The Return of Frank James

1940 film

August 16, 1940 (1940-08-16)

Running time

92 minutesCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglish

The Return of Frank James is a 1940 Western film directed by Fritz Lang and starring Henry Fonda and Gene Tierney. It is a sequel to Henry King's 1939 film Jesse James. Written by Sam Hellman, the film loosely follows the life of Frank James following the death of his outlaw brother, Jesse James, at the hands of the Ford brothers. The film is universally considered historically inaccurate, but was a commercial success. It was the first motion picture for the actress Gene Tierney, who plays a reporter for the newspaper The Denver Star.

Plot

After the death of his outlaw brother, Jesse, Frank James seeks revenge on his killers, Bob and Charlie Ford.

Cast

Henry Fonda as Frank James
Gene Tierney as Eleanor Stone
Jackie Cooper as Clem
Henry Hull as Major Rufus Cobb
John Carradine as Bob Ford
J. Edward Bromberg as George Runyan
Donald Meek as McCoy
Eddie Collins as Station Agent
George Barbier as Judge
Russell Hicks as Prosecutor
Ernest Whitman as Pinky
Charles Tannen as Charlie Ford
Lloyd Corrigan as Randolph Stone
Victor Kilian as Preacher
Edward McWade as Colonel Jackson
George Chandler as Roy
Irving Bacon as Bystander
Frank Shannon as Sheriff
Barbara Pepper as Nellie Blane
Louie Mason as Watchman, Wilson
Stymie Beard as Mose
William Pawley and Frank Sully as Actors
Davidson Clark as Officer
Robert McKenzie as Old Man on Rocker (uncredited)
Adrian Morris as Denver Detective (uncredited)
Lillian Yarbo as Eleanor's Maid (uncredited)

Production

The railroad scenes were filmed on the Sierra Railroad in Tuolumne County, California.^[1]

Preservation

The Academy Film Archive preserved The Return of Frank James in 2000.^[2]

References

^ Jensen, Larry (2018). Hollywood's Railroads: Sierra Railroad. Vol. Two. Sequim, Washington: Cochetopa Press. p. 19. ISBN 9780692064726.
^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.

External links

The Return of Frank James at the American Film Institute Catalog
The Return of Frank James at IMDb
The Return of Frank James at the TCM Movie Database
The Return of Frank James at AllMovie

Films directed by Fritz Lang

Silent films

Halbblut (1919)
Der Herr der Liebe (1919)
The Spiders, Part 1 (1919)
Harakiri (1919)
The Spiders, Part 2 (1920)
The Wandering Image (1920)
Four Around a Woman (1921)
Destiny (1921)
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922)
Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924)
Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924)
Metropolis (1927)
Spione (1928)
Woman in the Moon (1929)

Sound films

M (1931)
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
Liliom (1934)
Fury (1936)
You Only Live Once (1937)
You and Me (1938)
The Return of Frank James (1940)
Western Union (1941)
Man Hunt (1941)
Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
Ministry of Fear (1944)
The Woman in the Window (1944)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Cloak and Dagger (1946)
Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
House by the River (1950)
American Guerrilla in the Philippines (1950)
Rancho Notorious (1952)
Clash by Night (1952)
The Blue Gardenia (1953)
The Big Heat (1953)
Human Desire (1954)
Moonfleet (1955)
While the City Sleeps (1956)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
The Tiger of Eschnapur (1959)
The Indian Tomb (1959)
The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)

