The Return of Frank James (1940)

Directed by Fritz Lang. Starring Henry Fonda, Gene Tierney, Jackie Cooper, Henry Hull, J. Edward Bromberg, George Barbier, Russell Hicks, Donald Meek, John Carradine, Ernest Whitman, Eddie Collins.

Followup to Henry King’s Jesse James from the previous year is a similarly “fictionalized history lesson,” focusing on Frank James (Fonda) going after the Ford brothers, who murdered his sibling, Jesse. Slightly more thoughtful and textured than the average oater, but ultimately ignores nuance in favor of a clearly delineated struggle and moral opposition. Bright Technicolor trappings, typical oaken performance from Fonda, Cooper is only occasionally irritating as a too-big-for-his-britches stripling that tags along for the hunt. Customary stagy presentation gets the job done, but it’s a let-down in the hands of a great director like Lang. Depiction of black characters (Whitman especially) is degrading even by standards of the era. Film debut for Tierney, and it shows.

57/100