Canyon Passage is a 1946 western film directed by Jacques Tourneur. The film stars Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward. Canyon Passage is an adaptation of Ernest Haycox’s 1945 novel of the same name.
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Production Company: Walter Wanger Productions
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Cast: Dana Andrews, Brian Donlevy, Susan Hayward, Patricia Roc, Hoagy Carmichael, Ward Bond, Andy Devine
US Box Office: $5,625,000 ($141,700,000 adjusted for inflation)
Film Format: Technicolor
Genre: Western, Adventure, Drama
Release Date: July 15, 1946 (Portland premiere); July 17, 1946
Plot Summary: In 1856 Oregon, store owner Logan Stuart (Dana Andrews) and Lucy Overmire (Susan Hayward) begin to fall in love after Logan accompanies her on a trip back to her home in Jacksonville. However, Lucy is engaged to George Camrose (Brian Donlevy), a banker and deeply in-debt gambler who is friends with Logan, while Logan is in a romantic relationship with Caroline Marsh (Patricia Roc). Tensions rise in the town of Jacksonville as Logan is menaced by local bully “Honey” Bragg (Ward Bond) and George is accused of murdering a miner who he owed money.
Production: In 1945 producer Walter Wanger began working on a film adaptation of Ernest Haycox’s western novel Canyon Passage, which was been serialized in The Saturday Evening Post from January 13 to March 3, 1945. Wanger was associated with Universal Pictures at the time and produced films under his “Walter Wanger Productions” company. Wanger hired author and screenwriter Ernest Pascal to write the script for Canyon Passage based on Haycox’s novel. Earlier that year Pascal had written the script for Wanger’s Night in Paradise (1946). Wanger hired French-American director Jacques Tourneur to direct Canyon Passage. Tourneur was primarily known for directing low budget horror films at the time, Canyon Passage was his first Western.
Walter Wanger originally hoped to cast John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, and Claire Trevor in Canyon Passage because he had a great deal of success with them in Stagecoach (1939), an earlier Western he had produced. This plan may have fallen through due to contract issues, as Wayne primarily made films for RKO Radio Pictures and Republic Pictures in the late 1940s. Dana Andrews was cast as leading man Logan Stuart. Andrews had previously starred in State Fair (1945), Fallen Angel (1945), and A Walk in the Sun (1945) for 20th Century Fox. Susan Hayward was cast as leading lady Lucy Overmire. Canyon Passage was Hayward’s first Western film, though he had appeared in other Technicolor adventures films such as Reap the Wild Wind (1942) and The Forest Rangers (1942). British actress Patricia Roc was cast as Caroline Marsh, Canyon Passage was her first American film. Universal borrowed Roc from British producer J. Arthur Rank under a “lend-lease” deal between the two.
Production on Canyon Passage began in August of 1945, and filming wrapped up in December of that year. As Canyon Passage had a large budget and was shot in Technicolor, Wanger and Tourneur decided to shoot many of the film’s exterior shots on location in Oregon, where the film takes place. The Umpqua National Forest in Jackson County served as the primary exterior filming location for Canyon Passage. The nearby Diamond Lake National Park, and Crater Lake were also used as filming locations. Interior scenes were shot at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.
Fun Facts and Trivia: Although Ernest Haycox’s novel is fictional, the town of Jacksonville is a real life town in south western Oregon. Jacksonville was founded after gold deposits were discovered in the area and gold mining was a major industry early in the town’s history, which is how the town is depicted in Canyon Passage. The sons of Ben Dance (Andy Devine) were played by Devine’s real children: Tad Devine (Asa) and Denny Devine (Bushrod). Jacques Tourneur later directed Dana Andrews in two more films: British horror film Curse of the Demon (1957) and American film noir The Fearmakers (1958). Andrews and Susan Hayward later starred together in romantic drama film My Foolish Heart (1949) directed by Mark Robson. Shortly after working together on Canyon Passage Andrews and Hoagy Carmichael (Hi Linnet) appeared together in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) and Night Song (1948).
Reception: Canyon Passage premiered in Portland, Oregon on July 15, 1946. The premiere event featured a traditional Native American ceremony and a parade through the city which was led by Oregon Governor Earl Snell. Canyon Passage had fairly strong box office results, but lost money due to its large budget. On October 19, 1946 Susan Hayward reprised her role as Lucy in a 30 minute radio adaptation of the film broadcast by The Hedda Hopper Show. Composer Hoagy Carmichael reportedly considered his role as musician/store owner Hi Linnet to be his finest acting performance.
Canyon Passage received generally positive reviews from critics on its original release. Josephine O’Neill of The Daily Telegraph praised Canyon Passage for its “magnificent” technicolor cinematography and its on-location shooting shooting in Oregon, but was less enthusiastic about the script. An anonymous film critic from The New York Times similarly praised the location photography in Umpqua National Forest and the performances of Hayward and Roc, but criticized the film’s plot for being melodramatic and too formulaic.
Canyon Passage continues to receive mostly positive reviews in retrospect, with the script typically receiving greater praise than what it received in 1946. Richard Brody of The New Yorker gave praised the film for its complex characters, and he argued that Canyon Passage used allegory to reflect concerns about post-World War II life. Brody described the film as a “pastoral film noir” about frontier life. Matt Brunson of Film Frenzy also praised the film’s story. Dennis Schwartz thought that Canyon Passage was on par with John Ford’s best westerns and that it deserved to be more well-known.
Oscars: Canyon Passage was nominated for one Oscar at the 19th Academy Awards ceremony: Best Original Song for “Ole Buttermilk Sky” (composed by Hoagy Carmichael, lyrics by Jack Brooks). “Ole Buttermilk Sky” lost the Oscar to “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe” (music by Henry Warren and lyrics by Johnny Mercer) from The Harvey Girls.
Why You Should See It: Canyon Passage is a good western film. Jacques Tourneur and cinematographer Edward Cronjager do an excellent job photographing the film. Canyon Passage features some truly beautiful Technicolor location shooting in the Umpqua National Forest. Dana Andrews and Susan Hayward are both good in their roles. Supporting actors Andy Devine and Hoagy Carmichael are very memorable in their roles. I think that Tourneur did an excellent job establishing a sense of community amongst the residents of Jacksonville. The likeable supporting characters, the town meetings, the cabin raising scene and subsequent party all work to show how connected the characters are. By establishing such strong community ties, Tourneur makes the characters and their struggles more endearing to the audience, which makes the later tragic scenes in the film all the more emotional.
Great Technicolor and Exterior filming
Good perfromances, especially supporting
Great small town “community” atmosphere, especially the cabin raising scene and town meetings