weezeralfalfa 1939 and '40 saw Henry Fonda involved in his greatest string of classic biops and classic novel film adaptations, though not always the lead character nor most remembered character. This includes "Jesse James". "Young Mr. Lincoln", "Drums along the Mohawk", and "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" in '39, followed by the '40 "The Grapes of Wrath", as well as the present film, where he reprises his role as Frank James, in a sequel to "Jesse James", his brother having been killed at the end of the previous film, and he out to do justice to his brother by assassinating the killer. While this film scores significantly lower mean rating at this site than these other films, I find it the most entertaining of the bunch, having seen it numerous times over the years. Never mind the gross historical inaccuracies and many contrivances of the screenplay. Like "Jesse James", it was a rare film of the times shot in Technicolor. It makes sense that Frank might try to kill the assassin of his brother. Historically, it just didn't happen that way. Incidentally, this site has it wrong that the Ford brothers died within a few months of killing Jesse. Brother Charlie killed himself 2 years later while suffering from terminal TB. Brother Bob lived another 10 years, moving around to several parts of the West, but not Denver, as portrayed in the film. However, at one point in the film, Frank and adopted son Clem(Jackie Cooper) are riding to catch Bob(John Carradine) in the mining town of Creede, CO, to which Bob fled after Frank and Clem chased him out of Denver. Historically, this is where Bob was finally assassinated, after setting up a business there. However, that's not how the screenplay tells it. Also, the theatrical play in Denver, in which the James brothers hold up a woman, to be thwarted by the Ford brothers, alludes to the historical fact that Bob did stage reenactments of his killing of Jesse, in the early years after the deed. Frank's appearance in the balcony induces Bob to flee, Frank jumping to the stage, Booth-like, in pursuit.Gorgeous Gene Tierney has her first film role, as leading lady Eleanor Stone: the late teen daughter of the editor of a Denver newspaper. She seems a tad formal in her demeanor and deliveries, perhaps due to her scripted finishing school training. Also, I see what she meant when she reportedly began smoking to hopefully lower her voice, as it does sound a bit like Minnie Mouse here, at times. ..The original idea was that she and Frank would form a romantic pair. However, due to outside considerations, it was decided to tone down this romance, resulting in an awkward goodbye scene, to end the film.Although Frank was involved in 3 gun battles that resulted in 3 deaths, the screenwriter was careful not to implicate a bullet from Frank's gun as being directly responsible for any of these deaths. During his night robbery of the Midland Express office, a bullet fired from outside into the building was shown as causing the death of the watchman, blamed on Frank. During a gun battle with Charlie Ford, Charlie slipped on a high ledge to his death. The final drama of the film has Frank engaged in a hide and seek shootout with Bob in a dark livery stable. Bob had just engaged in a gun battle with Clem, outside the courtroom, immediately after Frank was acquitted of charges. As it turned out, the wounds Bob and Clem inflicted on each other proved fatal within a short time, Bob dying from Clem's bullet while engaging Frank(at least, it's fairly novel).Humor is mainly concentrated in 2 segments. First, Clem's fanciful story about how Frank died in a gun battle in Mexico, which Eleanor(Gene) has printed in the newspaper, to her later embarrassment. Also, the related tying up of bespeckled railroad detective Runyan in their hotel room, stuffing him in their closet, to be discovered by the freaked-out maid....But the major theatrics are provided by Henry Hull, in part, in bits here and there, but concentrated during Frank's trial, in which he serves as the defense council, attacking the prosecution and defending his client with all the awesome fury of an enraged pit bull, injecting bits of sarcasm and humor here and there. This is what you will most remember about this film! Fonda occasionally adds his own dose of laconic sarcasm, in remembrance of the rather similar court scene in the previous year's "Young Mr. Lincoln". In that scene, Fonda was the defense attorney, and Donald Meek, who has a subsidiary role in the court scene in the present film, was the prosecuting attorney. Fonda played Lincoln's laconic self: very different from Hull's continuously bombastic performance. Tall, imposing, Russell Hicks takes the place of short, balding, Meek, as the prosecuting attorney in the present film. Although, like John Carradine, he played a role in several hundred films, this is the only one I remember him in. The trial nearly turns into a reenactment of the Civil War, as Hull recounts, in dramatic fashion, the probable killings of Yankees by Frank's revolver('weepin'), and the depredations of the blue coats and other Yankees on the local southern sympathizers. Despite Frank's admitted guilt in robbing the Midland office, not to mention forcing another railroad watchman to flag down an express train so Frank and Clem could hurry to KC to hopefully prevent the execution of their innocent friend Pinky, the jury incredulously declares Frank not guilty of all charges. This dramatically shows the still very anti-Yankee feeling of the people in this region. Historically, Frank was acquitted of the several charges relating to the robberies of the James Gang, although he spent a year in jail, awaiting trial.

