Blood on the Moon

Turf wars that pit family and friends against each other aren’t only a common premise of Hollywood Westerns but the betrayal and revenge involved are natural subjects for noir too. The western-noir crossover Blood on the Moon, directed by versatile craftsman Robert Wise, centers around a drifter named Joe Sullivan (Robert Mitchum) who’s beckoned by his old pal Tate Riling (Robert Preston) to work for him on his ranch. Sullivan soon learns, however, that his friend has nefarious plans: in a shady plot with local Indian agent Jake Pindalest (Frank Faylen), Riling is profiting off the feud between local homesteaders and the local cattle rancher John Lufton (Tom Tully) and his daughters Amy (Barbara Bel Geddes) and Carol (Phyllis Thaxter). After Sullivan reluctantly agrees to participate, he has a change of heart when he gets to know the lovely Amy Lufton and witnesses a local boy killed in a stampede set off by Riling’s men, after which point he and Riling become sworn enemies. While the story is perfectly serviceable, the main appeal of the film is its visual splendor, largely to the credit of cinematographer Nicolas Musuraca, who, despite the bountiful sunlight of the open West, shoots the film bathed in darkness and gray, many of the nighttime scenes in town replicating the expressionist lighting of urban noir. Note the dramatic footage of stampedes, including one shot from Sullivan’s perspective in a tree using rear projection, and look for Charles McGraw who slithers on screen as one of Riling’s dutiful thugs on horseback.