California Conquest

California Conquest was a film of its times at the height of the Cold War and the McCarthy period when some in Hollywood felt it was their duty to show the Russians for the grasping imperialists they were even before Karl Marx drew breath. Cornel Wilde plays a California Don already looking forward to statehood with USA and Teresa Wright is the daughter of an American settler in California who has a dry goods business.

I'm of the opinion that a lot of Hollywood players to make themselves blacklist proof did films like California Conquest. Wilde himself was a person of no political leanings that I've discovered took a film like this so that no one would question his patriotism in those times.

As history records the last Russian settlement in California closed up shop in 1841 that being Fort Ross which was mentioned here. It is here though that Ivan Lebedeff and Lisa Ferraday are the Czar's agents weaving a plot to bring all of California into the Russian fold. As their agents they have Alfonso Bedoya bandit leader in the Gold Hat tradition and the ambitious John Dehner who is setting himself as a Quisling.

No mention here of the Mexican War to come or of that phrase that had a lot of currency back in those days about American 'Manifest Destiny' to spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific and if you don't agree too bad.

Don't get me wrong there were some good anti-Communist films of the time. California Conquest just isn't one of them.

California Conquest tells the story of the battle for rule of what will eventually become a state, when gold is found here later. Teresa Wright does a good job as the daughter of a settler who is determined to get her married off to famed explorer John Fremont. As someone else has pointed out, what a mishmash of crappy accents that come and go, and about half the actors just mumble for some reason to the point of distraction. Cornel Wilde is Arturo Bodega (Bordega ?), fighting off the interloping Russians, but he sounds like a European. We get the usual amount of swordfights, gunfights, and oat burning horse chases. Some great outdoor photography, presumably California. Several of the scenes are very dark, and its hard to see what is occurring; not sure if its just bad lighting, or film degradation. There is the usual climactic battle of good versus evil at the very end. Entertaining, but Teresa Wright is the only shining star in this one.

Directed by Lew Landers, who had a long history in Hollywood; acc to wikipedia, he acted in two shorts around 1914, when he would have been about 12. He disappears for 15 years (war? working?) Then he pops up as crew on one film, and disappears again for about five years. Then starts a long career as director in 1934, and had been directing for almost 20 years when this film was made.

Cornel Wilde does a Mexican accent. He does a really bad Mexican accent with an often wooden delivery. For me that trumps every other aspect of this movie, which is supposed to be about California in the 1840s and jockeying between Mexico, the U.S. England and Russia to control it, but seems to be about Wilde getting into sword fights, breaking into peoples' hotel rooms to rob them and wooing Teresa Wright.

It even makes Teresa Wright seem like a bad actress. She had been nominated for two Oscars a decade earlier and had won one, and was a wonderful actress, but her delivery, which was just right when speaking with Gary Cooper or Joseph Cotten, well, here it makes her seem as if she thinks that Cornel Wilde is slightly deaf or stupid.

There are other aspects of this movie one might consider, I suppose, but I find it impossible to concentrate on them enough to offer them for your consideration. Let's simply note that this movie was decent enough to keep me watching to the end and that's why it's not an absolute bomb. But it's not worth your time to look at it.

Cornel Wilde follows in the footsteps of Zorro in this quickie from the team of producer Sam Katzman and director Lew Landers set long ago when Los Angeles was just a collection of shacks but the Russkies were already the menace.

Villainy is supplied by those usual suspects Alfonso Bedoya and John Dehner, while the biggest (and most pleasant) surprise is a unique appearance in Technicolor by the usually demure Theresa Wright as a feisty young filly who strides about in boots and britches and is handy with a gun. She should given Wilde a swift clip about the ear for calling them "those horrible pants" and the film subscribes to the usual nonsense that she's only capable of turning heads when she changes into a nice frilly dress.