Review of Duel At Silver Creek, The

Introduction

Don Siegal made diverse films with the likes of Escape from Alcatraz, Dirty Harry, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and quite a few westerns too. As different as these films were, he had a reputation for delivering hard and violent action films. Naming two Clint Eastwood films here, he was also a mentor to Eastwood and received a dedication on Eastwood`s The Unforgiven.

The Duel at Silver Creek, made in 1952, was Siegal`s first western and his first colour film. It`s a simple straightforward tale of the good hunting down the bad and what happens when a femme fatale enters the equation, using her manipulative feminine wiles. Claims jumpers are killing successful gold miners and repossessing their land by forcing the deeds to be signed over; anyone that stands in their way gets a bullet. A fast-drawing marshall and his quick-handed deputy are on the hunt for these ruthless killers.

Video

Presented with the original fullframe video transfer, The Duel at Silver Creek looks surprisingly good. Colours are well balanced with good contrast while detail also looks good. Grain, as dirt, is kept at a bare minimum. I couldn`t spot anything wrong with the transfer at all, and this puts a lot of later films to shame.

Audio

With old film comes old sound. The original mono soundtrack is clear and while it does have some background hiss, it`s not too noticeable and doesn`t spoil the film in any way.

Features

Static easy to navigate menus with one extra:

• Theatrical Trailer (2:09) - Amusing and sensationalist, like Daily Mail headlines, this is the stuff of a true b-movie.

The DVD comes with plenty of subtitles, including English.

Conclusion

No one said this would be a complicated film and for a change it`s nice to sit back and not have to think about subtext or an overworked subplot. It`s predictable but it`s not a bad film because Siegal keeps the pace and the whole show moving forward without giving us time to get bored. While The Duel at Silver Creek isn`t a film you`d watch over and over again, and isn`t up there with some of Don Siegal`s better efforts, this western has b-movie appeal written all over it. The cast performances are over-the-top and the dialogue comes across as a bit ham fisted, but it`s a 50s western and taken in that context, it`s not bad at all.