Springfield Rifle (1952) [Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection] – DVD

***/**** Image B+ Sound A-
starring Gary Cooper, Phyllis Thaxter, David Brian, Paul Kelly
screenplay by Charles Marquis Warren & Frank Davis
directed by André De Toth

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover Springfield Rifle is a fat-free, plot-centric Gary Cooper western with a difference. While its counter-intelligence plot bears a passing resemblance to that of Henry Hathaway's docu-noir The House on 92^nd Street, it's mostly about brisk movement through rough terrain as we wait for a climax in which the newly-minted Springfield rifle will prove its worth on the battlefield. There's absolutely no serious need to look for subtexts (director André De Toth keeps everything (moving quickly) on the surface), but it's a reasonably entertaining time-killer that's never exactly smart yet never exactly boring. Coming as it did on the heels of the star's High Noon, it could perhaps be considered counter-programming.

A bashful Coop assays the role of Major Lex Kearney, whom we first encounter refusing to order his outnumbered troops to attack a gang of horse thieves. As the thieves have been rustling Union horses at an alarming rate, this immediately sets a court-martial in motion where the major is dishonourably discharged. But it's all a ruse: the Major is merely pioneering counter-intelligence by joining the rustlers' gang to suss out the person tipping them off to the movement of shipments. He soon finds himself rubbing shoulders with the indelibly-named Austin McCool (David Brian), who runs the operation with Confederate guidance but is not the mole within Union forces. It spoils nothing to say that the traitor is no one you'll suspect and the most trustworthy member of the Union cadre–and how 'bout that climax?

As I say, there's no point in searching for larger significance in the midst of this movie. It's strictly western adventure fodder, with Coop in constant peril and very little to distract from that throughline. True, he has a bit more agony in considering his in-the-dark wife Erin (Phyllis Thaxter), and she in turn has to bite her nails over the humiliation of Kearney's dismissal and the stress it puts on their son. Even that, however, is largely done to up the danger ante–there's no statement on work and family, or male/female roles, or anything else that would make this interesting to a cultural studies class. Instead, we get a lot of hullabaloo in the name of the Union and the occasional thug like Pete Elm (Lon Chaney, dropping the "Jr." that once distinguished him from his legendary father), whose chief purpose is to provide comic relief.

Still, I was never bored throughout the brisk 92-minute running time; Springfield Rifle doesn't let you stop and think long enough to ponder what it might be missing. The film doggedly pursues its narrative throughline without looking back, taking care to fulfill the requirements of the story and make a quick exit. I suppose this means that it's giving the bare minimum, but it's still more than one would expect from a routine oater. By the time the fabled Springfield "[makes] one man the equal of five," we've been sufficiently entertained. It ain't Shakespeare, but it keeps you hooked.

THE DVD
Excavated for Warner's five-title Gary Cooper Signature Collection, Springfield Rifle features a slightly-oversaturated fullscreen transfer–reds especially pop off the screen, intruding on otherwise fine detail. The Dolby 1.0 mono audio is a tad faint but largely defect-free. There are no extras.

93 minutes; PG; 2.35:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 1.0, French DD 1.0; CC; English, French, Spanish subtitles; DVD-5; Region One; Warner