27.02.25, 20:30, Bend of the River (1952)

Hardened cowboy Glyn McLyntock, played by James Stewart, struggles to keep his dark past hidden as he leads a covered wagon caravan through the treacherous Oregon countryside. To help the settlers survive the dangerous conditions, he must choose his allies carefully and face the demons of his former self.

Known in Hollywood as an excellent ‘genre craftsman’, Anthony Mann was also particularly appreciated by the post-war film critics of Cahiers du Cinéma. André Bazin characterised Mann as a ‘true western poet’, Jacques Rivette called him ‘one of the four great directors of post-war Hollywood’ and for Jean-Luc Godard, Mann rediscovered the western like one discovers arithmetic in a basic maths course. The power of his westerns comes from an abstract simplicity, with his protagonists usually having a specific path to travel, which at the same time becomes an unspoken symbol of a search for direction in their lives.

Bend of the River was the second of eight films Stewart and Mann made together and marked a turning point in Stewart's career, in which the actor's darker side came to the fore.

This film will be introduced by filmmaker Gerard-Jan Claes.