From the shadow of the light “Man in the Shadows” was released due to sad circumstances – Orson Welles needed to urgently pay taxes, but he did not have money. The offer to star in the film by Jack Arnold was very useful. Orson set to work with his inherent enthusiasm – not even a title remains of the original script. As a result, “Man in the Shadows” – the only western with Wells’ participation – went far beyond the stated genre, paying tribute to both noir and psychological drama.
Sheriff Ben Sadler (Jeff Chandler) is visited by an elderly Mexican. On the eve of the ranch where he works, there was a murder, and Jesus Cisneros was the only witness to the crime. One can imagine what this visit costs him: the order in the Golden Empire is cruel, but day laborers, mostly illegal immigrants, prefer to endure and remain silent.
And the sheriff faces a dilemma. On the one hand, he has a murder complaint filed by a Mexican living in the States on a bird’s license – that is, simply put, a criminal. On the other hand, Ben himself has just taken up the post of sheriff, and he really does not want to start his activities with a quarrel with the owner of the Golden Empire - the real owner of not only the city, but also the entire district. This is the heat, even if it is not good.
Heat in general tends to awaken not the best qualities, primarily - selfishness. In the same 1957, eleven "angry men" almost sent to the death of an innocent man - and all because the jury room is stuffy, and to think about serious simply no strength. The same “temptation of heat” will survive the young provincial sheriff.
The first scene of Jeff Chandler and Orson Welles is a bit of a rush. A big, handsome, strong man awkwardly sculpts on the edge of the chair, rubs his hat, barely daring to ask questions to the crumbling opposite the master. So I want to exclaim: “Who is the power after all?”
The second time, the sheriff will show up at the ranch with a warrant. In the third, he will tear down the gates to the bloody mother with a truck.
“Playing a villain – the owner of a big ranch – is, you know, the limit of the fall,” Orson Wells told Peter Bogdanovich. Sounds too harsh, though understandable. For an actor of this level, such a role cannot be of interest - there is no development in it, the owner of the Golden Empire is mazed with one paint. Despite this, Wells gives 100%. The reward for him and the audience will be the final, where the owner of the ranch villain will overshadow the father. At this moment you start - not to feel sorry for him, God forbid! - but the spark of sympathy will necessarily flash.
However, the film is not about the owner of the Empire. And “the man in the shadows” is not the hero of Orson Welles, but a young sheriff who gradually realizes that his power is not an empty sound, and that even if the law does not apply, justice has not been abolished.
Jeff Chandler does a great job. The hidden temperament of the actor, characteristic for him a stingy manner of playing perfectly fits the image of Ben Sadler. Perhaps, along with Two Flags of the West (1950), The Man in the Shadow is the best of all Chandler’s films.
If you go back to Wells, he not only paid off his debts – during the filming Orson became friends with producer Albert Zagsmith, with whom he shot his most famous film after Citizen Kane – the cult “Seal of Evil”.
Everything that is done is for the best.
8 out of 10
