The Blazing Forest

The Blazing Forest is a 1952 American lumberjack adventure film directed by Edward Ludwig and written by Lewis R. Foster and Winston Miller. The film stars John Payne, William Demarest, Agnes Moorehead, Richard Arlen, Susan Morrow, Roscoe Ates and Lynne Roberts. The film was released in December 1952, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot
Determined to keep her struggling Nevada timber business going, Jessie Crain borrows money from long-ago sweetheart Syd Jessup while also promising lumberman Kelly Hansen a quarter of her profits if he will become her foreman.

Sharon Wilks, restless niece of Jessie who yearns to leave this region and move to the city, is attracted to Kelly immediately. Jessie's crew, meanwhile, resents Kelly's hard-driving ways, including making everyone work in a torrential rain to meet a lumber quota.

A job is given to Jessie's brother, lumberjack Joe Morgan, whose embezzling has forced Jessie to pay his debts. Joe continues to create trouble for the lumberman as well as for Grace, his estranged wife. A resentful Syd, meantime, causes a crash in a speeding truck that starts a forest fire and fatally injures Joe. A helicopter rescue saves lives and the business, as Kelly persuades Sharon to stay by his side.

Cast

 * John Payne as Kelly Hansen
 * William Demarest as Syd Jessup
 * Agnes Moorehead as Jessie Crain
 * Richard Arlen as Joe Morgan
 * Susan Morrow as Sharon Wilks
 * Roscoe Ates as Beans
 * Lynne Roberts as Grace Hanson
 * Walter Reed as Max
 * Ewing Mitchell as Walt

Reception
Writing in All Movie, author and film critic Hal Erickson reported that "library footage from the 1940 Paramount feature The Forest Rangers is used sparingly but effectively" in the film, with the "climactic forest fire vividly photographed in Technicolor by Oscar-winning cinematographer Lionel Lindon." A review of the film on TV Guide described it as "tall timber, rugged men and the usual incendiary conflicts," further noting that "there's some derring-do," and "if you like falling trees, this is your movie."

Comic book adaptation

 * Eastern Color Movie Love #15 (June 1952)