"The Baron of Arizona" was Samuel Fuller's second film after the forgettable "I Shot Jesse James" from 1949. While it's no masterpiece and nowhere nearly as good as the films Fuller would make when he really hit his stride as a filmmaker, it shows marked improvement over his first movie.Fuller as a director was never much interested in following genre conventions even when making genre films, which is one of my favorite things about him. That quality begins to emerge in "The Baron of Arizona," in which Fuller is much more interested in the idiosyncrasies of this based-on-actual-events drama than he is in making his audience happy. I agree with another reviewer that he himself seems bored by the love story, and those scenes seem to only exist because Fuller knew his audience expected them to. The movie is at its best when it's following the details of the devious plot masterminded by a deliciously villainous Vincent Price, who seems perfectly at home with the role when he's asked to be a conniver but not so much when called upon to be a tough guy. The film is visually more interesting than Fuller's first, as if he figured out what to do with his camera or was given more money to do it. Indeed, while this isn't a big-budget film by any stretch of the imagination, it does have better production values than "I Shot Jesse James," released by the same studio.Both "Jesse James" and "Baron" are worth your time if you are a Samuel Fuller fan, because they give us a peek at Fuller as an emerging artist. But only "Baron" is worth watching for general film fans. It's not a great movie, but there are things to enjoy.Grade: B

Vincent Price, who I'm a fan of, and the interesting story The Baron of Arizona is based on were the main draws into watching. And while it is a case of the lead performance being better than the film, it is still pretty good and worth watching.Some of the last act is not as good as the rest of the film, The Baron of Arizona does get draggy here and the writing goes rather soft and sentimentalised. The love scenes are clunkily written with more of a sense of unease than affection, Tina Pine's agreed faring worst. There are a couple(big emphasis on couple) of parts where the editing's sloppy, particularly in the otherwise quite suspenseful climax, and one does wish that there was more of Beulah Bondi, a great character actress whose talents are not put to full use due to little screen time.The Baron of Arizona is a good-looking film though, mostly well photographed and the sets are handsome, while the score is rousing and Sam Fuller's direction is wisely straightforward and always dependable. The film is well scripted in at least two thirds of the film, with a lot of detail without being too bogged down in it. The story is briskly paced and every bit as intriguing as the true story, with a number of scenes having genuine energy and tension. All the performances are solid enough but only one is great and that's from Vincent Price. It's not his best performance by all means but it was great to see him so subtle while always commanding, his character change coming across believably and movingly.In conclusion, a pretty good film carried by a great lead performance. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Despite the Western setting and the involvement of maverick writer/director Fuller, this is no rip-roaring, six-shooting oater but a slow-burning, compelling and exciting conspiracy thriller that, while telling one of the most incredible tales ever spun, happens to be based on fact!; indeed, Fuller's journalistic background and flashback structure lends the film a 'torn from the headlines' feel. The film provides star Vincent Price with one of his best-ever non-horror roles: it is a testament to both the actor and Fuller that the character is no ordinary villain – in fact, while we are not asked to approve of what he does, we are at least invited (via the opening statement by the very man who exposed him) to admire his audacity and ingenuity and, indeed, we ardently root for Price through much of the proceedings!The narrative involves a talented forger's near-successful attempt to defraud America of one of its states, Arizona, by planting evidence and tampering with old documents that mark it as a bequest to an obscure Spanish family by a 16th century ruler! Then, all he has to do is seek a female foundling of Hispanic origins, groom her into becoming a proper lady (amusingly, at one point, she asks him to read to her from a book she casually picks up…which happens to be an authoritative book on forgery, penned by Price's own – atypically formidable – future nemesis and which had given him the idea for the whole ruse in the first place!) and then, when she comes of age, marry her! Of course, while it seems he is doing all this for the girl's benefit, he intends not only to share in the profits but actually run all her affairs (which she being grateful, and even in love, is all-too-willing to let him handle at first)! While her education is under way, he goes on with his fantastical scheme, which is so elaborate that he goes so far as to take the habit and lead a monastic life for a number of years because the original copy of the certificate he needs to amend is stored in the library of a remote religious community – apart