Des Teufels Lohn (1957)

Des Teufels Lohn: Directed by Jack Arnold. With Jeff Chandler, Orson Welles, Colleen Miller, Ben Alexander. Virgil Renchler owns most of the town providing a thriving economy. When his men go too far and kill one of his migrant workmen, the sheriff goes after him even if it means his job and everyone else’s.

“Jeff Chandler gives a capable performance as Ben Sadler, the Sheriff of the small town of Spurline. The main business is an enormous ranch presided over by arrogant fat cat Virgil Renchler (Orson Welles). One night, two of his hands, Ed Yates (John Larch), and Chet Huneker (Leo Gordon), go too far and kill a young worker. Now, a witness (Martin Garralaga) sees this, and goes to tell the Sheriff. Ben still believes in things like justice, so he takes on all comers in order to discover the truth of the matter. This also means he must go against the entire town, who are far too eager to keep Renchler happy and to keep his business.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWritten by Gene L. Coon, and directed by Jack Arnold, this is overall a more routine and less interesting yarn than their previous Western, u0026quot;No Name on the Bulletu0026quot;. Welles is awfully low-key as the antagonist; it seems as if his heart really wasnu0026#39;t in this one. But at least his role isnu0026#39;t purely one-dimensional; heu0026#39;s more tender around his young daughter u0026quot;Skippyu0026quot; (the stunning Colleen Miller). Really, itu0026#39;s the swaggering attitude of jerks like Yates and Huneker that helps to pick up the slack since Welles / Renchler gets relatively little screen time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe filmmaking is generally very good, with top black u0026amp; white cinematography by Arthur E. Arling. For a change, the action takes place in the present day, with people using phones and cars regularly. The atmosphere is strong, with a nearly wordless opening five minutes or so.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe main value of u0026quot;Man in the Shadowu0026quot; is the presence of a superior gathering of character actors: Ben Alexander, James Gleason, Royal Dano, Paul Fix, Mario Siletti, William Schallert, Forrest Lewis, and Mort Mills. Larch and Gordon are effective as the brutish thugs, but Barbara Lawrence gets a rather thankless role as the Sheriffsu0026#39; concerned wife.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe theme is solid if hardly inspired: the good lawman surrounded by townspeople too afraid to back him up. At least Coon and Arnold make the proceedings reasonably entertaining.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSeven out of 10.”