Here we have Stewart Granger in a Western – I know he did The Last Hunt just before this – but he is not associated with this type of film – probably because he is very English – but I have to admit he was good in this one and to be fair is was a pretty good Western from MGM

On the very impressive wide screen that we all loved and the location filming was really impressive

Seeing GUN GLORY reminds me once again what a pleasure it is to watch Stewart Granger and Rhonda Fleming.

Stewart Granger plays a family man who has become something of a drifter- not to mention a gambler and a gunfighter. He returns home to his ranch after turning away from this life style only to discover that his wife is dead and his son wants nothing to do with him. So he then hires Rhonda Fleming to keep house for him, and she works to bring father and son together.

Rhonda Fleming is, without doubt, a beautiful young lady and once again, she proves she can act as well.

Chill Wills excels as a wise, non judgemental vicar. It really was exquisitely photographed in Metrocolor and Cinemascope.

This is a film that can, for the most part, be enjoyed by all the family which is a bonus.

About the time that this film was made, Stewart Granger and his Wife Jean Simmons, had purchased a 5,000 acre farm in Arizona which should and would have been perfect for them and their small children, but as he himself recalls in his excellent autobiography ‘Sparks Fly Upwards’, the repayments they had to meet on the financing of the ranch meant that both of them had to make film after film which resulted in them being apart for long periods.

The inevitable happened and they went their separate ways, much to the sadness of Stewart Granger – because in my opinion Jean was the love of his life and he remained in love with her until the day he died.

One of the films that Jean Simmons made in that period was ‘Elmer Gantry’ directed by Richard Brooks who she married after her divorce from Stewart Granger – in fact she married him quite quickly afterwards.

Gun Glory was directed by Roy Rowland and his son, Steve was cast in the film as Stewart Granger’s son who had a career as a film actor although not a major one.

A few years before this was probably the best – or one of the best, of Stewart Granger’s films Scaramouche – another in my opinion made just before that was the wonderful ‘King Solomons Mines’

However one of the stars of Scaramouche – the very lovely Eleanor Parker had this to say :-

In 1952 Stewart Granger had starred in Scaramouche and it seems his co-star Eleanor Parker was not exactly a fan of his – she said of him “Everyone disliked this man…. Stewart Granger was a dreadful person, rude… just awful. Just being in his presence was bad. I thought at one point the crew was going to kill him.

However the resulting film was a notable critical and commercial success.