The Man from Colorado

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Henry Levin directs. William E. Snyder behind the camera. George Duning scores. Charles Nelson cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 178 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 2Directed by Henry Levin, shot by William E. Snyder. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 3Original score by George Duning. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 4Editor Charles Nelson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Glenn Ford and William Holden and Ellen Drew carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "COLORADO WASN'T BIG ENOUGH FOR BOTH...WHEN A WOMAN CAME BETWEEN THEM!".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0041625 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Only 51 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

William E. Snyder

Original score

George Duning

Editing

Charles Nelson

Costume design

Jean Louis

Runtime

100 min · 1h 40m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

The Man from Colorado (1948) ↗

IMDB rating

6.7/10 · 2,034 votes

MPAA

Approved

Also by

Henry Levin

• 
  The Fighting Guardsman

  1945 · ★ 8.5
• 
  Bernardine

  1957 · ★ 7.6
• 
  Scout's Honor

  1980 · ★ 7.5
• 
  The Gambler from Natchez

  1954 · ★ 7.2
• 
  Belles on Their Toes

  1952 · ★ 7.1
• 
  Mister Scoutmaster

  1953 · ★ 7.1

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  The Man from Colorado (1948) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HQ]

  Trailer
• 

  ▶
  The Man From Colorado - Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2017-05-28
  ★ 9/10

  War can do strange things to a man. The end of the Civil War is nigh and one last pocket of Confederate resistance is holed up at Jacob's Gorge. Knowing their time is up they hoist the white flag in surrender. Union Colonel Owen Devereaux sees the white flag but orders the attack anyway. Returning home with his friend and colleague, Capt. Del Stewart, Devereaux grows ever more erratic by the day, his friends, his loves and all who cross him, are sure to pay if they can't rein in his madness. Starring Glenn Ford as Devereaux and William Holden as Stewart, directed by Henry Levin, The Man from Colorado, from a story by Borden Chase, is an intriguing psychological Western. The story follows the theme of a man ravaged by war and his inability to let go of the anger and mistrust gnawing away at him. Perfectly essayed by Ford as Devereaux (great to see him donning some bad guy boots), the film is rather grim in context. Light on action (no bad thing here at all) it's with the dialogue driven characters that Levin's film really triumphs. Having both become lawmen, it would have been easy for all to just play out a standard oater as the two friends are driven apart by not only their different levels of sanity (Holden's Stewart is an excellent counter point to Ford's blood thirst), but also the love of a good woman (Ellen Drew's petite Caroline Emmet). However, Chase's story has other elements to keep it from ever being formulaic. There's a deep political thread involving power and those entrusted with it, while the treatment of returning soldiers is firmly given prominence. Here the "boys" return after 3 years of being knee deep in blood and bone, to find that their claims are no longer valid. Snaffled by a greedy corporate type, thus as the "boys" look to the law for help?... As a story it has substance of depth, how nice to also find that there are smart technical aspects to harness the screenplay. The Simi Valley location work is fabulous, most appealing. William E. Snyder's cinematography work is top draw, arguably his best work in the Western genre. It's fair to say that even a "c" grade Western can look nice if given a good transfer, but when the Technicolor print is good, you can tell the difference big time, and this piece is first rate. The dusty orange and browns of the scenery fabulously envelopes the blue uniforms, while the green and gold glow lamps are vivid and shine bright as if extra characters in the piece. Even Ford's greying temples have a classy sheen to them, almost belying his characters anger. All Western fans simply must hone into High Definition TV because although we always knew how fabulous these pictures looked, now it's another dimension of rewards unbound. As the finale comes in a blaze of fire welcome to hell!), The Man from Colorado has achieved the two essential Western requirements if it wants to be taken seriously - one is that it looks gorgeous, the other is that it has strong thematics to drive it forward - this has both. Hooray! 8/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• EditorCharles Nelson
• Original StoryBorden Chase
• Art DirectionStephen Goosson
• Art DirectionA. Leslie Thomas
• ProducerJules Schermer
• Still PhotographerHomer Van Pelt
• Set DecorationWilbur Menefee
• Set DecorationSidney Clifford
• Costume DesignJean Louis

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• arson
• hanging
• horse chase

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1948-08-07NR

Also known as

International titles

• La peine du talionFR
• Der Richter von ColoradoDE
• El hombre del ColoradoES