from this turn-of-events being similar to a later "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" episode starring Oscar Homolka (that I had watched on late-night Italian TV), watching the star here don such humble clothing made me think of the improbable holy man portrayed by Arturo De Cordova at the end of Luis Bunuel's EL (1953)…not to mention ponder the notion of what a formidable Gregory Rasputin Price would have made! A touch of humor in this sequence has the protagonist panic and run off with a horse-driven wagon-load of provisions when he sees the Police approaching (only they had come on a trivial matter)!; also, having diligently undertaken to falsify the all-important document, he learns that a copy exists in the vault of a nobleman. When he is hurt after being thrown off the wagon (which tumbles down a cliff!), he is cared for by a band of gypsies: even here, however, he turns the situation to his advantage as he seduces the female leader and has her persuade them to attack the afore-mentioned aristocrat's home by claiming he had heard him say he wanted to banish their people from the land! Again, in order to gain entrance to the library, he ingratiates himself with the lady of the house…and Price's posing as a gypsy Casanova is yet another sure fount of entertainment! The acquisition of the proof of ownership is only the first half of the story, as we then see the American Government busy at work studying them in the hope of finding a flaw that would shoot down Price's grandiose plans. In the meantime, he lords it all over the place, rubbing the townsfolk the wrong way and threatening to evict them if they do not pay up for trespassing on his property (when their land had been lawfully granted them by the U.S. Government)! Of course, the latter will not go quietly (again, this brought to mind Bunuel's THE BRUTE {1952}) and make various attempts on Price's life – at one point, he loses it before a rioting crowd and is about to strike a man with the butt of a shotgun (an image that actually graced the film's theatrical poster!) but is brought back to his senses in time by Ellen Drew, equally fine as the grown-up Baroness Of Arizona.Constantly flanked throughout by dirt-poor Vladimir Sokoloff (Drew's adoptive father) and Beulah Bondi (her governess), the couple are eventually taken to court: it is Price's cold-blooded, supercilious attitude here that suggests to Drew that they may be in the wrong. In the end, his falsehood is exposed by way of the specialized ink that had been originally utilized to write the decree manipulated by the protagonist! Even before this revelation, however, Price had decided to admit his guilt and face the music (after Sokoloff's own complicity in the hoax is brought to bear: he is nearly shot to death while attempting to protect the Baron during the crowd's raid of his office intent on lynching him…but he gets out of this scrape, too, by telling them that the Government can prove nothing if he dies!). Though he tells Drew not to wait for him, he finds her (and their devoted companions) outside the prison door upon emerging – incidentally, it seemed to me that 6 years was a very lenient prison sentence for one to have been convicted of defrauding the American people of untold millions! In spite of its only enjoying a minor reputation, the film was issued on DVD as part of a Samuel Fuller Box Set - the very first release from Criterion's sister label Eclipse that also included his previous (and first) effort, I SHOT JESSE JAMES (1949) and his subsequent one THE STEEL HELMET (1951).

Baron of Arizona, The (1950) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Fact-based drama of James Reavis (Vincent Price), the man who tried to gain control of Arizona and taking the U.S. government to court in order to prove it was his. In reality, Reavis set out on a life-long scheme full of lies and forgery to try and pull it off. As with Fuller's first movie, this second feature has a lot going for it but at the same time there are some major problems that keep it from being a lot better than it actually is. The biggest problem for me was the screenplay, which I felt spent way too much time with the build up and not enough of a pay off. The first fifty-two minutes are so drawn out that I began to lose interest in the film, story and characters. The opening of showing how Reavis set everything into motion is so drawn out that I was becoming quite bored and losing interest in the entire film. To me this entire segment could have been done in a twenty-minute sequence and it would have paid off more in the end. The film really starts to pick up once we're back in Arizona and Reavis tries to fulfill his evil plan. The reaction to the poor land owners, the government and the effect this plan has on Reavis makes for some good drama, which is lacking in the first half of the film. Price gives a wonderful performance and is the main reason to watch the movie. He's so calm and collective in how evil he is at one point you really can't help but wish he'd get away with the crime. The supporting players are fine even though no one really stands out. Fuller's direction is nice throughout and the cinematography is good as well. In the end this is a rather nice look at history but one can't help but wish it was better.