Great Day in the Morning

Strikingly shot by William Snyder against the jaw-dropping landscape of the Colorado Territory, this eve-of-Civil-War western features a redoubtable performance by Robert Stack. He plays a southern maverick forced to choose between patriotism and his pocket. Competing for his attention are wealthy Virginia Mayo and saloon entertainer Ruth Roman. The dialogue in the highly literate script is sharp-tongued, the action is serviceably staged, and the villainy of Raymond Burr and Alex Nicol is impressive. Unfortunately, Jacques Tourneur, one of Hollywood's finest B-movie directors, was at a loss for the inspiration that would have tipped the film over from the adequate into the admirable.