Texas Lady

She was 51 when she made this turkey, though she still tried the best she could to make it work. NO CLOSEUPS of her AT ALL in the film, and everything is shot from her LEFT SIDE, or straight on. A few glimpses of her right profile when she danced and the such, but 95% from her left side. Incredibly hokey film, the color is faded, Barry Sullivan looks bored to tears, Ray Collins spends half the movie sitting down. Gets interesting when the mean sheriff gets involved, and his resolution caught me off guard. But all in all, lame and dull and not up to snuff. Watch CLEOPATRA instead for a solid Claudette Colbert fix. Or better yet, catch the milk bath scene from THE SIGN OF THE CROSS or any scene from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT for a good dose. This movie just doesn't work.

Claudette Colbert is wonderful as Prudence, a woman who has to go to a little country town that's seemingly in the middle of nowhere, where she has inherited the local paper. The men about town are naturally surprised to find that she's a woman, and don't exactly welcome her spritely ways and 'interference' with 'their' paper. Luckily for Prudence, the card shark that she slayed in New Orleans comes to her rescue, which is nice of him after the beating she gave him in their game of poker - one of the film's most enjoyable scenes. Not a wonderful movie, but not bad, and pretty good for a Western.

My how the mighty have fallen. Roles must have gotten mighty hard to come by for an actress of Miss Colbert's caliber. This movie is very typical of 1950's oaters. The one unusal aspect is that Prudence (Miss Colbert) is initially a strong, independent woman, kind of unusual for a western. But in the end Gene Barry Sullivan Fitzgerald becomes her "protector". This is a very cornball movie and Gregory Walcott who plays Jess Foley has got to be one of the most wooden actors ever to grace the silver screen. One can almost see the pain on Miss Colbert's face as she delivers some of the corniest lines in movie history. It is such a can of corn it is worth watching for the unintentional humor it delivers.

A good film depends upon good dialogue as much as visual action, and the dialogue in this Western is certainly above average. Horace McCoy wrote the excellent novel, ' They Shoot Horses, Don't They ? ' and his expertise as a writer shows. The actual plot is functional, and conforms to the usual trope of good people winning over the bad, and the plot has been gone over several times in other reviews. Claudette Colbert is an acquired taste as an actor, and despite reservations I usually respond to her. Her delivery of lines is excellent, and she holds the film together with her strong presence. She is totally incapable of showing much depth of feeling, but her surface approach to others around her works in certain roles, especially comedy, and she knows a witty line when she sees one. Barry Sullivan was a weak foil for her, but then again it works. And there is one scene in the film which is exceptional; an elderly woman shooting down a gunman where others fail to do so. It is a total surprise and this again is thanks to the well written script. As for Colbert running a small press in a small town this is just believable, and that she depends on any man to help her is equally unlikely, but yet again she makes it work. I have seen this film quite a few times in my life and I always enjoy it. It is not a great film, but it is far better than most other reviewers suggest. All the required ingredients are there, and it is not just mindless entertainment. It shows quite clearly that people should be free of oppressors, and it has a political edge which veers more towards equality than domination.

A rare opportunity to savour Ms Colbert in colour, that beautiful profile as usual shot throughout from the left; she still had what it took in her fifties to play an alpha female with a leading man nearly ten years her junior.