The Hanging Tree (1959) on Netflix
Dr. Joseph Frail opens a practice in a Montana gold camp after treating a young thief named Rune. He cares for Elizabeth Mahler, burned and blinded in a coach robbery.
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- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.1/105,631 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes89%
Trailer
Plot summary
Joseph Frail, a doctor who also gambles and handles a gun, rides into Skull Creek, a Montana gold camp, to open a practice. Frenchy Plante shoots a young man, Rune, for stealing gold from a sluice; Frail treats the wound and keeps Rune as a servant, threatening to turn him in. A stagecoach is robbed and overturned, and the search party brings back Elizabeth Mahler, a Swiss immigrant and the only survivor, burned, blinded and dehydrated. She is lodged in the house beside Frail's to recover, which offends the town's respectable women, who suspect she is paying for her care with something other than money. A faith healer named Grubb sees the doctor's practice as a threat.
Cast
- Emile Averyas Townsman (uncredited)
- Fern Barryas Mother (uncredited)
Show all 20 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Hanging Tree (1959)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- When director Daves fell ill during The Hanging Tree, Karl Malden took over the directing duties for several days; the film was also the first cinematic appearance for George C. Scott.
- The Hanging Tree's fictional gold-mining town of Skull Creek was a temporary film set built along the south side of Little Rattlesnake Creek, by its confluence with Rattlesnake Creek just southwest of Nile, Washington.
- Cinematographer Ted McCord shot The Hanging Tree with full-aperture photography and reduction printing to improve grain: he widened the aperture on 35-mm film out to the sprocket holes, then reduced the image back to standard size in post-production.
