User Reviews

George Sherman was a dependable director of the better sort of B westerns, first for Republic, then Universal. He capped his career with a couple of John Wayne westerns in the early 1970s. So when he was tapped to direct an episode of Roach's SCREEN DIRECTORS PLAYHOUSE, he wound up with this soundstage-and-backlot western.

Unfortunately, while the story was potentially interesting, none of the lead actors was particularly so. Macdonald Carey had a bit of a vogue as a minor leading man in the 1950s before settling into TV soaps. Dick Haymes was ten years past his prime as a musical star. James Dunn could give a fine performance when offered a great role and a great director, but he has neither here; the performances seemed gauged for a movie screen rather than a television screen. The best performance is probably Roy Roberts as the judge, but there's little to call that on in this competent, watchable, but ultimately forgettable show.

Screen Directors Playhouse: Cry Justice (1956)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

An interesting story never fully comes to life in this entry in the Screen Directors Playhouse series. Lawyer Gil Foster (Macdonald Carey) is accused of killing his ex-partner (Dick Haymes) and sentenced to ten years in prison. After he's released he sets out for revenge because he knows that the partner staged the entire thing to ruin his life. George Sherman directs this entry, which mixes the Western genre with various mystery elements. The end result isn't too bad but at the same time one wishes that the screenplay had a little more work done to it because the revenge tale is just too predictable to really work. The first fifteen-minutes of the film deals with the set-up of the crime and I'm not sure if it was their intent or not but there's very little drama because every twist and turn is pretty much seen coming from a mile away. Once the second half of the film starts it too follows the same path that you'd expect it to. The story is fairly interesting but it's just way too routine to really work. With that said, the film at least remains entertaining due to some nice direction and performances. I thought Carey was pretty good in the lead role because he does a lot of acting with just facial gestures. This here actually helps the film and I enjoyed his laid back approach. Haymes is also very good as the snake and especially in the early scene where he gets drunk and spills his hatred for his friend. James Dunn is good as the sheriff and June Vincent does a nice job as the bride. Even though the story never really comes to life there's still enough here to make it worth viewing and especially the ending.

This rather flat episode would have been boosted had Carey in the pivotal role shown some emotion. As things stand he low-keys it all the way through, draining away much of the potential drama. That's rather unusual behavior for an innocent man convicted of murder, serving ten years in state prison. All in all, there's just not much suspense or atmosphere to carry the half-hour, while reviewer Elliott is right— you can spot the twist a mile away. Too bad that fine actress June Vincent is not given more to do, or James Dunn, for that matter. I suspect their names were added to boost an otherwise slim cast of principals. Anyway, the entry is unfortunately not up to the series norm.

(In passing—note that veteran actor Roy Roberts as the judge gets no featured cast credit even though he has many more lines than the featured Vincent and Dunn. But then, Roberts is just another one of those "no-name" grunts that carry Hollywood on their backs.)