Track Of The Cat

A bleak, moody, slow, somewhat pretentious, but nonetheless fascinating filmic experiment in style from director Wellman and cinematographer Clothier. Adapted from a novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark (author of THE OX-BOW INCIDENT, which Wellman had brought to the screen), the story is a stark psychological drama set on a snowbound ranch in northern California and involves only a handful of characters. To emphasize the bleak nature of the story, Wellman had Clothier photograph the film in color, but the set, clothing, horses, and props were either black or white. Only the flesh tone of the performers, the blue sky, Mitchum's red mackinaw, and actress Lynn's yellow ...