Track of the Cat.

Review #1387: Track of the Cat.

Cast: 
Robert Mitchum (Curt Bridges), Teresa Wright (Grace Bridges), Diana Lynn (Gwen Williams), Tab Hunter (Harold Bridges), Beulah Bondi (Ma Bridges), Philip Tonge (Pa Bridges), William Hopper (Arthur Bridges), and Carl Switzer (Joe Sam) Directed by William A. Wellman (#349 - Wings, #494 - The Public Enemy, #866 - Nothing Sacred, and #973 - A Star is Born)

Review: 
"Get a director and a writer and leave them alone. That's how the best pictures get made."

Whether the film turned out to be a classic or not, one can respect the diverse range that William A. Wellman brought to film during his time as a director. "Wild Bill" Wellman (who earned the nickname for his World War I air-service) had actually started in film as an actor, owing to his looks that were noticed by Douglas Fairbanks (after trying his hand as a salesman and hockey). However, he soon found the profession of acting to be "unmanly", deciding to shift his focus to jobs behind the camera that would gradually shift to directing. He debuted unofficially as a director with The Twins of Suffering Creek (1920) while starting his career with Fox Film Corporation with low-budget films. However, he soon found himself thrust into directing a World War I pilot melodrama with Wings (1927), which was a hit with audiences. Wellman was known for his high-strung temperament with his actors along with his fast nature of making films, usually settling with just one or two takes for a shot. He did a variety of genres in a career of over thirty years, from war / aviation films to romantic melodramas to comedies to westerns, which helped him earn three Academy Award nominations for directing and one win for Best Story while directing seven actors to Academy Award nominations.

This was the fifth-to-last film of his career, released in the same year that he had done a notable work (in this case aviation) with The High and Mighty (whose star John Wayne served as producer for this feature). However, Track of the Cat did not prove as successful, with Wellman even describing it as "a flop artistically, financially, and Wellmanly" (of course he also once stated that for every good picture, he made at least five stinkers), with one key regret involving not showing the blank panther up close. The film was adapted from the 1949 novel The Track of the Cat from novelist and teacher Walter Van Tilburg Clark, whose previous work The Ox-Bow Incident had been adapted by Wellman into a film a few years earlier, with novelist A.I. Bezzerides writing the screenplay. Wellman aspired to make a black-and-white film in color, where shooting was done with subdued and stark shades of grey, black, and white, which certainly stick out when there is a moment with an element of noticeable color, such as a red coat in the midst of snowy Washington. On the one hand, the film does look quite haunting for a Western, one that seems quite brooding and ambitious to churn out melodrama on an path different from others. Perhaps this turns out better for others who watch it, because I found the ultimate result a middling disappointment, seeming to lack a real purpose of existing beyond interesting imagery and occasional highlight moments. Honestly, I went into the film with a very small rundown on what the film actually was (too much of a plot check can be too much of a plot check), intrigued by Mitchum and Wright with a curiosity over a hunt for a cat. Well, one does certainly see a cat-hunt, but the time is mostly spent of family squabbling that meanders and feels lacking in real tension to make it seem worth it, where spending time in an actual cold mountain with someone you don't like might actually be preferable. I liked seeing Mitchum from time to time, because he has the confidence for a brusque role (by just being nonchalant) despite being fragmented from the others after the first third of the film or so. Wright does fine with a reserved role that is begging for more to do like the character reflects, since Bondi proves to have the most grip with self-righteous furor to go with a browbeaten Hunter that comes into his own with mixed results. As strange as it is to have a young actor play an elderly mystical character, it might seem stranger to note that it is played by former Our Gang star Carl Switzer, who doesn't talk too much during the feature, although he does do a decent job with what he is given. Perhaps the book is more reaching on a philosophical level than the film proves, but I generally found the movie to be just okay at its attempts at something to latch onto. The CinemaScope does tend to make the film look pretty well, but it is what goes on for 102 minutes that make things drop with a thud when it matters most. It is a kind of Western that might appeal to someone looking for something different to look at and think about if the mindset is in the right place.

Overall, I give it 6 out of 10 stars.