Station West

A Stranger in Rock Pass.

Station West is directed by Sidney Lanfield and adapted to screenplay by Frank Fenton and Winston Miller from the novel written by Luke Short. It stars Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead, Raymond Burr, Tom Powers, Guinn Williams, Gordon Oliver and Burl Ives. Music is by Heinz Roemheld and cinematography by Harry J. Wild.

Powell plays an undercover army agent sent into Rock Pass to find out who robbed and murdered two soldiers who were guarding a gold shipment.

There has always – and always will be – debates about what constitutes film noir, but undoubtedly it is a line of film making that positively thrives on a style that cloaks a number of characterisations. Thus we have the many off-shoots of film noir, such as the Noir Western. Noir Westerns in all actuality don’t number more than 20, and even some of those that get put forward are tenuous additions. Where the likes of Pursued, Ramrod and Blood on the Moon are confidently held up as the leading lights of Noir Westerns, it actually pays to look towards a rarer picture like Raton Pass or this here under seen treasure, Station West, for unseen sub-noir rewards.

Station West has it all so as to earn its noir badge. It’s got Powell doing a Western version of Phillip Marlowe, complete with swagger, sarcasm and the ability to nonchalantly smile in the face of peril. Then there’s Greer, fresh from Out of the Past the previous year, Greer is in full tilt femme fatale mode, marrying up her hard beauty with feminist strength. Both Powell and Greer are wonderful, their respective characters constantly jostling for domination, trading quips and glib asides, the sexual tension consistently palpable.

The town of Rock Pass is in the process of booming, but with that comes corruption, and it is rife, with unlikely sources pulling the crooked strings. Greed and betrayal are words that hover over the intelligent screenplay, even as the script snaps with delight...