Product Details

• Actors: Jimmy Stewart, James Arness, Wendell Corey
• Directors: Richard Thorpe
• Format: Black & White, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Warner Bros.
• DVD Release Date: June 22, 2009
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0026AZULQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,408 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Carbine Williams" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Warner Bros. Digital Dist Release Date: 06/24/2011

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not well known but still good flick, March 26, 2006

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This is one of Stewart's lesser known movies, but it deserves to be better known. Stewart plays an imprisoned felon who got caught while doing a little moonshining, and killed a federal officer in the process. Now in prison, he has nothing to do but think about guns and how to design and build a better one.

One of the most memorable scenes is when the warden confines him to solitary for an infraction. Stewart lasts longer than any other man without breaking, and when he gets out, the warden asks Stewart how he did it. Stewart explains that he imagined the walls of his cell covered with all the guns he knew and loved, and he just lay there, taking them apart and putting them back together again. The warden finds this astonishing and incredible, but nevertheless, Stewart managed to beat the warden at his own game.

Eventually, Stewart and the warden make their peace and when Stewart gets an idea for a new gun with a "...bolt that only moves 1/30th of an inch..." the warden, equally incredulous that such a gun could be designed and built, allows Stewart to work on it at the prison machine shop. When he completes the gun, the warden allows him to test fire it in a demonstration, becoming the only prisoner to ever fire a live weapon in the prison. The gun is a success and was eventually adopted by the U.S. military.

Although as I said, one of his lesser known movies, it's still one of the best and should be better known, and available on DVD. It's worth renting, especially if you're a Stewart fan if you can find a rental place that carries it.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The gentleman who wrote the 1st review is misinformed. Read #3, February 5, 2007

By 

Donel T. Holcomb "Tom Williams;Great Grandson... (Concord NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

David Marshall "Marsh" "Carbine" Williams was my great Grandfather. He passed in 1975. He never made moonshine in the NC mountians, as you say. He lived in the eastern part of NC.This is where he practiced his craft and was arrested.
In difference with the 1st reviewer again; He most definiatly would hurt a fly. He was a mean cuss who often booby trapped his top secret work shop door with loaded guns. He could and did whip most men who challenged him in any fashion and hence had earned a lot of respect or fear from those who knew him. A "G man" was killed on a raid on HIS still. He took the blame because it was the right thing to do. He was a true mechanical genius. He overcame a tremendous amount of tourture by the warden as was the custom with willful prisioners. James Stewart did a great job in the movie. "Marsh" was on the set making sure of it. Want to know the real story? Read the book written about him. He approved it and proof read it.
My name is Tom Williams and these are the facts.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Carbine missed, March 1, 2007

By 

C. A. Luster "The Rook" (Burke, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This is one of those classic movies not to be missed. If you enjoyed "Birdman of Alcatraz" with the fine performance by Burt Lancaster, you will definitely want to see James Stewart in "Carbine Williams". It floors me this isn't on DVD yet. I see so much trash come out on DVD everyday and yet classics like "African Queen", and others like this gem of a movie are overlooked.

Synopsis: An ornery moonshiner is partially responsible for the killing of an agent on a raid of his still. He goes to prison and over the years develops a respect for the law and his country. He designs a carbine automatic rifle while in prison and it is tested and then used by the US military. Don't miss this movie if you can catch it. I highly recommend it for the whole family.