Everything on the brand new criterion channel streaming service. The story of a reallife landgrabber who became a multimillionaire to rub shoulders with the great rothschild reels the mind and boggles the imagination. The baron of arizona 1950 samuel fuller, vincent price. The baron is a portuguese film shot in retromodernscope, in glorious high contrast black and white, boasting to be a 2d film by edgar pera.
The baron of arizona is a goodlooking film though, mostly well photographed and the sets are handsome, while the score is rousing and sam fullers direction is wisely straightforward and always dependable. Returned from gathering credentials in europe, reavis vincent price and sofia ellen drew make their outlandish claim to miller edward keane in samuel fullers the baron of arizona, 1950. John mannering, the baron, was an antiques dealer working in an informal capacity as an agent for british diplomatic intelligence. Nov 06, 20 samuel fuller and vincent price would seem to make an incongruous pair. He is best known in association with the peralta land grant, also known as the barony. The film concerns a master forgers attempted use of false documents to lay claim to the territory of arizona late in the 19th century. Despite the many novel moments, the movies no triumphsam fuller or no sam fuller. 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 baron of arizona 1950 directed by samuel fuller genres historical film, western subgenres biopic feature, docudrama release date mar 4, 1950 usa unknown run time 96 min. Reavis convinces mexican immigrant pepito vladimir sokoloff that his daughter is the heir to a barony of land granted by spain, and then departs for years of patient efforts to create. Watch death valley days season 4, episode 11 the baron of arizona.
Crime doctors man hunt 1946 irene cotter natalie cotter. Thirty years before arizona achieves statehood, scam artist james addison reavis vincent price cooks up an elaborate scheme to claim the territory as his own. Before his fall james reavis accumulated over half a billion dollars todays currency from the flatlands and silver. The baron of arizona 1950 the baron of arizona 1950. Along the way he married a domestic, transformed her into a baroness, and then held the world agog at his chicanery. Matt baron is a director, cinematographer and editor who works for various editorial, music video and advertising clients.
He is best known in association with the peralta land grant, also known as the barony of arizona, a pair of fraudulent land claims which, if certified, would have granted him ownership over 18,600 square miles 48,200 km 2 of land in central arizona territory and western new. With vincent price, ellen drew, vladimir sokoloff, beulah bondi. In one of his own favorite roles, vincent price portrays legendary swindler james addison reavis, who in 1880 concocted an elaborate and dangerous hoax to name himself the baron of arizona, and therefore inherit all the land in the state. This inspires james reavis to forge a chain of historical evidence that makes a foundling girl the baroness of arizona. Vincent price complete films of the fifties youtube. The saudi government and the clinton foundation want to. Samuel fuller and vincent price would seem to make an incongruous pair.
Baron ran old west land fraud territorial arizona had its share of drifters, drunks, misfits and thieves. This is applied at lowtemperature onto foam, fiberglass and most plastics. Master swindler james reavis painstakingly spends years forging documents and land grants that will make his wife and him undisputed owners of the entire state of arizona. When the case was docketed, the federal government assigned attorney matthew reynolds to act as its special investigator, and the lawyer began to assemble a mountain of evidence. Mining towns in particular typically went through about a decade of. The baron of arizona 1950 is all thumbs, as much a forgery as the one perpetrated by its protagonist james addison reavis vincent price. An employee of the town newspaper is sent out to investigate the validity of a barons land claim to their town and mill. The baron of arizona 1950 the baron of arizona 1950 has been called an antiwestern, and that might have pleased writerdirector samuel fuller, who enjoyed bollixing up the rules of every genre he got his hands on. The baron of arizona 1950 thirty years before arizona achieves statehood, scam artist james addison reavis vincent price cooks up an elaborate scheme to claim the territory as his own.
The hollywood film, the baron of arizona, starred vincent price in 1950. The baron of arizona is currently streaming on filmstruck along with many other samuel fuller films and it is available on dvd from criterion. Lippert was a real cheapjack production company, and it shows. The directors gritty, unaffected sensibility might seem antithetical to the actors lofty, melodramatic approach to performance. An employee of the town newspaper is sent out to investigate the validity of a baron s land claim to their town and mill. Not one of fullers best films, though the subject is fascinatingly offbeat, the cinematography is by james wong howe, and no personal. The list contains the best, new and most relevant baron movies ordered by relevance. The baron of arizona figured that he had a much better chance to win his case in new mexico than either arizona or washington d.
