Whispering Smith is directed by Leslie Fenton and co-adapted to screenplay by Frank Butler and Karl Kamb from Frank H. Spearman's novel. It stars Alan Ladd, Robert Preston, Brenda Marshall, Donald Crisp, William Demarest and Frank Faylen. Music is by Adolph Deutsch and cinematography by Ray Rennahan.Famed railroad detective Whispering Smith (Ladd) becomes conflicted when his latest case pits him up against one of his best pals.It's somewhat surprising to find Whispering Smith is not more well known, given that it's Ladd's first full length Western feature and that it's really rather good. With its opening scene of Ladd riding towards camera, with glorious landscape in the background, and the thematics of how Smith operates around women and children, this signposts towards Shane five years down the line. In fact this very much works as a tasty appetiser for that superb 1953 picture.Ladd cuts a fine figure as Smith, giving him the right amount of calm toughness so as to not over play the role, and Preston is on fine form, very ebullient and able to act heaps with only his eyes. Marshall on the surface doesn't impact greatly, in what is a key role, but the character is very shrewdly written and sits in the story as more than a token. The villains headed by Crisp are not very inspiring, while Faylen looks laughably out of place with a blonde wig!, but with Preston erring on the side of badness the good versus bad axis of plotting thrives well enough.Pic is filled with a number of shoot-outs, banditry and awesome locomotive action, all set to the backdrop of beautiful - Technicolor enhanced - California locales. The running theme of railroad progression in the West is interestingly written, managing to not take sides and let the viewer enjoy both sides of the coin, though a moral equation that Smith ultimately arrives at doesn't quite add up. Add in Fenton's unfussy direction, Rennahan's location photography (see also night sequences) and Deutsch's pleasingly compliant score, and Western fans are good to go.This doesn't pull up any tress or have the psychological savvy of what many Oaters of the next decade would explore, but it's very well mounted and engages from the get go. 7/10

Director Leslie Fenton teamed up with his "Saigon" star Alan Ladd for the second time in this polished Paramount Pictures western "Whispering Smith" with Robert Preston. As the eponymous hero, Ladd is taciturn but swift on the draw. He is also extremely lucky, surviving two attempts on his life. The first time that our protagonist takes a bullet, he is fortunate enough to have a harmonica deflect the slug. The second time in a railway depot, he ducks a bullet and retrieves his hat to find a bullet hole in the crown. Ladd plays a pistol-packing detective for the Nebraska & Pacific sent to investigate number of railroad derailments and the subsequent loss of merchandise. Smith's old friend, Murray Sinclair (Robert Preston of "The Music Man"), is employed by the railroad, but he falls out of favor when the new head of operations arrives. As it turns out, Murray is in cahoots with an evil rancher, Barney Rebstock (Donald Crisp), who is your vintage villain. Before everything is over, Smith and Sinclair have a showdown with predicable results. The gorgeous Technicolor cinematography, sturdy acting, and some well staged shoot-outs bolsters this yarn. Preston makes an invigorating villain. There is one interesting scene when two men in a buckboard drawn by horses leave a pasture road, pass a large tree, and roll into a residence. What makes this cool is that stand-ins were used as the wagon leaves the field and travels past a tree. Once the two have passed the tree, it is clear that a skillful edit was effected. The sets are great to look at, too. Brenda Marshall is the woman caught in the middle between her old flame Smith and her husband Murray. Inevitably, Murray and Smith wind up squaring off against each other with an interesting conclusion.

In "this gun's for hire" ,Robert Preston was Veronika Lake's co-star whereas Alan Ladd was supporting.But when you see that movie today you realize that ,although the credits mention "introducing A.L." ,his part was much more "written" ,more important than that of the lead.In "whispering Smith" ,the roles are reversed:not only Ladd plays the lead ,but he has also the part of the good guy whereas Preston is supporting and gets the role of the villain.It's a routine western with a derivative screenplay:the umpteenth story of the pretty girl who married the wrong guy and see the other one come back into her life.The talents of the actor ,with many fine supporting performances (particularly Donald Crisp and Fay Holden who sings a duet with Ladd) make the movie watchable though.

This is a standard actioner about railroad detective Luke Smith (Alan Ladd) who has to track down an old buddy Murray Sinclair (Robert Preston) whom he believes is involved in a series of railroad hold ups. Murray also happens to have a fine spread and is married to Smith's old love interest, Marion (Brenda Marshall).Smith cut's Murray a lot of breaks and gives him the benefit of the doubt until someone is killed in a railroad hold-up and he can no longer turn a blind eye towards his old friend. Donald Crisp plays the leader the gang that led Murray astray and we have bad guy Whitey (Frank Faylen wearing a blond wig) as the heavy. Paramount gave it an "A" picture look with excellent Technicolor production values, but it deserves a better plot. Preston merely repeats his good-guy-gone-bad role from BLOOD ON THE MOON, and Ladd is capable but low-key to the point of almost being monotonous. Crisp as a bad guy makes no impression while Faylen's blond wig, looks ridiculous.It starts off being filmed up in the beautiful Sierras but winds up towards the end at the same ranch locations that Paramount used for most of it's programmers. Same old locations.It's not bad, but it's nothing special, imo. Average.5 out of 10