“Follow the River”. This is the unforgettable song that is heard during and at the ending to the 1957 film, Night Passage. The film is one of several Westerns that James Stewart starred in during his tenure with Universal Studios. In this film, he goes undercover and plays an accordion!

Former railroad man Grant McLaine (James Stewart) is hired by Ben Kimball (Jay C. Flippen, Winchester ‘73) to do job where he must secretly carry a $10,000 payroll. According to Kimball, his train has been robbed three times by outlaws, led by Whitey Harbin (Dan Duryea, Too Late for Tears) and The Utica Kid (Audie Murphy, The Dual at Silver Creek).  The train gets held up again but McLaine cleverly hides the money in a shoebox that belongs to a young boy Joey Adams (Brandon deWilde, Shane) that he had rescued earlier on in the film. Ben’s wife Verna (Elaine Stewart), also aboard the train is held for ransom by the robbers until they get the $10,000. This ultimately leads to a few revelations and twists among the cast along the way as they film builds toward a climactic shootout between the gang, McLaine and help from an unexpected source.

Night Passage is a decent if uneven film, nothing spectacular. This is one of those run of the mill Westerns, that was flat, and not standing out among the pack. As the film progresses, we learn about who the Utica Kid is, how this affects Grant McLane. There is character development but it’s all rather anti-climactic, leading to a not very surprising ending. The gunfight sequence at the end is the best part of the film. The cinematography by William H. Daniels steals the show because the landscapes are so breathtaking to look at. You would think with the cast that would be a classic, but it wasn’t. The acting by James Stewart is excellent as always, but Dan Duryea clearly overacts, constantly yelling at the top of his lungs throughout the film for some reason. Audie Murphy, who usually is the hero in his Westerns, here plays a heelish character and seems to be uncomfortable in his role.

Originally to be directed by Anthony Mann, he backed out due to disagreements about Audie Murphy being cast in the picture and being displeased with the story. He felt Murphy was not a good choice to be the brother of Stewart’s character in the film. And if you look at the two of them together, they don’t even come close to resembling brothers, even if this is “only a movie”. He and James Stewart had a heavy debate over the film about that, and Mann would never again have Stewart star in any of his films.

The lively soundtrack was created by Dimitri Tiomkin, one of the best composers in the business who has a few Oscars under his belt. In addition to “Follow the Rainbow” he also co-wrote “You Can’t Get Far Without a Railroad. Are these songs any good? That depends on your taste in music! 

Despite the film being somewhat below average, Night Passage did have some usefulness. Some of the railroad scenes in the film were used again as stock footage in the 1966 film Gunpoint, also starring Audie Murphy.

Night Passage debuts on Blu-ray in North America courtesy of Kino Lorber. It is housed in a dual-layered BD-50 disc. As was the case in The Rare Breed, the image quality for Night Passage is just spectacular due to the high bitrate. The colors are robust, with strong contrast; the outdoor scenery is so breathtaking beautiful and worth watching the film for that alone. Flesh tones look fine, but it is easily the countryside cinematography from William Daniels that really stands out.  

As is the case with Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases, they go with the English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. The audio quality loud and clear without any drop-offs or hissing. The lossless track is dynamic with crisp dialog and strong sounds of gunshots, the great score by Dimitri Tiomkin and from James Stewart’s accordion. Optional English subtitles are available.

Bonus materials include an audio commentary by Film Historian Toby Roan, which is your standard commentary with information about the making of the film and other behind the scenes stories. Trailers to Night Passage, The Rare Breed, Made for Each Other, Broken Arrow, Bend of the River and No Highway in the Sky round out the extras

If only the film was as good as the audio / video quality! I would say the film is still good enough for one to give it a spin. It is entertaining and the viewing experience will be positive for the visuals. Night Passage is not awful but not what it could have been. James Stewart and Audie Murphy die-hards should not pass this one up!

Night Passage

Director- James Neilson

Cast- James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Dan Duryea

Country of Origin- US

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date- 6/21/20