Man of the Lost Valleys on the Arte: Stop at 1 hour 11 minutes and get a good look at Jack Palance and his horse

Discover this well-kept secret from the Western The Man of the Lost Valleys that will forever change the way you see George Stevens’ film starring Alan Ladd, Jean Arthur, Van Heflin and Jack Palance.

The scene… upside down?!

The scene in question takes place at night. Jack, the character played by Jack Palance, has to dismount, drink water and get back in the saddle. Easy on paper but difficult on set.

On the day of the shoot, the horse assigned to Jack Palance is not at all cooperative and acting up. The sequence will be broken because the animal is unbearable. And to get out of this dead end, director George Stevens has an idea.

Stop 1 hour and 11 minutes

It forces the actor to do a particularly slow choke, so that the animal allows itself to do so. His plan works and the director decides not to bother with the horse ride because the animal is intolerable: the climbing sequence will suffice… in reverse! So when Palance mounts the horse, you’re still seeing the image from just a minute ago, notable for Palance’s speed, Alan Ladd’s silence, and some image degradation that breaks the use of the assembly tip:

This trick, once famous, looks like a nose in the middle of the face, but you still need to know. Despite his difficulty handling the somewhat wily horse, Jack Palance impresses in this role, which inspires cartoonist Morrissey’s Lucky Luke album. Phil Defer. in which moreover The designer solves this horse problem.

As for the actor, he is not offended by the American Western, as we find him in the Wizard of the Rio Grande, in which he plays the Apache, the villain Jackop, the professionals, the young gun or Monte Walsh, and even Italy with the mercenary, companiero or amigo, my colt should have said two words to you!