Darryl F. Zanuck

Producer

Old San Francisco (1927)
The First Auto (1927)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Tenderloin (1928)
The Show of Shows (1929)
Three Faces East (1930)
The Doorway to Hell (1931)
Little Caesar (1931)
Illicit (1931)
The Public Enemy (1931)
The Man Who Played God (1932)
The Rich Are Always with Us (1932)
Doctor X (1932)
Life Begins (1932)
The Cabin in the Cotton (1932)
Three on a Match (1932)
20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1932)
Parachute Jumper (1933)
42nd Street (1933)
The Working Man (1933)
Ex-Lady (1933)
The Bowery (1933)
Blood Money (1933)
Moulin Rouge (1934)
Looking for Trouble (1934)
Born to Be Bad (1934)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
The Mighty Barnum (1934)
Folies Bergère de Paris (1935)
Les Misérables (1935)
Cardinal Richelieu (1935)
Call of the Wild (1935)
Metropolitan (1935)
Thanks a Million (1935)
The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo (1935)
Professional Soldier (1935)
The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936)
It Had to Happen (1936)
A Message to Garcia (1936)
Under Two Flags (1936)
The Road to Glory (1936)
Poor Little Rich Girl (1936)
Sing, Baby, Sing (1936)
Pigskin Parade (1936)
Seventh Heaven (1937)
Slave Ship (1937)
Wee Willie Winkie (1937)
Wake Up and Live (1937)
Thin Ice (1937)
Lancer Spy (1937)
In Old Chicago (1938)
Happy Landing (1938)
International Settlement (1938)
Kentucky Moonshine
Always Goodbye (1938)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
Just Around the Corner (1938)
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
My Lucky Star (1938)
Submarine Patrol (1938)
Jesse James (1939)
Tail Spin (1939)
Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
Rose of Washington Square (1939)
Stanley and Livingstone (1939)
The Rains Came (1939)
Hollywood Cavalcade (1939)
Swanee River (1939)
The Little Princess (1939)
The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Little Old New York (1940)
The Man I Married (1940)
The Return of Frank James (1940)
The Great Profile (1940)
Brigham Young (1940)
Down Argentine Way (1940)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)
Hudson's Bay (1941)
Tobacco Road (1941)
The Great American Broadcast (1941)
Blood and Sand (1941)
A Yank in the R.A.F. (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1942)
Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake (1942)
Sex Hygiene (Short) (1942)
To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
This Above All (1942)
Thunder Birds (1942)
The Purple Heart (1944)
Wilson (1944)
Winged Victory (1944)
The Razor's Edge (1946)
Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
Fury at Furnace Creek (1948)
The Snake Pit (1948)
Pinky (1949)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949)
No Way Out (1950)
All About Eve (1950)
David and Bathsheba (1951)
People Will Talk (1951)
Viva Zapata! (1952)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
The Egyptian (1954)
The View from Pompey's Head (1955)
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
Island in the Sun (1957)
The Sun Also Rises (1957)
The Roots of Heaven (1958)
Crack in the Mirror (1960)
Sanctuary (1961)
The Big Gamble (1961)
The Longest Day (1962)
The Chapman Report (1962)
The Visit (1964)

Writer

as Mark Canfield	The Desired Woman (1927) (story) Maybe It's Love (1930) Baby Face (1933) (story) Crack in the Mirror (1960)
as Melville Crossman	Tenderloin (story) (1928) State Street Sadie (story) (1928) Thanks a Million (story) (1935) A Yank in the R.A.F. (story) (1941) Thunder Birds (original story) (1942) China Girl (story) (1942) The Purple Heart (story) (1944)
as Gregory Rogers	Find Your Man (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924) The Lighthouse by the Sea (Rin Tin Tin story) (1924) Three Weeks in Paris (story, screenplay as Darryl Zanuck) (1925) The Midnight Taxi (story) (1928)
as self	A Broadway Butterfly (1925) Red Hot Tires (1925) Hogan's Alley (1925) The Caveman (scenario) (1926) The Little Irish Girl (adaptation) (1926) The Social Highwayman (1926) Footloose Widows (1926) Across the Pacific (adaptation) (1926) The Better 'Ole (screenplay) (1926) Tracked by the Police (Rin Tin Tin story) (1927) Old San Francisco (1927) The First Auto (story) (1927) Good Time Charley (story) (1927) Noah's Ark (story) (1928) My Man (story) (1928) Hardboiled Rose (story) (1929) Madonna of Avenue A (story) (1929) Say It with Songs (story) (1929) The Life of the Party (1930) Little Caesar (story – uncredited) (1931) The Dark Horse (story) (1932) Lady Killer (story – uncredited) (1933) Folies Bergère de Paris (contributing writer – uncredited) (1935) G Men (story) (1935) This Is My Affair (story – uncredited) (1937) Alexander's Ragtime Band (contributing writer – uncredited) (1938) The Great Profile (story – uncredited) (1940) Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942)