James addison reavis may 10, 1843 november 27, 1914, later using the name james addison peraltareavis, the socalled baron of arizona, was an american forger and fraudster. Beulah bondi, ellen drew, reed hadley, robert barrat, vincent price. The baron is a portuguese film shot in retromodernscope, in glorious high contrast black and white, boasting to be a 2. In contrast, fullers second feature, the baron of arizona 1950 is all thumbs, as much a. For the complete true story, read the book the baron of.
One of samuel fullers early efforts, it lacks the cohesive worldview that he would bring to his best work in later years, but it already features a leading character who is entirely convinced of the rightness of his actions, a trait that many later fuller. This page will support the collective efforts of arizonians working to attract the motion picture industry to arizona and use the state for. Vincent price portrays legendary swindler james addison reavis, who, in 1880, concocted an elaborate hoax to name himself as the baron of arizona and therefore inherit all the land in the state. The baron of arizona 1950 directed by samuel fuller. Samuel fullers second feature, the baron of arizona, is a strange noirish western, which suffers from an incoherent text and preposterous plotting, but benefits from the striking cinematography of james wong howe, considering that the movie had a lowbudget and was shot in three weeks. Vincent price, ellen drew, vladimir sokoloff, bealah bondi, reed hadley, jonathan hale writer. The tale was dramatized by hollywood, casting the villainous heartthrob vincent price as the suave baron. The baron of arizona 1950 cast and crew thirty years before arizona achieves statehood, scam artist james addison reavis vincent price cooks up an elaborate scheme to claim the territory as. Gangrene kicks off prices films of the 1950s, looking at the first to be released in 1950, the baron of arizona, starring vincent price. In fact, this is a remarkable and hugely improbable drama, made even more remarkable because much of it is true. It is based on the case of james reavis, whose scheme came close to success, but many of the films details are fictionalized. The baron of arizona 1950 starring vincent price and ellen drew on dvd and bluray. The baron of arizona vincent price ellen drew beulah bondi 1950 a con man vincent price forges land grants to a spanish family, then marries the sole survivor ellen drew.
Vincent price stars as master swindler james reaves who spent years undercover forging and falsifyng documents with the primary goal of proving that he and his wife, played by ellen drew, were the owners of the territory, through spanish land grants, that eventually became the state of arizona in 1912. The baron of arizona gave vincent price a rare leading role in a nonhorror vehicle, and he cited it as one of his favorite performances on film. The baron of arizona has a title that makes it sound like a western, especially since it was directed by sam fuller. I remember that cheap swindler, reflects someone in the films. The internet adult film database is an online searchable database of over 490,038 adult movies titles and 200,604 porn performers. The baron of arizona is a bizarre but intriguing little western that is really more a tale of the west than a shoot em up oater.
Samuel fuller adapts this tall tale to film with fleet, elegant storytelling and. The recommendation service has sorted out cult film, suspenseful, stylized, psychological, atmospheric and suspense films and tv shows about with baron, castle, horse, blood, revenge, jealousy, female nudity, monster, death and danger plots mostly in drama, fantasy and horror genres shot in usa, uk, france. The baron of arizona 1950 the criterion collection. The baron of arizona is a 1950 american western film directed by samuel fuller and starring vincent price and ellen drew the film concerns a master forgers attempted use of false documents to lay claim to the territory of arizona late in the 19th century. A con man vincent price weds the sole survivor ellen drew of a spanish family. But price is delightful as the protagonist in fullers second film, the baron of arizona, made when the director was still working independently for the poverty row studio lippert pictures. There really was a james addison reavis and he really did claim to own the state in question thanks to a collection of documents he had expertly forged which included, according to this. Netflix, amazon prime video to watch a movie that was supposed to be released at cinemas. Feb, 2015 in this episode of the fantastic films of vincent price dr. For the complete true story, read the book the baron of arizona, by e. Samuel fuller s second feature, the baron of arizona, is a strange noirish western, which suffers from an incoherent text and preposterous plotting, but benefits from the striking cinematography of james wong howe, considering that the movie had a lowbudget and was shot in three weeks. In this episode of the fantastic films of vincent price dr. Samuel fuller adapts this tall tale to film with fleet, elegant storytelling and a sly sense of humor.
The baron of arizona hit the silver screen in 1950. Black baron film is a patented, flexible highgloss polyester that is inexpensive, easy, clean and quick to use. The baron of arizona is a 1950 american western film directed by samuel fuller and starring vincent price and ellen drew. Baron of arizona, the 1950 movie clip royal decrees. A comprehensive look at every vincent price film of the 1950s. But one man got awfully close by becoming the baron of arizona. Reavis marries the girl and presses his claim to the entire arizona territory.