Red Canyon

Black Velvet, a "killer" stallion terrorises the range. Two people, a reformed badman and a tomboyish farmer's daughter, think they can tame him (and each other, naturally). Only Chill Will's typical character acting distinguishes this very minor and rather childish western. Weak:(4 out of

There are two things outstanding about this film. First, it has exceptional cast for a Western produced by Universal Pictures. Ann Blyth as the female lead, Howard Duff as the male lead, George Brent as Blyth's father, Edgar Buchanan as...well Edgar Buchannan, John McIntire as the bad father of Duff, Chill Wills as...well Chill Wills, Jane Darwell as Blyth's aunt, and Lloyd Bridges as the bad brother of Duff. Really, that's quite a cast. Second is the scenery. It was filmed in Utah in places such as Kanab Canyon, Paria, and Bryce Canyon. And, at least with the print shown on one of the premium cable channels, the film was crisp and colorful. In fact, it was gorgeous. Now, back to the cast. Blyth was good here, and it's clear she could ride horses...not that she did all of the riding herself. Duff, whom I mostly remember later as a television actor, was also good here. I couldn't help but wonder why he didn't do better in his long career. The sad part was that of George Brent. He's quite a bit older here than his glory days with Bette Davis, and he has little dialog. Sad, really; he was a fine actor. Now, as to the story. Well, not quite stereotypical, it's about a wild stallion (Black Velvet) who eludes being caught by Duff, but succumbs to being caught (and ridden) by Blythe. And it is a beautiful horse! Duff, meanwhile, is the good son of a bad man and bad family, and -- of course -- falls in love with Blythe. It's not one of the "great" Westerns. But this is pretty good and worth watching if Westerns attract your attention.

This movie is very similar to the 1946 movie with Fred McMurray called "Smoky". This movie starts out well with the Howard Duff character undertaking the perceived impossible task of capturing a horse called Black Velvet. The horse is incorrigible and cannot be trained but then allows Ann Blythe to train it. So in essence the movie turns into sort of a girl and horse love affair. It seems the movie would have been so much better if it continued with the original story-line which is why I give a low rating. There are other twists but won't go into details and spoil for those who have not watched.

All the usual suspects like big mouth edgar buchanan, chill wills, denver pyle and john mcintyre playing the nasty bad guy ... howard duff as the love interest of the beautiful ann blyth ... this western is well worth watching just to see ann blyth ...

The movie is a western build around breeding, catching, and also a bit stealing horses. Nothing too deep but quite entertaining. There is some beautiful horses in the movie not to forget the wild stallion Black Velvet. And for those more interested in looking at the fair gender Ann Blythe looks great and is not just playing the usual spoiled rich mans daughter but someone that actually have useful skills with horses. The romance in the movie never takes over the movie and get too mushy but just adds a little spice. This is not the greatest western ever made but beautiful shot and with an entertainment level I would say above average. Strange this movie is so unknown while much better than many more well known westerns. I would recommend it for pure entertainment.

Universal Pictures splurged a little with this one going on location and using color for this entertaining B western populated with a cast of familiar western faces for Red Canyon. The film is based on a Zane Grey novel about a cowboy trying to catch a beautiful black stallion and leader of a pack of wild horses. The horse can fly and he might make a good race horse Howard Duff reasons. Might even impress Ann Blyth the daughter of the local Ponderosa owner George Brent. What Ann and George don't know about Duff is that he's also the son of a local outlaw leader John McIntire. Many years back McIntire and his gang killed Ann's mother during a gunfight. The plot goes about as you would expect it to go but the western vistas in Kanab, Utah are a beautiful sight. Add to the folks already mentioned people like Jane Darwell, Edgar Buchanan, Chill Wills, and Denver Pyle all who are most familiar western faces and in roles you would expect them to be in and it adds up to nice western entertainment. No new ground broken in Red Canyon, but well cultivated old ground indeed.

Moviecut—Red Canyon

The movie is a western build around breeding, catching, and also a bit stealing horses. Nothing too deep but quite entertaining. There is some beautiful horses in the movie not to forget the wild stallion Black Velvet. And for those more interested in looking at the fair gender Ann Blythe looks great and is not just playing the usual spoiled rich mans daughter but someone that actually have useful skills with horses. The romance in the movie never takes over the movie and get too mushy but just adds a little spice. This is not the greatest western ever made but beautiful shot and with an entertainment level I would say above average. Strange this movie is so unknown while much better than many more well known westerns. I would recommend it for pure entertainment.

This western belongs to the films that Universal pictures has made about horses, remember Harry Keller's SIX BLACK HORSES, films destined mainly for young audiences, where the story is not important, but only the horse matter instead; or you also had Phil Karlson's BLACK GOLD. But that remains a good little lost gem, produced by Aaron Rosenberg, a good producer for this kind of feature. Splendidly photographed, that may help you to forgive and forget the bland acting, despite the presence of Edgar Buchanan and his "cartoon" character voice.

Zane Grey gets the full Technicolor treatment, with Howard Duff trying to catch and train the greatest mustang ever, but requiring Edgar Buchanan and top-billed Ann Blyth. She's a tomboy, from the top of her perfectly marcelled hair, to her sculpted eyebows, red painted lips and ivory skin. Duff may be the man who catches Black Velvet, but it's Miss Blyth's mysterious power over horses -- horsepower, I call it -- that gets the animal trained. It's one of Universal's "Shaky A" westerns, with quite a cast. George Brent, Chill Wills, Jane Darwell, Lloyd Bridges, but the beauty of it is not in the story as directed by George Sherman, but the way that Irving Glassberg's camera captured Ford country: so bright you can't look, air so clear, you can see everything. It's shot in Ford Country, but Ford's cameramen made the landscape a mythic dreamscape, where the cowboys shake off dust that no one ever raises, just the godlike wind. In Sherman's movie, everything is just as bright, but when people trod on the red, dry ground, they're the once who raise the dust; and everyone, comic sidekick Buchanan aside, is always perfectly clean. It's not the godlike land that makes the story here. The land is the setting, godlike people make the story.