Whispering Smith

Conflict between old friends (or brothers), where one lives righteously and the other goes bad, is a common theme in noir (see Cry of the City, 1948; The Roaring Twenties, 1939; etc.), the contrast presenting the two paths available to human beings, moral and material rewards often at direct odds with each other. In Leslie Fenton’s Whispering Smith, the righteous friend is the titular Smith (Alan Ladd), so named because of his calm, quiet demeanor, a detective for the same railroad for which his old friend Murray Sinclair (Robert Preston) runs the wrecking crew. Having been gone for some time, Smith returns to town to learn that Sinclair has fallen in with criminals Barney Rebstock (Donald Crisp) and his creepy, pale-faced henchman Whitey Du Sang (Frank Faylen), who may be sheltering a fugitive Smith has been after. After Sinclair rebels on the job and gets fired, he begins living more dangerously, immersing himself in criminal activities and worsening the rift between Smith and him. Complicating the friendship further is the fact that both men have always loved the same woman, Marian (Brenda Marshall), who married Sinclair after Smith departed for greener pastures. Shooting in color with a script based on a novel by Frank Spearman, Fenton does very well in balancing strong character development with intense action scenes, such as the early gunfight around a bloody train hold-up or the thunderous chase on horseback toward the end.