Track of the Cat (1954)

I saw this with a couple of other kids in a theater when it was released and remarked that it wasn't the action movie I'd been hoping for. Our resident genius replied, "Dis is what dey call a MELOdrama." That kid was absolutely right. A true mental giant, he probably went on in life to invent string theory or something.It's 1876 and the Bridges family lives way up in the mountains, deep snow heaped all over the place. A cougar has been nipping at the cattle, and now it has nipped Arthur, one of the Bridges sons, and killed him. That leaves Ma and Pa Bridges with only two sons -- arrogant but cowardly Robert Mitchum and well-meaning but submissive Tab Hunter. Pa Bridges is a burned-out drunk. Ma Bridges is a Bible-spouting virago who dominates everything. Teresa Wright is the washed-out middle-aged daughter whose life is in ruins. Diana Lynn is Tab Hunter's visiting girl friend, whom Ma doesn't like because Lynn's desperate feminity threatens Ma's domain.It's talky and unpleasant. Everybody argues with everybody else in a neat farm house with white interiors. Pa flails around, boozed up, with nothing sensible to say. Diana Lynn and, later, Wright, keep urging Tab Hunter to run off to Aspen, marry Lynn, and start his own life. He agrees but then something always kneecaps his intentions until the next time he decides to go, when something else will deter him. It's pretty dull.The one thing that can't be faulted is William Clothier's photography. There's never been anything quite like it. The screen is almost drained of color, but who needs it? Jagged dark peaks rise above vast fields of pristine snow, where there may be nothing but the tracks of a man or a cougar. The evergreens are almost everblack. And Clothier has captured tentacles of gossamer mist gradually climbing the dark crests as if the vaporous gauze itself were animate.Without those exteriors on Mount Ranier, what you've got is a poorly drawn melodrama.

Almost an old dark house film set way up in Northern California, this somber drama is an analogy of good and evil, control and bitterness. The story concerns the Bridges clan, a truly unhappy family filled with resentments. Pa is a drunk; Ma is a bible thumping hypocrite. The three sons are in constant conflict, while the only daughter has become a dried up spinster. With the youngest son's fiancée visiting, resentments are at their peak. To make matters worse, an unseen wildcat has been stalking their livestock, so the two oldest sons venture out into the wilderness to kill it. This is not O'Neill, Inge or even updated Shakespeare, even if it seems like a filmed stage play. There is a bit of a "Petrified Forest" feeling to it with the cat taking on Bogart's role, metaphorically holding these people hostage. Carl Switzer is totally unrecognizable as the aged Indian handyman. The performances of the others range from weak (Tab Hunter) to melodramatic (Teresa Wright), with Beulah Bondi standing out as the mother with many layers to her character. As for Robert Mitchum, his imperious character is a fascinating look at a man consumed with controlling his siblings, and the lecherous look he gives Diana Lynn (as Hunter's fiancée) gives the impression that he intends to break one of the ten commandments.The real star of the film, however, is the beautiful Technicolor cinematography, with flashes of color appearing in the snow like a distant star in the sky. Mitchum's red coat is so blatantly blood-like it is almost a metaphor for his character. While based upon a novel, the story seems like an old melodrama from the golden age of traveling theater companies. In many ways, it reminded me of "Mourning Becomes Electra" and some recent western film noirs ("Pursued", also with Mitchum), and "The Furies" (in which Beaulah Bondi had a brief role), as well as "House of Strangers" and its 1954 remake, "Broken Lance". The mood of the film will not be for everyone, but if you follow the story closely and are not put off by its sometimes slow pacing, you may find yourself fascinated by it.

Domineering middle child Robert Mitchum and his mother holds the rest of the family under their thumb, especially youngest child Tab Hunter, whom Mitchum takes particular delight in brow-beating. Tensions boil over on a snowy Winter, when a dangerous mountain lion descends on the valley and begins to kill livestock.Not an outdoor adventure, this is instead a depressing, talky frontier drama full of irritating, unsympathetic characters. There's some good performances, especially by the female cast members, though little else to offer the average film-goer looking for escapist entertainment.Similarly themed and much more exciting, was the low-budget 1949 film The Big Cat, directed by Phil Karlson and starring Preston Foster and Forrest Tucker. In that one you at least get to see the cat!

An ambitious but ultimately unsatisfying western that is bound to irritate fans beyond measure, "Track of the Cat" (1954) is an uneasy mix of hunting-the-cat action and sub-Eugene O'Neill playwriting, complete with jarring comic relief and loquacious but indecisive moralizing. Unfortunately, the former is given the short end of the stick in this irritatingly static production which spends an undue amount of time indoors. Mitchum tries hard to hold the film together, but although he plays the main character, he has the least footage. Beulah Bondi and Philip Tonge dominate the action to such an extent, they tend to push the other players off the screen. Only Mitch can stand up to them but he disappears for long stretches. Despite her second billing, Teresa Wright is hardly in the movie at all. Diana Lynn is better served by script and director, but the best performance is delivered by Carl Switzer as an aged Indian.