John Farrow directed this Technicolor gem and it's really a great story. Ray Milland stars as Jonathan Trumbo, a military deserter who is now leading wagon trains across the country.
A young woman named Lily Bishop (Barbara Stanwyck) is forced out of a small town by the other women and she joins the wagon train heading west to California. When news of a gold strike comes, everyone rushes out of the wagon train to get to the gold as soon as they can, leavin Trumbo and Michael Fabian (Barry Fitzgerald) all by themselves.
BY the time Michael and Jonathan arrive in a small town Lily has bought a saloon and does the entertaining, while her soon to be husband with the ultra cool name of Pharaoh Coffin (George Coulouris) plots to take over all of California before it came become a state.
This is a well made film and the cast is a great mixture of actors and actresses whom you'd never imagine would be working together on a film, let alone a western. At least it strikes me like that.
Others in the cast include Albert Dekker, Anthony Quinn, Frank Faylin, Gavin Muir, Argentina Brunetti and Roman Bohnen. The color on this movie is gorgeous and the entire presentation is damned near perfect.
As I said, this is not currently available in the US on DVD or Blu-ray. It is available as a German import or on a disc with Italian subtitles.
If you get the chance and get to see it, I know western fans will really like it. The plot is much deeper than I have indicated here and it's a lot of fun for adventure film fans as well.
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