The B&W Psychological Western: Mann’s “The Furies”

The B&W Psychological Western:  (Part 2)

Anthony Mann’s “The Furies”

By Brian Zabawski

(Copyright 2013 Brian Zabawski)

(Frame stills used by kind permission of The Criterion Collection)

Freudian psychology first appeared as an overt theme or subtext in Hollywood movies in the 1940s. The most notable example -- and, likely the first and best known -- is Alfred Hitchcock’s “Spellbound” (1942), with Gregory Peck as a conflicted psychologist. Hitch employed a rare visual collaborator in Salvador Dali – who provided some mind-bending dream sequences to advance an exploration of a Freudian theme and plot mechanics.

By 1947 Freudian-influenced themes began to creep into more traditional and action-oriented genres, such as the western with Raoul Walsh’s “Pursued” (read about it here) starring Robert Mitchum.

“Pursued” was an original screenplay by the talented and prolific Niven Busch – whose credits at the time already included his adaptation of James M. Cain’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” and the Selznick produced, opulent color western “Duel in the Sun” (1946), based on a novel by Niven Busch. In 1948 Busch published “The Furies,” a novel featuring a psychologically-troubled woman as heroine of a somewhat traditional western story. Busch’s novel was adapted into a screenplay by Charles Schnee for nascent director named Anthony Mann. Mann, then basking in the acclaim for a couple of low-budget noir features, would be attempting to film his first western – a genre of which he was to become an acknowledged master. 

The resulting film, Anthony Mann’s terrific 1950 B&W western “The Furies,” is perhaps an even better piece of entertainment for today’s audiences than “Pursued.” The psychological terrain is deeply Freudian and instead of the Greek tragedy of “Pursued,” the influences are the Shakespeare of “King Lear” and Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot.”

The stars are Barbara Stanwyck, in a powerhouse role as the emotionally-volatile daughter to Walter Huston, both engaged in a struggle to control their vast cattle ranch, known as The Furies. Rounding out the ensemble are Wendell Corey as a gambler and banker who has a see-saw romantic relationship with Stanwyck’s Vance Jeffords; Gilbert Roland, as a Mexican with his own affections for Vance and Judith Anderson, in a pivotal role as a potential new wife for Walter Huston’s widower T.C. Jeffords. That role places Anderson’s character in a rivalry with Vance, who still can’t come to terms with her mother’s none-too-recent death, perhaps because she of her excessively close relationship with her father.  

Plenty of Freudian ground for one ranch-opera to cover.

Anthony Mann is best known for his series of exceptional westerns, usually starring James Stewart.  Although “Winchester ‘73” was the first of these to be released, “The Furies,” filmed in 1950, was his first western to go before the cameras.  Coming off his acclaimed group of B-budgeted noirs, “T-Men,” ”Raw Deal” and “Border Incident,” “The Furies” was also Mann’s first chance to work with a higher budget and A-list cast. 

It is, untypical of a Mann western, largely set in the interior space of the Jeffords’ ranch house. Pivotal scenes do take place on the ranch exteriors, however, offering Mann his first chance to place his characters among the vast and foreboding western landscapes that would be so prominent in his later films. The cinematographer is Victor Milner, whose lighting is excellent, but the studiously-balanced compositions are generally acknowledged to have originated with Mann – they are a signature of his work in all genres.

The action in “The Furies” is not exclusively confined to interiors, and several exterior sequences display what was to become Mann’s gift for defining character in relation to an exterior landscape. Mann advocated the use of rugged, pictorially-distinctive locations for his films – in spite of the difficulties filming in such locales could impart on cast and crew. He felt that his actors could deliver more convincing performances simply by placing them in real locations rather than in the artificiality of a studio. The result was a sense of heightened realism in both the quality of the performances as well as the photography. This can be seen in “The Furies” when Stanwyck and Gilbert Roland are placed in an intimate conversation in a picturesque mountaintop clearing. The faintly dangerous nature of the setting subtly underscores the forbidden nature of their relationship.

Mann places his characters in a more overtly dangerous landscape in a scene that is more typical of his later westerns. This is when he has the Herrera family clan of Roland and his mother (played by Blanche Yurka) pummel the advancing Jefford’s posse with boulders launched from their mountaintop dwelling - which appears to be constructed around the ruins of an old fortress.

