He doesn't sneak up on unsuspecting souls and ice them so coldly!"

How wrong I was, but then nothing in RED MOUNTAIN really pans out normally: Ladd is a Confederate, but you do not see him in Confederate uniform, only in Union colors as he saves Kennedy from hanging and for a while you do not know why he does it, until you learn that he was the real finder of the gold motherlode. That ain't all, either: This Ladd is a real bad lad!, thick as thieves with scheming Confederate General Quantrill until the latter reveals his real hand and his nefarious plans with the Indians.

Unfortunately, that denouement involves a deluge of talking, with repeated situations where Ladd saves Kennedy, Kennedy saves Ladd, Scott also saves them. Finally, Ladd realizes that Quantrill is a criminal. As the old saying prior to the 5th amendment had it, a criminal who kills a criminal deserves 100-year pardon.

Such is the dubious moral standard embodied against type by Ladd, normally a standup guy.

Pleasant cinematography, mediocre script. 5/10.