Lewis R. Foster | Subjects
| Visual Style
| Rankings
Feature films: The Lucky Stiff
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal
The Adventures of Jim Bowie: The Birth of the Blade
Classic Film and Television Home Page (with many articles on directors)
| Television Western Articles
Lewis R. Foster
Lewis R. Foster is an American film and television director.
Lewis R. Foster: Subjects
Some common subjects in Lewis R. Foster's work:
- Tough looking working class men (detectives Malone and von Flanagan: The Lucky Stiff,
escaped convicts: Crashout,
bad guys: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal,
locals: The Birth of the Blade)
- Middle-aged men (detectives Malone and von Flanagan: The Lucky Stiff,
William Bendix, Luther Adler, William Talman, prison guards: Crashout,
bad guys in town: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal,
knife-maker Samuel Black: The Birth of the Blade)
- Folksy Americana (Wyatt Earp: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal,
Jim Bowie episodes, The Saga of Andy Burnett episodes, The Swamp Fox episodes, Daniel Boone episodes)
- Young men find their destiny (Wyatt Earp: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal,
Jim Bowie invents Bowie knife: The Birth of the Blade,
The Saga of Andy Burnett: Andy's Initiation)
- Bad guys terrorize innocent bystanders (escaped convicts: Crashout,
rowdies terrorise town: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal)
- Escaped convicts (Passage West, Crashout,
steal money, fight hero at end: The Birth of the Blade)
- Caves (gold found in cave: Passage West, convicts hide in cave: Crashout)
- Bad judges, need change (drunk: El Paso, crooked judge: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal)
Technology:
- Technology (elevator: Double Whoopee, prison raisable bridge and siren: Crashout,
Bowie Knife invented: The Birth of the Blade, nut of wagon wheel: The Select Females)
Lewis R. Foster: Visual Style
Staging:
- Masking and obstructions (through binoculars on tripod during breakout: Crashout,
shot through keyhole: The Select Females)
Camera Movement:
- Pans (jailbreak: Crashout, Wyatt Earp rides into town: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal)
Appearance and Character:
- Grungy clothes (convicts: Crashout,
Wyatt Earp as wandering cowhand, bad guys: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal)
- Shirtless men (Earp washes: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal, hero Jim Bowie working at forge: The Birth of the Blade)
Rankings
Here are ratings for various films directed by Lewis R. Foster. Everything at least **1/2 is recommended.
Feature films:
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp:
- Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal **1/2
The Adventures of Jim Bowie:
- The Birth of the Blade (knife invention scenes) **1/2
- The Birth of the Blade (rest of the film) *
- Trapline **1/2
- The Select Females **1/2
- The Beggar of New Orleans ***
- Master at Arms **1/2
The Lucky Stiff
The Lucky Stiff (1949) is a mystery thriller. It is based on the 1945 novel of the same name by
Craig Rice. Craig Rice is a writer who's been prestigious since the 1940's;
she has a large entry in nearly every history of mystery fiction.
Brian Donlevy and Robert Armstrong seem older, more working class and tough as
Craig Rice's famous series detectives, lawyer John J. Malone and policeman Daniel von Flanagan.
This pair could easily have been cast with more glamorous figures.
For example, one can imagine them played today by the slick leads of the
White Collar TV series Matt Bomer and Tim DeKay.
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp: Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal
Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal (1955) is the pilot episode of
the TV series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
It is apparently the only episode of the series that Lewis R. Foster directed.
Later episodes are often directed by Frank McDonald (around 142 episodes).
Grunge
The characters in Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal are notable for their grungy, dressed-down look.
When Wyatt Earp wanders into town, he is in ordinary clothes that make him look like a field hand.
Only in later episodes, not directed by Foster, will he get his spectacular marshal's suit,
becoming one of the more dressed-up Western heroes of the 1950's.
This pilot episode has costumes designed by Harold Johnson. The later episodes,
including the ones where Wyatt Earp gets his dressy clothes, have costumes by Douglas Stevens.
Stevens worked on the series for many years.
The other characters are dressed in even plainer working class clothes. They look tough.
A few are good guys, but most are bad guys, mean, low brow and rotten to the core.
Star Hugh O'Brian might not need glamorous clothes. He strips off his shirt and washes on camera.
Government
This run-down Western town has a post office, something one doesn't always see in old Westerns.
Instead, the local general store often runs the postal service as a side business.
We never see the inside of the post office, though. Still, Wyatt Earp Becomes a Marshal
has a general respect for the US Government and its institutions.
By contrast, Wyatt has to fight a crooked judge who supports the bad guys.
A key scene shows Wyatt wearing his badge for the first time. He walks out into the street,
after the bad guys terrorizing the town. He looks very impressive,
and holds a terrific posture that suggests dynamism and determination.
One dimension: being a Government official is good. And what the town needs.
Geometry
The good characters, including Wyatt Earp and the townsman who supports him,
are often photographed against circles and round objects:
- Hanging pots from the outside front of the general store.
- Wagon wheels from a skeletal cart on the street.
- A clock with swinging pendulum is in the saloon. The base of the pendulum is a circle,
as is the clock dial.
- A Barber Shop pole is unusually made of stacked circular disks.
It also has a section with ascending spirals.
- Canteens and what might be a coffee grinder are inside the general store.
- Coils of rope on a horse.
By contrast, the villains in the street are often photographed against
a series of peaked roofs. These make jutting, sharp angles: no curves.
Wyatt Earp's badge is a geometric five-pointed star.
It continues the linkage of Wyatt and geometry.
Camera Movement
Camera movement is often associated with the hero:
- When he rides into town at the start, and moves around a street corner.
- When he walks down the street to confront the bad guys.
The Adventures of Jim Bowie: The Birth of the Blade
The Birth of the Blade (1956) is the pilot episode of
the TV series The Adventures of Jim Bowie.
The Birth of the Blade seems modeled on The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. Both:
- Are about a real-life historical figure.
- Have a chorus humming music on the soundtrack.
- Show a rough-looking 19th Century world.
- Were made at Desilu studio.
A Scientific Western
Far and away the best part of The Birth of the Blade centers on
Bowie's invention of a radically improved blade, the Bowie Knife.
This is a full-fledged story of technological invention:
- Hero Bowie outlines his specifications for the new knife, explicitly in the dialogue.
- He describes how the knife should behave when thrown.
- He also makes a model for the knife out of wood, showing how it should be shaped.
Also technological: The new glasses the smith Mr. Black gets, that enables him to see again.
These glasses are based on new, advanced lenses developed in Germany (then a high tech center).
There is a major subgenera in mystery fiction, called Scientific Detection,
in which the detectives or crooks use high technology. The Birth of the Blade could be dubbed
a Scientific Western. It centers around technology.
Racism
The Birth of the Blade suffers badly from racism. It cannot be recommended as a whole.