In the shadow of the gallows

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title In the shadow of the gallows
Original title Run for Cover
Country of production United States
original language United States
Publishing year 1955
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Nicholas Ray
script Winston Miller ,
Harriet Frank Jr. ,
Irving Ravetch
production William H. Pine ,
William C. Thomas for
Paramount Pictures
music Howard Jackson
camera Daniel L. Fapp
cut Howard Smith
occupation
synchronization

In the Shadow of the Gallows is a 1955 American western directed by Nicholas Ray .

action

During a ride, the experienced westerner Matt Dow meets 20-year-old Davey Bishop. The two men get along well and try their shooting skills on flying birds. The conductors of a train that happened to pass by, who were only attacked a few weeks ago by the dangerous gang of the criminal Gentry, consider this to be the beginning of an attack. Fearing for their lives, the two conductors throw a large sack of money from the train at the two supposed bandits. To clear up the misunderstanding, Matt and Davey set off for town with the money.

According to the conductors' statements, the local sheriff has now put together a vigilante group that is hot-headed and brutal. Without warning or letting them have their say, Matt and Davey are attacked by the vigilante group. While Matt gets away with injuries and clears up the misunderstanding in front of the townspeople, Davey was badly shot and is fighting for his life on the farm of Mr. Swenson, who immigrated from Sweden, and his daughter Helga. Davey survives, but will remain a cripple for the rest of his life because of the shot , which puts a heavy burden on the young man. Meanwhile, Matt becomes friends with Helga Swenson and finally proposes to her. He also wins the respect of Mr. Swenson, who at first appears stubborn.

The townspeople feel guilty about the vigilante group and make Matt the new sheriff, whereupon he appoints Davey as his deputy to build his confidence. An attempted bank robbery two criminals can be prevented by Matt, but Davey is weak: the lynching of the village against a bandit he can not prevent; then he is supposed to transport the surviving bandit Morgan to the next village, but he escapes. Davey then quits his position as deputy sheriff and becomes a shop clerk, which Matt regrets because he - his own son, with whom he no longer has contact, would be as old as Davey today - sees the young man as a kind of son. Helga tries to make Matt understand that Davey is an adult and has to make his own decisions.

Some time later, gang leader Gentry attacks the village, just as all the villagers are sitting in the Easter service and are defenseless. Gentry is puzzled that Matt is Sheriff - the two were in jail together for several years. It is learned that Matt spent six years apparently innocent in prison, thereby losing contact with his wife and son. Gentry's gang steals $ 80,000 and shoots Mr. Swenson when he tries to pursue them. Matt, Davey and the men of the village set out on the trail of the bandits, who apparently rode into Indian territory. Only Matt and Davey dare to venture into the Indian territory, which earns Matt the respect of the villagers - who were previously skeptical about his prison time.

In the Indian area they find most of the members of the band of robbers murdered by the Comanches , but the 80,000 dollars are still completely available in one of the saddlebags. Davey suddenly tries to shoot Matt, but he can still avoid it. It becomes clear that Davey is also a member of Gentry's gang and gave the tip to ambush during the Easter service. Davey and Matt get close to the Comanches and have to hide the money. When they have to swim across a river, Matt almost drowns, with Davey abandoning him in cold blood. Matt manages to hold on to a piece of wood and survives, he then picks up Davey's trail. He becomes more and more aware that despite all the good-natured attempts on his part, he can no longer protect Davey.

In the abandoned ruins, Matt finds Davey with the bandit Morgan, who are discussing how to get the hidden $ 80,000. Matt shoots Morgan down in self-defense and turns to Davey: he will arrest him and bring him back to town, where he will hang as an example to other young people after a trial. After the stroke of fate of being a cripple, Davey immediately turned to crime - which other people, although it often hit them even harder in life (such as Matt with his prison sentence despite his innocence), never did. Morgan, meanwhile, awakens from his unconsciousness and aims at Matt. Davey watches this and shoots Morgan - with Matt mistakenly thinking that Davey is aiming at him and kills him with his shot. After his return, a thoughtful Matt tells the villagers and Helga that Davey died fighting the bandits heroically.

history

For veteran Hollywood star James Cagney, Run for Cover was only the second western of his film career, the first being Oklahoma Kid from 1939. In 1956, Cagney shot his third and last western with Mein Wille ist Gesetz . Swedish actress Viveca Lindfors and young star John Derek, who rides Pie , James Stewart's favorite film horse, were hired at Cagey's side . For the Danish-American veteran actor Jean Hersholt , Mr. Swenson was the last film role, he died the following year.

Originally, the German William Dieterle was announced as director of the film in the preproduction , but in the end it became Nicholas Ray. He had recently staged the western Johnny Guitar - When Women Hate with Joan Crawford , which was torn up by many critics at the time, but was successful at the box office and is now often considered a masterpiece. Like Johnny Guitar , Ray takes up the motif of a vigilante group consisting of supposedly good and civilized villagers who act irresponsibly and brutally and do not even shrink from lynching.

Run for Cover was shot using the VistaVision process and distributed by Paramount Pictures . The production company, however, was the small but traditional Pine-Thomas Productions . The two producers Pine and Thomas had made a number of B-films since 1941 and earned a reputation for never losing money on their films. In the 1950s, they adapted to the rise of television, which was increasingly competing with B-movies in particular, and also made more expensive films such as Run for Cover . The film brought in box office profits of around $ 1.5 million in the US.

synchronization

The synchronized version was created for the German cinema premiere on September 29, 1955 at Berliner Synchron . Karin Vielmetter wrote the dialogue book and Peter Elsholtz directed the dialogue .

role actor Voice actor
Matt Dow James Cagney Horst Niendorf
Helga Swenson Viveca Lindfors Eleanor Noelle
Davey Bishop John Derek Gerd Martienzen
Mr. Swenson Jean Hersholt Eduard Wandrey
Gentry, bandit Grant Withers Manfred Meurer
Morgan, bandit Ernest Borgnine Heinz Giese
Mayor Walsh John Miljan Paul Wagner
Larsen, villager Jack Lambert Hans W. Hamacher
Scotty, citizen Irving Bacon Robert Klupp
Paulsen, citizen Trevor Bardette Otto Stoeckel
Guard Larry Joe Haworth Herbert Weissbach

Reviews

The film service appears to be addressed by the film in terms of both content and form: “Western striving for a psychological foundation, which places less value on actions customary in the genre; scenic and dramatic. "

The US film critic Dennis Schwartz sees the film as an "extraordinary, allegorical " western. Nicholas Ray brings his frequent film themes, “Generational conflict and social injustice”, to the screen “powerfully”. Run for Cover is not quite as masterful as Ray's western classic Johnny Guitar , but it is still an “excellent character study” about two men who react differently when they are confronted with injustice. The film shows the difficulties of a father-son relationship, the extent of violence and conflicts in the film is just right under Ray's “capable and sensitive direction”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Run for Cover (1955) - IMDb. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  2. ^ Media History Digital Library: Variety (February 1954) . New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company, 1954 ( archive.org [accessed July 4, 2019]).
  3. ^ Media History Digital Library: Variety (January 1956) . New York, NY: Variety Publishing Company, 1956 ( archive.org [accessed July 4, 2019]).
  4. ↑ Run for Cover (1955) - IMDb. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  5. ↑ German synchronous index | Movies | In the shadow of the gallows. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  6. ↑ German synchronous index | Movies | In the shadow of the gallows. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .
  7. ↑ In the shadow of the gallows. Retrieved June 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ runforcover. Retrieved July 4, 2019 .