Antebellum DEBRA PAGET in "Seven Angry Men"

If you are a true Debra Paget fan, you are likely to categorize any film in which she appears as, exclusively, a "Debra Paget film." This video offers a few glimpses of an unsung entry in her pantheon. Make the Civil War your dividing line. Miss Paget's postbellum role of Cathy Reno in "Love Me Tender" (1956) is here predated by clips from her antebellum appearance as Elizabeth Clark in the Allied Artists picture "Seven Angry Men" (1955). Since the men referred to are not, in fact, uniformly angry, the film's alternative title of "God's Angry Man" is more appropriate. The salt of the film is abolitionist John Brown, played credibly—and not for the first time: cf. his portrayal in "Santa Fe Trail" (1940)—by talented Raymond Massey, who, interestingly, also portrayed Abraham Lincoln twice on the big screen—in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" (1940) and "How the West Was Won" (1962). John Brown's sons—among whom number the loyal and romantic Owen (Jeffrey Hunter), the handsome Salmon (Guy Williams, better known for his "Zorro" role), and the sensitive John, Jr. (Dennis Weaver, mere months before the launch of TV's "Gunsmoke" and his soon-to-be-famous depiction of gimpy, genial Chester Goode)—pepper the film with personality and meet with different fates, but invariably yield the spotlight to their driven father. Stalwart Jeffrey Hunter was one hell of a lucky stiff, appearing in five films with Debra Paget, including: "Fourteen Hours" (1951), "Belles on Their Toes," (1952), "Princess of the Nile" (1954)—I encourage you to view my "Princess" YouTube video—"White Feather" (1955), and this picture. To expand on this film's "Gunsmoke" connection: Charles Marquis Warren—who produced and/or directed over four dozen "Gunsmoke" episodes (as well as produced over two dozen "Rawhide" episodes)—directed "Seven Angry Men." His style is very spare, and this film plays out like an extended episode of either of the two most famous TV westerns with which he is associated...