Rating: Not Rated
Movie Release Date: December 31, 1946
DVD Release Date: May 25, 2004
Plot 411: When an orphaned teen comes to live at the McCanles Ranch, she really shakes the place up and is torn between loving two brothers.
Review: When Pearl's (Jennifer Jones) parents are killed, she goes to live with her father's first love Laura Belle (Lillian Gish). The woman greets her with open arms, perhaps because she is the daughter of a past lover or because she is the daughter she never had. Pearl is met with extreme hostility from the Senator (Lionel Barrymore), Laura Belle's husband, because she's half white and half Native American. Almost instantly upon her arrival, Pearl is drawn to their sons - Jesse (Joseph Cotten) and Lewton (Gregory Peck). Already on shaky ground, the family becomes more unstable with her pressence and slowly falls apart. I enjoyed this movie because everything was so real. If you saw 300 cowboys ride down a hill, it was actually 300 men on horseback and not some CGI/green screen action. The wide, sweeping shots of the open fields and prairies also brought its own kind of beauty. One thing that completely annoyed me was the way Pearl is portrayed. She's seen as an uneducated and uncultured girl and is a wild animal that needs taming. This is why she draws Lewt's attention. She is a challenge and something to be conquered like a wild stallion. Living off emotions, she continually makes bad choices, even when the right choice is standing in front of her. Yet somehow we are to believe that these choices are made because there is a love so powerful that it overshadows all reason (ala Romeo and Juliet). Yeah, ok.
Movie Release Date: December 31, 1946
DVD Release Date: May 25, 2004
Plot 411: When an orphaned teen comes to live at the McCanles Ranch, she really shakes the place up and is torn between loving two brothers.
Review: When Pearl's (Jennifer Jones) parents are killed, she goes to live with her father's first love Laura Belle (Lillian Gish). The woman greets her with open arms, perhaps because she is the daughter of a past lover or because she is the daughter she never had. Pearl is met with extreme hostility from the Senator (Lionel Barrymore), Laura Belle's husband, because she's half white and half Native American. Almost instantly upon her arrival, Pearl is drawn to their sons - Jesse (Joseph Cotten) and Lewton (Gregory Peck). Already on shaky ground, the family becomes more unstable with her pressence and slowly falls apart. I enjoyed this movie because everything was so real. If you saw 300 cowboys ride down a hill, it was actually 300 men on horseback and not some CGI/green screen action. The wide, sweeping shots of the open fields and prairies also brought its own kind of beauty. One thing that completely annoyed me was the way Pearl is portrayed. She's seen as an uneducated and uncultured girl and is a wild animal that needs taming. This is why she draws Lewt's attention. She is a challenge and something to be conquered like a wild stallion. Living off emotions, she continually makes bad choices, even when the right choice is standing in front of her. Yet somehow we are to believe that these choices are made because there is a love so powerful that it overshadows all reason (ala Romeo and Juliet). Yeah, ok.
Watch It: For Romeo and Juliet in chaps, cowboy boots and hat.
Skip It: If you're firmly entrenched in women's lib. This will make you steaming mad.
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