The Return Of Frank James

With a lot of films made today being very explicit in their social politics, I'm always intrigued to see how these elements meld with plot or aesthetics. In some films it's glaringly obvious that a sociopolitical point of vie is all the story has going for it.

In "The Return of Frank James," director Fritz Lang is more of a thoughtful sleuth than a director that paints everything in bold text, peppering progressive thought into a boilerplate narrative in ways that oftentimes work. And while it may be one of Lang's lesser films, the Henry Fonda-starring sequel to Henry King's "Jesse James" is an interesting attempt for the legendary director to dive deep into the pitfalls of revenge.

Frank James (Fonda) is informed in the beginning of the film that his brother has been murdered by the Ford brothers (played by John Carradine and Charles Tannen). With the sentencing of the Ford brothers coming up, Frank chooses not to intervene. But when the Ford brothers are pardoned, Frank starts out on a path to revenge that goes against the very nature of his ideas of justice. Stunning to look at, this was Lang's first film in color, and the stunning Technicolor presentation is done justice with the new Blu-ray by Twilight Time.

That isn't to say that "The Return of Frank James" is unjustly regarded as one of the lesser Lang films. On the contrary, this contains a more conventional narrative that doesn't carry the kind of emotional and thematic heft that I expect from the famous director. Frank's dive into the worst of revenge isn't held up well by Henry Fonda's stoic performance. For a character that's so angry with the justice system failing and, in turn, is thirsting for vengeance, Fonda's performance doesn't provide introspection. This being Lang's first Western, it becomes clear that the director hadn't fully found a way to work around the superficial twists that come with the genre. Compare this to something like his "Fury" or "Scarlet Street," and in those other films you'll see a director that navigates the psychology of violence with more depth.

Twilight Time's release doesn't come with many special features, but it's kind of hard to expect there to be any extras from a film that hit screens in 1940. As is the Blu-ray label's wont, the isolated score track properly shows off one of the film's greatest assets – David Buttolph's soundtrack. The booklet essay by Julie Kirgo even details the at times difficult relationship between Lang and Fonda. Lang die-hards, you'll want to add this to your list.

"The Return of Frank James"
Blu-ray
$29.95
https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/return-of-frank-james-the-blu-ray/