Dan Duryea is the reason I decided to watch this western and he is wonderful but far from the only reason I rate the movie an 8. The action starts with Dan and three other riders (Harry Carey Jr and Alan Hale Jr for gosh sakes... you know you're in for a good time) riding into the town of Silver Lode on forth of July. They're looking for the man named "Dan Ballard" but everyone they ask gives them the cold shoulder, one remarks they know a gunfighter when they see one. Turns out Dan is a federal marshal named Ned McCarty (other reviews have noted the McCarthy similarity and I agree with them on that) come to take Ballard -- solidly played by John Payne -- prisoner back to California for a murder rap. The victim is, it turns out, McCarty's brother and there is also a matter of $20,000 stolen at the same time.At first the town's people are solidly behind Ballard but gradually they come around to bow McCarty's assumed authority and turn against Ballard. This is done rather well, not nearly as heavy handedly as might be. Many reviewers have noted the similarity to "High Noon", it's sort of a "High Noon" in reverse. While that's mighty high company the comparison is not out of line and the wonderful direction of Allan Dwan makes up for the lower production values. This is a good story, well made and worth looking for.

As something original and different this is a pretty interesting movie to watch. It's a western but not one with a story that involves a typical gunslinger story or revenge plot.It's a movie in which a man who is about to get married has to defend himself in front of its town and town-folks, when he man, who claims to be an U.S. Marshall, rides into town with a warrant for his arrest and accuses him of having committed a murder. This whole story provides the movie with a different approach like you would normally expect from a western. If I have to compare it to anything else, the movie "The Ox-Bow Incident" is the one that comes the most close to it.Even though its an interesting and original approach it doesn't also mean that the movie is great throughout to watch. The movie does certainly feel a bit dated and its being a bit awkward to watch at times because its action and just the movie overall feels a bit clumsy and is cheap looking at times.The story itself also of course doesn't provide the movie with much spectacular fireworks. Not that the movie is dull or anything but at times I wished there would be some less talking and also less characters involved with the story.This movie would had most likely not cost a lot of money to make. It has an unknown director at the helm and also an unknown cast in it. Directing and acting-wise this is also not really a movie that impresses much but due to the fact that its original and different this movie still remains a perfectly good one and also interesting one to watch.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

It is impossible not to compare "Silver Lode" to "High Noon". Both start with a wedding, in both cases the main character has to fight for his life, and also in both the town people behave in a shameful way. But if in "High Noon" there was a hidden meaning in relation to McCarthism, and human behavior, nowhere in that film was it obvious. The film just told the story and left the conclusions and comparisons to the spectator. In "Silver Lode" this is not the case. To begin with Dan Duryea who is the bad guy is called McCarthy, and the whole action takes place among American flags, because I think they are commemorating the 4th of July. And this is where the film goes wrong. It cannot really make its point. In which way is Dan Duryea similar to McCarthy? And why try to make us feel that what is happening here is happening to the whole country? The story of this film is much more the particular story of a man who is facing hard moments, which no doubt can happen to anybody, than a metaphor for what is happening everywhere. And from that individual point of view the film is good entertainment. Dan Duryea is great as always, there are good action scenes, everything well handled by the efficient direction of Allan Dwan.

Veteran director Dwan made hundreds of films over a long career (and indeed was of the most prolific of the classic Hollywood school) yet even amongst a body of distinguished work this tour de force is a masterpiece.Produced during the McCarthy period, when film directors, writers and stars where called to account in a political witch hunt, Silver Lode (like another colour Western laced with similar concerns, Ray's fabulous Johnny Guitar) is concerned with the nature of liberty, truth and memory in a free society.Dan Duryea is superb as the scheming villain 'McCarty' and John Payne makes a Ballard a suitably stalwart hero who has to prove his innocence before a deadline.The plot is structured around a number of instances which, each in turn, ostensibly weaken Ballard's claim to innocence. Ultimately he finds he is on the run - alone in a town full of people formerly his friends, but who now aim to hunt him down on the basis of accusation, suspicion and circumstantial evidence alone. Ballard's travails also reflect the nature of substantiation and memory, both in a political and cinematic sense, as he undergoes his constant quest for redemption.John Payne's stoic exterior has never been put to better use as he grabs desperately to each chance to prove his innocence as, one by one, those who welcomed him into their community as 'respectable' fall away. This may be his best film. The repetitive nature of this process, as incident follows incident only highlights the significant nature of his predicament and makes the audience 'could this happen in real life?' The answer in the 50's, sadly, was 'yes'. SPOILER In the superbly staged ironic finale, Ballard and McCarty fight it out in the town clock tower, and the villainous false Marshall is killed by his bullet ricochet from the Liberty bell. In a further ironic note, the document which has relieved Ballard from suspicion is itself a forgery, accepted unquestioningly by his supporters. And this all takes place on a national holiday, amongst flags and patriotic celebration, and on the eve of Ballard's wedding.Within the constrictions of a B-movie, and the repression of a communist witch hunt, this movie manages to slip through a neat and entertaining indictment of a system that forces the innocent to defend themselves against accusation, slander and lies. What adds to all this is the consistency of the film, its reiteration of political truth without digression or fudge.