new Alan Ladd fan
I have LOVED old movies (especially westerns) since I was little. But no matter how many times I watched the classic movie "Shane", I just didn't like it. It was slow, boring, and I just could NOT figure out what the fuss was about Alan Ladd. But when I read a review for the movie "Branded", I decided to give him another shot. I figured there had to be SOME reason he was among Hollywood favorites. I watched this movie and figured it out. You should, too.

a family film in a Western setting
Yes, there is plenty of Western-style action in several places in this movie, but this movie is more than that. It's a film that takes the time to develop the large number of relationships that appear in the film: the changing relationship between the two outlaw partners, the competitive relationship between Choya (Alan Ladd) and his "father", the loving relationship between the mother and the man she thinks is her son, and the loving relationship between the "sister" and Choya. It's all too much for Choya, and he rebels and sets out to put things right.

The movie is in a way like a morality play. Alan Ladd once again goes convincingly from being a bad guy to being a good guy. And with Ladd's actual sterling character, you have no doubt that this could happen.

The ending is exciting, tense, convincing and gratifying. You won't find all this is many movies anymore.

And don't miss The Proud Rebel.

Also, check out "Two Years Before the Mast (B&W)", one of the best seafaring adventure stories around. It is also a drama. Ladd is a playboy son of the owner of a merchant fleet and finds himself shanghaid on one of his father's own ships and forced to work as a deckhand. He gets the lash, leads a mutiny, and in the end stands trial with his mates as a man of character. Based on the famous 19th century book by Richard Dana.

A Strong Story And Alan Ladd's Performance Make This A First Rate Western
"All my life I've been a snake...lived by my wits...gotten what I've wanted any way I wanted it. Just lately, I've been wonderin'...if...just for once...I could do somethin' straight...do somethin' a little decent."

Choya (Alan Ladd) finds himself in the middle of a cruel con, and then finds he has a conscience. In Branded, a very good Western, Ladd plays a man who has always done what he wants, a loner at heart. "You got any friends?" an old man asks him. "My guns," Choya says. "Kinfolk?" "My horse."

Choya meets P. Jefferson Leffingwell (Robert Keith), who shows Choya how he can claim to be the lost son of the Lavery family, wealthy ranch owners. The son was kidnapped more than 20 years ago and has never been heard of since. Richard Lavery (Charles Bickford) renews each year a $100,000 reward in the hope of hearing something about his son. Choya and Leffingwell plan to split the reward, and with Choya accepted as the son, Leffingwell points out that in time he'll inherit the cattle ranch as well...and maybe to speed things up they'll even help Lavery into an early grave.

A tattooed birthmark and Choya's own cleverness do the trick. Lavery and his wife, fragile emotionally since the child was taken, and the Lavery's daughter, Ruth (Mona Freeman), accept Choya completely. Then something happens that now drives the movie into a new direction. He falls for Ruth and he is changed by the decency and openness of the Laverys. He decides to redeem himself by trying to find the real son and then disappearing. This sets off yet more unexpected developments.

Branded, in my view, is an excellent Western. There's great scenery, of course, and plenty of action. What gives this movie a dramatic wallop, however, is a strong story, the drama of a lost son, of twists that involve family feelings and the issue of what makes a real father. Not the least of its strengths is Alan Ladd's performance. Ladd may not have been much of an actor, but something about his on-screen personality brought out the image of a loner with a code of honor. That quality of silence combined with strength, of righteousness that could be aroused to do right, is what he brought to his best roles and which still make so many of his movies worth watching.

Bickford, as so often, plays a strong, decent man. Keith is first rate as an utterly amoral and greasy crook. And Joseph Calleia does an outstanding job as a man, like Bickford, who has to decide what loving a son really means.

The DVD color transfer is in great shape. There are no extras.

The theme of a long lost heir who returns and who may not be true is an old one It's always good for a strong story. If you like mysteries, I recommend Josephine Tey's book, Brat Farrar. Brat is the long lost son who reappears and who may not be who he claims. One of the complications is that Brat has a twin...who refuses to accept him.

razor sharp like cactus
this is one of the best western i have seen.where alan ladd's performance is powerful, razor sharp with a whip lashing command in his voice. who went to rob the cattle baron charles bickford of their fortune as their long lost son -somewhere along the line he had a change of heart and brings home their real lost son who was removed from the family when he was only 5 yrs old and given to a mexican bandit across the river who raised him as his own.i think it is one of the must have movies.

branded is the best
great movie with teriffic alan ladd action with a great story