Perhaps the most beautiful shots in the film occur when Stanwyck, on horseback, is repeatedly framed in a low angle, heavily-shadowed composition with a huge cactus prominent in the frame – strongly backlit by a setting sun.

But the most memorable scene in “The Furies” is a Mann-moment of unexpected, jolting violence. Upon learning that Judith Anderson’s Flo Burnett is set to marry Walter Huston’s patriarch T.C Jeffords, Stanwyck’s Vance picks up a pair of scissors and flings them blade first at her-soon-to be-stepmother’s face. She is horribly disfigured for the rest of the film, the violent outburst an explosion of the psychological underpinnings and jealousies of their father-daughter relationship. It is a moment that jolts the audience out of their comfort zone – and Mann would again use such moments – such as James Stewart’s torture-by-roped-horse scene in ”The Man From Laramie” - in an attempt to rouse his audience and provoke a sense of moral outrage. It compromises the audience’s feelings for Stanwyck’s character for the rest of the film.

Another violent outburst is the disturbing scene of Wendell Corey’s abusive behavior towards Stanwyck’s Vance. He shoves her face first into a water-filled washbasin.

The moment is drawn from Anthony Mann’s own childhood. In her authoritative interview, included as an extra in this Criterion Collection DVD Nina Mann, the director’s daughter, recalls her father suffered from the same abusive act during his upbringing at a San Francisco-based spiritualist commune.

And that is just one of the many extras in this extensive DVD package from Criterion. They include a complete copy of Niven Busch’s original novel, a booklet with an insightful commentary by noted critic Robin Wood, and, two interviews with Anthony Mann – one, in print – the other, on film -- from a British TV appearance late in the director’s life. Alas, “The Furies” is not yet available on Blu-ray, but the Criterion DVD transfer looks great – and, the generous package is worth seeking out.

Also included in Criterion’s booklet is a 1957 interview originally published in Cahiers du Cinema in which Mann illuminates the connection between “The Furies” and Dostoyevsky’s “The Idiot.”  Mann explains to his interviewers Charles Bitsch and Claude Chabrol (the noted director): “In fact, Niven Busch began with Dostoyevsky’s novel, turned it into a western, and made a few changes, thinking nobody would notice. When he brought me his script, I told him that this was ‘The Idiot,’ and he had to admit it. So I told him that given a choice between ‘The Furies’ and ‘The Idiot,’ I would have rather made ‘The Idiot’!”  This viewer is grateful Mann never had to make that choice.

I have not divulged much at all of the plotting and storyline of “The Furies.” One aspect, at least, has some unforeseen contemporary relevance. Walter Huston’s colorfully drawn T.C. Jeffords is in danger of losing his vast Furies ranch to the banker played by Wendell Corey (and also to daughter Vance), because Jeffords has spread his equity in the ranch in the form of self-created I.O.U derivatives, which are becoming all but worthless. Hence, “The Furies,” in addition to its simmering stew of Freudian psychological undercurrents, eerily echoes the recent worldwide financial crisis.

“THE FURIES”:  Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston, Wendell Corey, Judith Anderson, Gilbert Roland.  With:  Thomas Gomez, Beulah Bondi, Blanche Yurka.

Directed by Anthony Mann.  Screenplay by Charles Schnee – based on a novel by Niven Busch.  Cinematography by Victor Milner.  Music by Franz Waxman.  Produced by Hal Wallis.  Released by Paramount Pictures 1950.

Reviewed on DVD, released by The Criterion Collection, 2008.

Stanwyck and Gilbert Roland are placed in an intimate conversation in a picturesque mountaintop clearing. The faintly dangerous nature of the setting subtly underscores the forbidden nature of their relationship.

The disturbing scene of Wendell Corey’s abusive behavior towards Stanwyck’s Vance; He shoves her face first into a water-filled washbasin.

Stanwyck’s Vance picks up a pair of scissors and flings them blade first at her-soon-to be-stepmother’s face (above). She is horribly disfigured for the rest of the film (immediately below, and final picture, below), the violent outburst an explosion of the psychological underpinnings and jealousies of their father-daughter relationship.

Perhaps the most beautiful shots in the film occur when Stanwyck, on horseback, is repeatedly framed in a low angle, heavily-shadowed composition with a huge cactus prominent in the frame – strongly backlit by a setting sun.