Jacques Tourneur was a genius of the shadows. Most people know him for Cat People or the noir masterpiece Out of the Past, but honestly, his 1956 Western Great Day in the Morning is where things get truly bizarre and fascinating. It’s not your typical "shoot 'em up" flick.
Set in Denver right as the American Civil War is about to explode, the film captures a very specific, high-tension moment in history. It's 1861. The city is a powder keg. You’ve got Southerners and Northerners living side-by-side in a frontier town, and suddenly, they realize they might have to start killing each other by dinner time.
The Messy Morality of Great Day in the Morning
Robert Stack plays Owen Pentecost. He’s not exactly a hero. In fact, he’s kinda a jerk for most of the movie. He’s a Southerner who wins a hotel in a card game and doesn't seem to care much about anything other than his own skin. Stack plays him with this icy, detached coolness that feels very modern.
The movie thrives on the fact that nobody is purely good. Pentecost is a mercenary at heart. While the town is splitting down the middle over the "North vs. South" debate, he’s just trying to figure out how to keep his gold. This isn't the romanticized version of the West we usually get from 1950s cinema. It’s grittier. It's more about the claustrophobia of choice.
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Virginia Mayo and Ruth Roman provide the "love interest" angles, but even their characters feel weighed down by the impending war. Ann Merry Alaine (Mayo) represents a certain kind of moral compass, while Boston (Roman) is more aligned with Pentecost’s cynical worldview.
Why the Color Palette Actually Matters
Technicolor was usually used to make things look pretty and vibrant. Tourneur did something different here. Working with cinematographer William Snyder, he used the Superscope process to create a sense of scale, but the colors feel heavy.
There’s a specific scene where the first shots of the war are heard—not through cannons, but through the tension in a barroom. The lighting shifts. It feels like a noir masquerading as a Western. If you look closely at the interior shots of the hotel, the shadows are long and oppressive. It’s a visual representation of a country about to tear itself apart.
The Politics of Gold and Blood
Basically, the plot hinges on a massive shipment of gold. The Confederacy needs it to fund their rebellion. The Union needs it to keep the country together. Pentecost is caught in the middle, and his eventual decision to help the South isn't framed as a grand patriotic gesture. It feels more like a man finally being forced into a corner by his own history.
Most movies from this era picked a side and stuck to it with a lot of flag-waving. Great Day in the Morning feels more skeptical. It looks at the gold and sees the greed behind the cause.
The supporting cast is stellar, especially Raymond Burr. Before he became the iconic Perry Mason, Burr was one of the best villains in the business. Here, he plays Jumbo Means, a man who is exactly as subtle as his name suggests. His physical presence creates a direct contrast to Stack’s lean, calculated movements.
A Different Kind of Tourneur Film
If you’re a film nerd, you study Tourneur for his "Val Lewton" years—those low-budget horror movies where what you don't see is scarier than what you do.
In Great Day in the Morning, the "invisible monster" is the war itself. It’s off-screen for a long time, but you feel it in every conversation. You feel it in the way the townspeople stop trusting their neighbors. It’s a psychological thriller disguised as a period piece.
The script, written by Lesser Samuels (based on a novel by Robert Hardy Andrews), doesn't shy away from the ugliness of the era. While it’s a product of 1956 and has the limitations of that time—especially in how it handles the complex racial politics of the Civil War—it focuses heavily on the internal conflict of the white pioneers who were colonizing the West while their homes in the East were burning.
Real Historical Context
Denver in 1861 was a wild place. It wasn't even a state yet; it was part of the Kansas Territory. The "Colorado Gold Rush" had brought thousands of people with conflicting loyalties into a very small geographical area.
- The city was a melting pot of Confederate sympathizers and staunch Unionists.
- Gold was the primary driver of the local economy.
- Communication with the East was slow, leading to a state of constant paranoia.
The film gets this atmosphere right. The sense of isolation is palpable. When the news finally breaks that Fort Sumter has been fired upon, the reaction in the movie isn't a cheer—it’s a collective realization that the world has just ended.
Why This Movie Still Matters Today
Honestly, we’re living in a very polarized time. Watching a movie about a community that wakes up one day and realizes they are now enemies because of a line drawn on a map feels incredibly relevant.
Great Day in the Morning asks a tough question: Can you remain neutral when the world is on fire? Pentecost tries. He really tries to just be an individual, a businessman, a guy who won a hotel in a poker game. But the world won't let him.
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The ending is bittersweet. It’s not a "happily ever after." It’s a "we’re still alive for now" ending. That kind of realism was rare for 1950s Hollywood. It lacks the polish of a John Ford Western, and that’s exactly why it’s worth your time.
Watching the Film Today
You can usually find this one on TCM or through various boutique Blu-ray labels like Warner Archive. It hasn't been digitally scrubbed to death, so you can still see the grain and the texture of the costumes.
If you're going to watch it, pay attention to the sound design. Tourneur uses silence very effectively. There are long stretches where you just hear the wind or the creaking of floorboards. It builds a sense of dread that pays off in the final act.
The pacing might feel a bit slow if you’re used to modern Marvel movies, but give it a chance. It’s a slow burn that actually has something to say about the cost of loyalty.
Actionable Insights for Film Buffs
If you want to truly appreciate this film, don't just watch it in isolation.
First, watch Out of the Past. It's Tourneur's most famous movie. See how he uses shadows there. Then, watch Great Day in the Morning and look for those same noir techniques in the bright Colorado sun.
Second, look up the history of the "Sand Creek Massacre" and the general state of Colorado during the 1860s. While the movie focuses on the white settlers, knowing the actual historical backdrop of the region adds a layer of gravity to the gold-seeking plot.
Finally, compare this to other 1956 Westerns like The Searchers. You'll see that while Ford was making mythic, sweeping epics, Tourneur was making something much more intimate and uncomfortable.
Great Day in the Morning is a reminder that the Western genre is capable of being more than just a campfire story. It can be a mirror. Sometimes that mirror shows us things we’d rather not see about how quickly a society can fracture.
To get the most out of your viewing, seek out the original 2.00:1 aspect ratio version. Many older television broadcasts cropped it to 4:3, which completely ruins Tourneur’s deliberate use of the wide frame to show the distance between characters during their arguments. Seeing it in its intended format is the only way to grasp the visual storytelling at play.