Tonight I closed out my William Castle Western Collection with a film called "Duel On The Mississippi" (1955), starring Tarzan actor Lex Barker and Patricia Medina. The action takes place down in Louisiana, where a war over sugar crops is raging between two organised groups, the Planters (i.e. Plantation owners who grow the crops) and the Raiders (bandits who cut down and steal the crops in the dead of night, but feel justified because the Plantation owners have displaced many less wealthy families). The French Creoles seem to control the sugar, which - now being in high demand - is worth more than gold. I am trusting William Castle and his screenwriter on that fact. I had never heard of the sugar wars before, but each Castle Western is like a 72 minute history lesson with some romance thrown in. That's why I said, a few movies ago, that Castle Westerns were like the "study films" that you saw in elementary school.
The romance comes in the form of a battle between handsome Lex Barker and handsome-but-villainous Warren Stevens over the affections of the lovely-but-fiesty Patricia Medina. Stevens is only really interested in his business relationship with her as it relates to his loyalty to the sugar thieves of the Raiders. Medina makes no secret of her crush on Tarzan...I mean Barker, even as she takes him to court to make him her indentured servant over an unpaid debt. This creates romantic tension that will ultimately be released in Your Basic Heavy 1950s Movie Makeout Scenes with full wraparound clinch. The script once again presents a reasonably layered story that explains, scene by scene, the history behind the wars, the rise of sugar in the South, and the political fights between the landowners and the surrounding ethnic groups, both of which in Louisiana were sometimes of mixed race and/or nationality. There is even a minor subtheme about the old debtor's prison in Baton Rouge, which was notorious for it's conditions, depicted as a disgusting muddy cave in the movie.
You get a lot of stuff in a William Castle Western, even if the cinematic aspects of his movies are bare bones (stationary camera, scenes that have a "one take" feel). The Technicolor is spectacular, though, and the Period Look as you sail down the Mississippi on a Paddle Boat in the 1820s, is authentic.
I give "Duel On The Mississippi" Two Thumbs Up, and typing the title just now I see I forgot to mention that there actually are a couple of well-choreographed duels in the picture, between Lex Barker and Warren Stevens. These add a dash of "swashbuckle" to the proceedings as a bonus.
The William Castle Western Collection is formally titled "The Fastest Guns In The West", and is highly recommended for fans of shorter length Westerns, each film running about 72 minutes.
Next up will be the five film William Castle Horror Collection that I received in the mail last week. Though he got his start with Westerns, Castle is most well known for his Horror Films, which - true to his style - are low-budget but not cheap, meaning that they don't look crummy like a Roger Corman film, and they have good stories and professional no frills technical aspects. I'm not sure when I will break out these five horror films, as the Halloween Horror period just ended. I suppose it's always horror time, any time of the year (right?), but I think I will dole these movies out sparingly as we are getting to the Holiday Season and I will be focusing on more dramatic and sentimental themed films.///
I don't know if you checked out the Youtube video I posted on my FB, of Cameron Carpenter playing Bach on his International Touring Organ (ITO for short). I first heard of Carpenter about a year ago, on the Jim Svedja show on KUSC. He's been recording for a decade and performing since he was a child. He's 37 now. At first, I didn't pay much attention because I thought he was pretentious. Unlike most classical musicians, he presents an image of himself that is akin to that of a rock star. He wears sequined shoes, dresses in all black. He wore a mohawk at one point. More than that, he is openly gay (or bisexual), which is fine......but in his promotional videos this was a little bit "in your face". If you saw one, you would see what I mean.
The reason this was different was because he is a classical musician. These players usually subjugate their professional images behind the music they are playing. I mean, someone like Hilary Hahn definitely has an image, but it is toned down and is complimentary to the music.
Cameron Carpenter, at first glance, seemed to be way out in front of the music, like "here I am, Super Classical Rock Star" in the Freddie Mercury mode.
I also think that he took some ill advised suggestions to make one of his promo videos, but now that I have said all of this.....
I have discovered recently, again because he has been promoted by KUSC, that Cameron Carpenter is one hell of an incredible musician. That's why I posted the video of him playing the Bach Passacaglia on the ITO, a digital organ designed specifically to his specifications.
Because I love the organ (I sit next to it in choir), and because I love organ music, I decided to give Cameron Carpenter another chance. They are promoting him heavily on KUSC right now, and as I drove home from the Sparks concert last night, he was being interviewed by Jim Svejda on the latter's show. He came across entirely different from the image projected in his publicity videos, thoughtful rather than full of himself, and he just sounded like an intelligent person.
So I ended up buying a ticket to his recital at Disney Hall next April. If you watch the video I posted, of him playing Bach, you'll see why. The guy is off the charts.
So there you have it for tonight. Tomorrow night I will be writing from home, I'll be off through Thanksgiving. I will be glad to unwind and hopefully get a few hikes in. They don't come easily anymore, so I'll try to get out there while I can. Monday is the most likely.
See you tomorrow. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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