Border Incident (BI) should be better known than it is for at least three reasons : (1) While BI may have been originally produced as a bottom-of-a-double bill item, it boasts an impressive cast of actors and technicians worthy of a top level release---and it shows; (2) BI is an early directing effort by Anthony Mann, who in the following year helmed his breakthrough film Winchester '73---and then went on to a major career that included many important Westerns starring James Stewart and the epic El Cid; and (3) BI is a rare social docu-drama made by MGM---the glossiest studio in Hollywood---where such films were generally produced either by Warner Brothers (mostly in the 1930s) or 20th Century-Fox (mostly in the late 1940s through the early 1950s).
While MGM may have been somewhat out of its element in making BI in the first place, the end result is a satisfying, interesting and tough film about a socially important subject. It was impressive with its often stark realism, and the acting was generally performed at a high level by the worthy ensemble. Mann certainly demonstrated his great craftsmanship and attention to how human conflict affects dramatic situations, which would lead him to great acclaim in a career that tragically ended with a premature heart attack at the age of 60 while directing A Dandy in Aspic in 1967.
It is also sad to note the particularly fine performance by the then young Ricardo Montalban in a straight dramatic role, and wonder about how his career might have evolved if he had been given other similar acting opportunities.
One final observation is about James Mitchell, who plays a Mexican farm worker befriended by the Montalban character. His make up for BI appears to be strikingly similar to that later used by Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata!---a film made in 1952--three years after the release of BI. Coincidence?
While MGM may have been somewhat out of its element in making BI in the first place, the end result is a satisfying, interesting and tough film about a socially important subject. It was impressive with its often stark realism, and the acting was generally performed at a high level by the worthy ensemble. Mann certainly demonstrated his great craftsmanship and attention to how human conflict affects dramatic situations, which would lead him to great acclaim in a career that tragically ended with a premature heart attack at the age of 60 while directing A Dandy in Aspic in 1967.
It is also sad to note the particularly fine performance by the then young Ricardo Montalban in a straight dramatic role, and wonder about how his career might have evolved if he had been given other similar acting opportunities.
One final observation is about James Mitchell, who plays a Mexican farm worker befriended by the Montalban character. His make up for BI appears to be strikingly similar to that later used by Marlon Brando in Viva Zapata!---a film made in 1952--three years after the release of BI. Coincidence?