Blood On The Moon Review

• 9th Jun 2011

Blood on the Moon is an RKO produced B-western that has some serious pedigree given those involved from director Robert Wise to star Robert Mitchum. Released in 1948 this small budget production did in fact receive excellent reviews upon its original release. RKO had retreated back to making smaller films following the mammoth financial disaster that was Citizen Kane. But they had undoubtedly upped their overall production values which are clear to see here.

At the time of release Wise was a veritable newcomer to directing having started by editing Welles’ Citizen Kane. He would go on to direct such classic films as The Day the Erath Stood Still, Sound of Music, West Wise Story and the original Star Trek Movie. Mitchum was established but not a major star still working in noir and westerns predominately. The rest of the cast is rounded out wonderfully by the likes of the feisty Barbara Bel Geddes and Preston Foster as the bad guy. Bel Geddes delivers an excellent performance as Amy Lufton the kick ass daughter of John Lufton, reminiscent of the female characters beloved by Howard Hawks. Blood on the Moon also features a support performance from Hollywood legend Walter Brenan who appeared in such landmark westerns as My Darling Clementine, Red River and Rio Bravo to name but a few.

Robert Mitchum starts as Jim Garry who unbeknownst to him is drawn into a land war between the Lufton’s and Tate Riley (Foster). Having been hired by Riley to strong arm his motley crew of local land owners into being more ruthless, once Mitchum uncovers the truth he decides to switch sides to the Lufton’s. The conclusion features a stunning chase thought the snow capped mountain peaks and a particularly brutal fight between Mitchum and Preston.

The western has by today become a genre almost relegated to extinction. The Coen’s remake of True Grit was the only large scale western released in the past twelve months and films such as Open Range, Unforgiven, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp are few and far between. The western dominated output during the 40’s as studios churned them out from the prestige release by John Ford to films such as this by RKO. Due to the genre’s popularity at the time quality could be found in some capacity across the board and this is undoubtedly the case with Blood on the Moon.

The photography and the location work are superb far exceeding the older RKO pictures that were very limited in terms of their budgets. The use of shadows and constant night time settings makes the film resemble a film noir in parts. The impending sense of death and confrontation is present throughout the film. The moment Mitchum first wonders into Lufton’s land a cloud of suspicion exists over everything. The film operates in a world of doubt and deceit with the Preston Foster character a particularly nasty piece of work.

Blood on the Moon is a brilliant western from RKO and a must for all fans of the genre and the almighty Robert Mitchum. For all the genre classics made at this time you sometimes find just as much radical brilliance in the support features such as this. Blood on the Moon is operating on several different levels that raise it far above the ordinary B feature. Newly released by Odeon on DVD is an unearthed gem from the golden era of the western and Hollywood.

Aled Jones