Hellfire (1949)

The greatest movie ever made..!

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Republic Pictures was known as the poverty row studio that made great westerns...both of the "A" and "B" variety. "Hellfire" was an ambitious effort to turn out an "adult western".The story has gambler Jeb Smith (William Elliot) trying to fulfill a promise to a dying derelict old preacher (H.B. Warner) to build his church as the result of the old man having taken a bullet meant for Zeb. Zeb takes the preacher's bible or "Rule Book" as he calls it, and sets out to raise the necessary funds. He happens upon a gunfight between the female gunfighter Doll Brown (Marie Windsor) and Lew Stoner (Harry Woods) and decides to pursue her with the intention of using the reward on her to build his church.Also in pursuit of Doll are the Stoner Brothers (Jim Davis, Paul Fix and Louis Faust) and Marshal Bucky McLean (Forrest Tucker) who has reasons of his own for chasing Doll. The various parties meet here and there and Windsor even gets to sing a couple of forgettable tunes in her guise as a saloon singer. Does Zeb make Doll see the light? Does good triumph over evil? "Hellfire" is short on action and long on preaching. Director R.G. Spingsteen drags out the unlikely story over a long 90 minutes. There are none of the traditional Republic fight scenes and gunplay is kept to a minimum. Elliott sleepwalks through his role but Windsor is charming as the "femme fatale" of the piece (she was after all the Queen of noir). Tucker adds what little color there is as the third member of the triangle. The rest of the cast do what they can in limiting roles.Elliott, formerly known as "Wild Bill" in his "B" picture days had begun appearing in the studio's "A" features in 1946. This one was near the end of his tenure with Republic. But Republic always populated their features with great supporting casts of recognizable faces.In addition to those already mentioned, roles of varying sizes went to Emory Parnell, Grant Withers, Denver Pyle, Trevor Bardette, Dewey Robinson (as a bartender, natch), Richard Alexander, Hank Worden, Stanley Price, Fred Kohler Jr. and Kenneth MacDonald. Devout western fans will recognize most if not all of these names.It's a shame the director Springsteen couldn't find more to do for veterans H.B. Warner, Harry Woods and Grant Withers who appear only briefly."Hellfire" has its moments but to me was an overall disappointment.

I have heard of Marie Windsor, but never saw her in a film prior to this. Because she toiled at poverty-row studios I guess I had a prejudice against her without ever having seen her, but boy! She was terrific. Her character as Doll in this western with a religious twist was strongly written and strongly played. William Elliot seemed just right in his role as a bad boy trying to walk the straight-and-narrow. This really is a unique film in the history of westerns and the Trucolor makes this a time capsule of poverty-row color technology. Essentially a two-color process, it shows up in red-orange and green, although the skies appear as blue. The print streamed on Netflix was in excellent shape, with no excessive lines or dirt present, and the overall experience was one of gratitude that they have managed to save so many of these low-budget studio films. To the casual viewer who thinks only the majors could achieve quality, the modern-day viewing of some of these B films proves that they too could achieve quality if not consistently then at least occasionally.

The review by Filmaven tickled me. I feared I was alone in believing this movie is one of the greats.Marie Windsor, a fine actress in any role, just outdid herself in this film.Bill Elliott was even better than usual, and so were all the other actors.Best of all, though, was an excellent script, one definitely worthy of A movie budgeting and distributing.There is a quality in this movie that is sadly lacking in most modern films, and the emphasis on a story line is one aspect that elevates "Hellfire" above the mass of films.

This is one of the best "B" westerns ever made. It stars the queen of the "B"s herself -- Marie Windsor, along with those two other great "B" stars, "Wild Bill" Elliott and Forrest Tucker.It has an unusual twist which sets it apart from other westerns; Bill Elliot plays a card sharp and all-around bad dude whose life is saved by a preacher who takes a bullet meant for Wild Bill (all this takes place in the first five minutes of the movie so the plot is not ruined for you).Bill promises the dying preacher that he will complete the preacher's mission and collect the money needed to build a church. He also promised to "follow the rules" i.e., raise the money without resorting to crime.Bill Elliott's efforts to change his ways and avoid temptation make for a great movie.