When the statue of the founder of Hoyt City, Ethan Hoyt (Joel McCrea) is dedicated, the sensationalist reporters and a biographer (Katharine Stevens) head to the house of the one hundred year-old Hannah Sempler (Barbara Stanwyck), where Ethan died, to know the relationship between them. Ms. Hannah sends them all out but the lady. Then she tells her life since she was a teenager and felt in love with the pioneer Ethan.
In 1848, in Philadelphia, Ethan dreams on building Hoyt City, but he needs financiers and influent people to change the route of the railroad. Hannah decides to leave her upper-class father and marries with Ethan. Eight years later, she meets the gambler Steely Edwards (Brian Donlevy) and they become close friends. When Ethan discovers silver, Steely lends money to Hannah with the condition that she does not go to the mines with Ethan. Along the years, Ethan becomes rich and far from Hannah that he believes had died in a flood. Years later, they meet each other again in Hoyt City but their love is doomed since Ethan has raised a family of his own.
"The Great Man's Lady" is a classic with some of my favorite directors (William A. Wellman), actresses (Barbara Stanwyck) and actors (Joel McCrea and Brian Donlevy); and haunting music score by Victor Young. Unfortunately the story is a confused romance with a not well-explained triangle of love. I did not understand the quote "spring never comes again", since spring returns every year. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): "Até Que a Morte nos Separe" ("Till Death Do Us Apart")
