Branded
by Rudolph Mat?
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Bickford, John Berkes, John Butler, Joseph Calleia, Salvador BaguezDirector: Rudolph Mat?
Cinematographer: Charles Lang
Producer: Mel Epstein
Writer: Cyril Hume
Writer: Max Brand
Writer: Sydney Boehm
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-09-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of Branded
Movie Review: Thanks to a strong story and some enthusiastic performances, "Branded" remains as one of Alan Ladd's top westerns...
Summary: 3 Stars
The opening scenes set the tone of the film... Ladd, an itinerant gunman known simply as Choya and with the aid of a tattooed birthmark, passes himself off as the lost son and is accepted wholeheartedly by the parents (Bickford and Royle) and Ruth (Freeman), the man's sister...
Ruth had responded to his arrival on the ranch as any pretty woman would respond to a mysterious, handsome stranger, but she rapidly sets right to the fact that he is a relative...
As soon as he is welcomed as Richard Jr, however, something happens to Choya... As a member of a loving family, Choya experiences feelings denied him by his own childhood and became increasingly sickened by his contribution in the tricking...
Leading a cattle drive to El Paso, Choya decides to give up his charade revealing his true identity to Ruth, who turns on him with consternation and antagonism... There remains only one way to redeem himself and make up for the distressing emotion he has caused the Lavery family: To find their real son...
All the elements in "Branded" are taken directly from the straight-shooting school of Western movies... Choya, despite his confession to Ruth that he is a "four-flushin' thief," is true-blue outlaw hero... The smart Leffingwell has him classified correctly: "You won't hit an older man. You ain't the kind that'll draw first, or shoot a man in the back." Even with the rules thus outlined, Ladd still has a chance to present his standard beguiling bad guy early in the film, merely holding back a victorious smile as he pretends confusion over the elder Lavery's excited reaction to his birthmark...
Besides its other values, "Branded" is a visual delight... In fact, the movie's one drawback as a Western entertainment is a lack of big action highlights...
Summary of Branded
In BRANDED, Ladd plays Choya, a bandit who poses as the long-lost son of a wealthy Texas rancher. Shamed by the kindness of his new family and attracted to his lovely "sister," Choya vows to right the wrong he's done them. He rides out in search of the real missing heir...and into adventure as big as the western sky.They don't make 'em like Branded anymore. Actually, they hardly make 'em at all. Westerns, that is, with their big skies and scenic technicolor vistas, rousing musical scores, cattle and cowpokes, bad guys and prairie damsels, horses and wagons and dust. Branded has all of that, and a good story, decent acting, and superior writing to go with it. Alan Ladd plays Choya, a morally ambiguous loner (asked if he has any friends or kinfolk, he submits "my guns" and "my horse") and falsely-accused bandit who gets pulled into a "foolproof" million dollar scam that involves impersonating the long-lost son of a rich Texas cattle rancher. Needless to say, complications ensue. The villain (Robert Keith) starts getting antsy; the rancher, Lavery (Charles Bickford), and his wife turn out to be kind, decent folks; Choya takes an interest in his "sister" (Mona Freeman) that goes well beyond fraternal devotion; and his conscience kicks in, too. His ruse revealed, feeling guilt-ridden and seeking redemption, Choya spends the second half of the film on a quest to find the real missing Lavery heir (no easy task, as "Tonio" has been raised by a notorious Mexican outlaw). and, in the end, to discover that what he really wants and needs is the family he's just betrayed. We all know how it will turn out, of course, but Branded is a good, wholesome family fare, and a lot of fun to boot. This DVD release contains no bonus features. --Sam Graham
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