return of frank james

While John Wayne would likely win the popular vote for "Most Famous Movie Cowboy," Henry Fonda is the dark horse who quietly gets the job done. Able to take on any role from an affable man of the people to a cold blooded killer, Fonda may not be as irreversibly linked with the West as the Duke, but his performances are undeniably more interesting...even in a movie as confused as The Return of Frank James (1940), director Fritz Lang's first stab at the genre and first film in color.

A sequel to 1939's Jesse James, with many actors (including Henry Hull and John Carradine) repeating their respective roles, the plot picks up with the killing of the famous outlaw while his brother, Frank (Fonda), is living anonymously on an Missouri farm. When the law pardons the cowardly Ford brothers, Frank sets out to avenge his kin, saddled with a price on his head and overly eager protégé (Jackie Cooper). The duo buy some time by leading a naive reporter (Gene Tierney, making her film debut) down a false trail, but eventually the final member of the James gang winds up in court, defending his famous name against the wealth and influence of the big money railroad attorneys who want to see him hang.

To begin with, Lang's film is a gorgeous-looking Technicolor affair, taking advantage of some stunning scenery and a noir-ish finale that finds the director on much surer ground. And Fonda's soft-spoken take on Frank James is as comfortable as an old shoe, flexible enough to woo a pretty lady but tough as leather when the time calls for it. The trouble is the film can never rise above these - admittedly entertaining - episodic moments, bouncing from redemption to revenge to a comical courtroom drama. And it doesn't help that most of the supporting cast (particularly Hull and Tierney) deliver line readings as false as a first audition. The Return of Frank James does its level best to turn an outlaw into a man of honor, but there's something disturbingly disingenuous about the fact that it wants to in the first place!

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray is a real looker on hi-def. No extras this time around besides a set of liner notes, but it's a handsome addition to anyone's western collection.