SunnyHello Nice effects though.

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

George Redding In this western from Universal-International, Audie Murphy and James Stewart are anomalies to what they had been previous to this time. While Murphy was usually a straight guy on the right side of the law, here, though small and baby-faced, is a mean outlaw, evidently scared of no one. Stewart, who was often portrayed as a fine, upstanding, family man in other movies, is in this movie a rough man and temperamental when he had to be. They showed the viewing public that they were versatile actors.. The actors who portrayed the outlaws were definitely adept in their roles. Jack Elam was somewhat this way. Robert Wilke was very much this way, not at all atypical to the "High Noon" outlaw he portrayed. (If he was as mean in real life as he was on the screen, I do not see how he could not have not have been bitterly hated and strongly feared.) Dan Duryea was his mean, boisterous, somewhat obnoxious villain self. Yes, these men fit perfectly into the outlaw mold. As for the other players in the movie, Elaine Stewart and Dianne Foster were definitely appealing, and the then-young teenager Brandon DeWilde showed that he was capable at an early age at acting. The Colorado scenery and the breathtaking Technicolor added much to the movie, naturally. The storyline is not at all complex. A man (Stewart) who had once been fired by the railroad, is now rehired and must take a payroll to the employees who have been anxiously waiting for their pay and are strongly on the verge of quitting. Stewart is on the train-the night passage-when the outlaw band robs the train, only to find that no money is in the safe nor anywhere else on the train. Beautiful color, beautiful ladies, beautiful scenery, mean outlaws, and excellent acting by Murphy and Stewart. What more would anybody want in a western

coymac53 Over the years there has been much mis-information about this very good Western. Some on the Trivia page. For instance, Night Passage was the 18th biggest hit of 1957 and made a nice profit. Second was that Anthony Mann quit over Audie Murphy being cast as Jimmy Stewart's brother (Murphy was also 5'7", not 5'5" which was his height when he enlisted in WW 2 when he was 17). Actually, Mann and Stewart had an argument that led to them never speaking again. Murphy is perfectly cast as the younger brother "Lee" and he also does some of his best acting. Dan Duryea is always good and the cast is excellent with Brandon de Wilde also doing a nice job as Joey. All in all, the plot, the cast(Jay C. Flippen is always good and it's a pleasure to see Hugh Beaumont in a Western) and especially the beautiful scenery make this a very good Western flick. Western movie fans look at this western and see the movie that Anthony Mann "didn't make". You have no possible way of knowing that Mann would have done a better movie. Forget Anthony Mann. On it's own merits--this is a fine Western. Close to Winchester 73' in script--but in Technicolor with better scenery and without the corny Indian sequence and without the corny Wyatt Earp parts.

jazerbini Night Passage is a great western. I think that was actually performed by Mann. It is perhaps the best example of molded form of filmmaking that was the great director Mann. James Nielsen, I doubt not only lent his name to the producers feuding with Mann and had James Stewart as the big star of westerns, so very hard to decide about the movie. The photography is gorgeous. A very good story, making the female characters of the plot have a very special moment in cinema, with two roles extremely well designed and which actresses are perfect in their performances. Brandon De Wilde here can repeat his performance in Shane, another brilliant George Stevens western. The actors are splendid, except that it takes Audie Murphy was not considered suitable actor for the role of Utica Kidd. Dan Duryea who had shone in Winchester 73, shows this film because it was one of the most requested supporting westerns. Particularly consider that Nigh Passage is really a film directed by Mann. Magnificent.

zetes Best known as the film that ended the great Anthony Mann/Jimmy Stewart partnership. Mann either got in an argument with Stewart, hated the script or hated co-star Audie Murphy, or all of the above. No-name director James Neilson replaced him, and the results are, well, not as good as something Mann would have directed, one would imagine. But they're not as bad as many have said. I think the script is the weakest element of the film, mostly because it takes a while to get moving, it's a little cliché and predictable, and, worst of all, it doesn't give Stewart much to work with. Between Mann's Westerns and Hitchcock's films, Stewart was really broadening his horizons in the '50s, moving from a dependable "aw shucks" kind of guy to a seasoned thespian. His role here is closer to the "aw shucks" period than it is to the darker side of Stewart. It starts to lean a little bit toward that darker side when the film hits its stride, a little too late. If Audie Murphy was Mann's biggest problem, I have to say, except for the miscasting (he's young enough to be Stewart's son), I very much enjoyed his performance. I had never seen one of his films before, but I look forward to seeing more. The two bad guys, the second one being the always dependable Dan Duryea, are more interesting than the hero here. Also making an appearance, Jay C. Flippen, always a great Western character actor. Even if this doesn't compare with the Mann/Stewart Westerns, it's a fine one itself. You can find it in Universal's new James Stewart: The Western Collection. It looks great, but the sound was kind of muffled.