Mord in der Sierra Nevada (1956)

Mord in der Sierra Nevada: Directed by William Witney. With Joan Evans, Ben Cooper, Marla English, Jan Merlin. A trio of thieves make their getaway by kidnapping a young hot-rodder, and take over a mountain cabin for a hideout after overpowering its occupants.

“Sometimes itu0026#39;s as if we can forgive the most trying stretches of believability, just because a film was made in an era like the 50u0026#39;s with a shoestring budget. I donu0026#39;t like that. Good, believable films were made at this time as well as clinkers. This has some things going for it, but the way these nasty characters behave is beyond imagination. They wave their guns around, threaten, but donu0026#39;t seem to want to act. Hostages are left to wander all over the place. There is tension among the thieves, but it is dealt with in such a silly, haphazard way, it doesnu0026#39;t work. A slip up of any kind, and their whole project is down the chute. If we are to believe the whole business about being locked up in the woods in the winter, it seems at some point, someone would begin to make realistic plans to get on their way. Are they already murderers? I donu0026#39;t know, but they could have certainly done a better job of getting on with their plot. Then there is the ending (Iu0026#39;m not going to do any spoilers). This is the most ho-hum, contrived mess Iu0026#39;ve ever seen. Itu0026#39;s as if they ran out of time and just decided to create this ending. Judge for yourself. The bottom line is, people just donu0026#39;t act this way–they just donu0026#39;t.”