Canyon Passage (1946)

Director:

Jacques Tourneur

Writers:

Ernest Haycox (adapted from the Saturday Evening Post novel "Canyon Passage")
Ernest Pascal (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 July 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Romantic triangles and an Indian uprising in frontier Oregon.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Logan Stuart
Brian Donlevy	...	George Camrose
Susan Hayward	...	Lucy Overmire
Patricia Roc	...	Caroline Marsh
Ward Bond	...	Honey Bragg
Hoagy Carmichael	...	Hi Linnet
Fay Holden	...	Mrs. Overmire
Stanley Ridges	...	Jonas Overmire
Lloyd Bridges	...	Johnny Steele
Andy Devine	...	Ben Dance
Victor Cutler	...	Vane Blazier
Rose Hobart	...	Marta Lestrade
Halliwell Hobbes	...	Clenchfield
James Cardwell	...	Gray Bartlett
Onslow Stevens	...	Jack Lestrade
Tad Devine	...	Asa Dance (as The Devine Kids, Tad and Denny)
Denny Devine	...	Bushrod Dance (as The Devine Kids, Tad and Denny)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Erville Alderson	...	Judge (uncredited)
Richard Alexander	...	Miner (uncredited)
Harlan Briggs	...	Man (uncredited)
Jack Clifford	...	Miner (uncredited)
Chester Clute	...	Portland storekeeper (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn	...	Man (uncredited)
Frank Ferguson	...	Preacher (uncredited)
Janet Ann Gallow	...	(uncredited)
Karl Hackett	...	Miner (uncredited)
Sherry Hall	...	Clerk (uncredited)
Daral Hudson	...	Miner (uncredited)
Jack Ingram	...	Man (uncredited)
Willy Kaufman	...	Card player (uncredited)
Rex Lease	...	Card player (uncredited)
Joe Mack	...	Miner (uncredited)
Francis McDonald	...	Cobb (uncredited)
Mary Newton	...	(uncredited)
Virginia Patton	...	Liza Stone (uncredited)
Dorothy Peterson	...	Mrs. Dance (uncredited)
Ralph Peters	...	Harry Stutchell (uncredited)
Jack Rockwell	...	Teamster (uncredited)
Gene Roth	...	Miner (uncredited)
Wallace Scott	...	Mack McIver (uncredited)
Harry Shannon	...	McLane (uncredited)
Jay Silverheels	...	Indian who breaks mandolin (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Neal Howison (uncredited)
Peter Whitney	...	Man (uncredited)
Chief Yowlachie	...	Indian spokesman (uncredited)

Directed by
Jacques Tourneur

Writing credits
Ernest Haycox		(adapted from the Saturday Evening Post novel "Canyon Passage")
Ernest Pascal		(screenplay)

Produced by
Alexander Golitzen	....	associate producer
Walter Wanger	....	producer

Original Music by
Frank Skinner		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Edward Cronjager		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Milton Carruth

Art Direction by
John B. Goodman
Richard H. Riedel

Set Decoration by
Russell A. Gausman
Leigh Smith

Costume Design by
Travis Banton

Makeup Department
Carmen Dirigo	....	hair stylist
Jack P. Pierce	....	makeup director

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred Frank	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Bernard B. Brown	....	sound director
William Hedgcock	....	technician

Special Effects by
David S. Horsley	....	special photography (as D.S. Horsley)

Stunts
Calvin Spencer	....	stunt double: Lloyd Bridges (uncredited)

Editorial Department
William Fritzsche	....	associate color director: Technicolor

Music Department
Frank Skinner	....	musical director

Other crew
Anthony Jowitt	....	dialogue director
Natalie Kalmus	....	color advisor: Technicolor
Walter Wanger	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures (as A Universal Picture)

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1946) (USA) (theatrical)
• Realart Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Suevia Films (2006) (Spain) (DVD)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate #11547) | UK:U | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Oregon, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Quotes:

George Camrose: You have strange friends, Jack.
Jack Lestrade: I didn't say that I like him or that I trust him.
George Camrose: What's your idea of a friend?
Jack Lestrade: Any man, I suppose, who believes as I do that the human race is a horrible mistake.

Soundtrack:

SILVER SADDLE

Romance and Adventure on the Oregon Frontier

Dana Andrews is a merchant/entrepreneur on the Oregon frontier during its period of pioneer settlement in the 1840s. He's got two women interested in him, Susan Hayward and Patricia Roc, a weak business partner in Brian Donlevy who's addicted to gambling and a big and mean man played by Ward Bond who wants to kill him. And of course there are the ever present Indians around.

Canyon Passage is directed by French expatriate director Jacques Tourneur and I have to say Tourneur did a good job in immersing himself in American frontier culture. I don't think John Ford could have done better with the story, the cast, and the superb outdoor photography that puts those B studio westerns to shame.

Patricia Roc who was a big name in Great Britain made a couple of American films at this time. Until the boundary was finally fixed at the 49th parallel, British settlers would not have been uncommon in the Oregon territory so the casting is not as strange as one might normally think. Ms. Roc didn't make much of an impression on American audiences and she was back in Great Britain shortly thereafter. Not too many British players of the period could boast a western in their credits though.

Susan Hayward is strangely subdued in this film. She looks a bit out of place in this one. She's far better suited to an urban setting. Later on she did films like Untamed and Garden of Evil, but far more of her fiery personality was shown in those roles than in Canyon Passage.

Ward Bond is the villain here, a misanthropic loner of a man, brooding and strange. I guess you can best compare his role to that of Judd Fry in Oklahoma. Has the same kind of problems relating to people, especially those of the opposite sex, that Judd does. It's one of Bond's two or three best performances on screen.

The popularity of Canyon Passage was helped in large measure to the Hoagy Carmichael-Jack Brooks ballad Ole Buttermilk Sky which Hoagy also performed in the film. It was a big hit that year both for Hoagy himself and others who recorded it. Carmichael was an amazing triple talent in the entertainment field as composer, actor, and singer of his own and other's songs. His best known movie parts besides Canyon Passage would be in Young Man With a Horn and The Best Years of Our Lives.

Tourneur keeps the film moving at a steady pace and gets quite a lot crammed into the 90+ minutes of the film. Western fans who like their films slow and easy will take to this one.