dougdoepke Frank James sets out to avenge the cowardly killing of his brother Jessie by the Ford brothers. In the process he gets in trouble with the law.When you hear western, you probably don't think Fritz Lang. Instead, moody, unstable noir was the German émigré's specialty. Looks like this was Lang's last oater and I can see why. Despite TCF's big production values, the script and acting undercut results, while the director adds little. Fonda's fine in the central role, his usual persuasive low-key self. Also, Cooper as the callow kid manages some affecting scenes with Fonda, before the surprise ending. However, Hull as the defense attorney doesn't just chew the scenery, he eats it, turning things into a near joke. Too bad we don't see more of Carradine. A verbal face-off with him and Fonda would have salvaged a lot. The Technicolor, however, is vivid, the scenic shots in and around Lone Pine real eye-catchers. Too bad we don't get more of that instead of the near silly courtroom scenes. At the same time, luscious Gene Tierney is almost as scenic as Lone Pine, even if her performance is still at a beginner's stage. Anyway, the screenplay never does generate much tension or suspense, and even the showdown's pretty tame. All in all, the film's something of a disappointment given the talent and production values involved.

vincentlynch-moonoi As sequels go, this is a pretty good one. Of course, it's a rare Henry Fonda film that isn't at least "pretty good". But, this film doesn't have one major ingredient the original film had -- Tyrone Power.Nevertheless, Fonda is very good here, as is Gene Tierney in her first starring role. Jackie Cooper was believable as the "kid" who acts before he thinks, which provided some of the key plot twists. Henry Hull is fun as the newspaper editor, though I think the part had a bit of overacting in it...though my guess is that that was done at the behest of this (and the previous) directors. Through a key role, John Carradine's part here is rather short on screen time. It's always fun seeing the meek one in a supporting role -- Donald Meek.Nice Technicolor here, although the print being shown on TCM is faded in a few scenes. And I give credit to the producers -- the scenes shown in and around Denver do look like the areas in and around Denver...although there were shot in the Sierra Nevada area...but it's close and realistic.Well worth watching, though best if you watch the Tyrone Power prequel first. But just remember...in terms of actual history -- there's not much here.

secondtake The Return of Frank James (1940)The Western is back, as of 1939 when four big ones were released, including John Ford's "Stagecoach" with John Wayne, which has lasting critical acclaim, and also "Jesse James" which was the fourth largest moneymaker for that blockbuster year. Maybe it was the war breaking out in Europe, or just a realization that if you lifted a Western from its usual B-movie status the public would respond. Henry Fonda starred as Frank James in that one, and so this is really a sequel with the same chronology and feel as the first one. It is clearly A-list movie material with genuine Technicolor, a year after "Jesse James," "The Wizard of Oz," and "Gone with the Wind" had all made clear Technicolor was no passing gimmick.Frank James is now out to seek the killers of the more famous outlaw. The fact we are rooting for the renegade through his surviving brother is slightly odd--the anti-hero or negative stereotype as protagonist wasn't really respectable (or possible) until the 1960s, full fledged. Jesse James was a brave Civil War guerrilla fighter but he became an uncommonly violent criminal and murderer after the war. Frank James was probably as ruthless and bad (he was part of the same gang), but after the death of Jesse he escaped prison (in real life) and lived into the Twentieth Century.In this movie, Frank is not portrayed as a bad person. He just wants his brother's killers dead. And Henry Fonda is a kind of low key, determined fellow throughout. We naturally run into the standard assortment of types that are almost required in period Westerns--drunks and sheriffs and pretty girls out of place in this rough manly world. And there are shoot outs and a court trial and so on.Of all people to approach this genre, and in color, you'd least expect Fritz Lang, the recent émigré with "Metropolis" and "M" and "Fury" all in his portfolio. He gets rising star Henry Fonda in the loner lead for this sequel, naturally, and Fonda is the meat of it, really terrific (in an echo, actually, of the loner lead in John Ford's "Grapes of Wrath" in the same year). And then there's Gene Tierney playing a pseudo-reporter in her very first film role, showing early on that she is mostly a pretty face, but a decent actress at least. There are other great character actors (like John Carradine, fresh off of "Stagecoach" as well as "Jesse James") but specially notable (to me) is the African-American farm hand Ernest Whitman, who has to suffer from some awful stereotyping, but who is malleable and likable (and turns a verbal mistake into a catchy little song without a hitch).I love Lang's movies, even his weaker ones, and I really think he didn't quite "get" what a Western was about the way Ford did in the same period. It becomes something like a Hollywood drama that happens to be set in this post Civil War place west of the Mississippi. The stereotypes and archetypes are in play, but he misses the combination of grit and certitude that is part of the scene. Even Fonda comes across as slightly underplayed, a rather nice fellow who just happens to be out for blood. The photography is strong and vivid even though trapped to some extent on being "pretty" because of the rich color and beautiful scenery and by the bright lights so often used to blast the scenes for the tri-pack film. And then there is the ridiculous plasticity of the facts--most of what happens in the movie didn't happen at all in real life. Everyone is really just cashing in on the folk hero status of this killer, and on the success of "Jesse James" the movie the year before.