The River's Edge (1957)

A grifter (Ray Milland) on the run from the law travels to New Mexico and seeks out his old girlfriend (Debra Paget), now married to a rancher (Anthony Quinn). The con man coerces the rancher to guide him across the border to Mexico but the trek will prove deadly. The film career of the director Allan Dwan goes all the way back to 1911 (he directed the 1922 ROBIN HOOD with Douglas Fairbanks). In the 1950s, he directed some good to excellent low budget films produced by Benedict Bogeaus at RKO. This one (also produced by Bogeaus) is a 20th Century Fox film filmed in CinemaScope and it's a tight (it runs less than 90 minutes) crime adventure with noir-ish shading though it was filmed in color. Visually, Dwan nicely uses the colorful majestic Mexican landscape (shot by Harold Lipstein, HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS) as a contrast to the sordid triangle of the three protagonists. Milland, as he proved in DIAL M FOR MURDER, makes for a coldly calculated villain, Quinn is solid and Paget looks stunning in Technicolor. Her bright red hair can't help but conjure up images of Dwan's SLIGHTLY SCARLET which came out the year before and starred two redheads. There's a nice score by Louis Forbes. With Harry Carey Jr. and Chubby Johnson.