Flat and disappointing. As suggested by others, Claudette Colbert didn't convince in her role, nor did the affable Ray Collins as the local big land owner, Mica Ralston. Only towards the end of the film was the idea put over that he and the other cattle baron, aided by corrupt lawmen, were dominating the town.The barons and their henchmen never seem very threatening.
The film's opening sequences suggest that Chris Mooney is an ace gambler, but he can't be that great if he's wiped out first by a woman who's only learnt the game a year ago and then by the owner of a small-town saloon, the Wigwam, Meade Moore. And he's a very forgiving guy because he falls for the woman and immediately becomes close buddies with Moore.
It doesn't seem to dawn on the barons that the US mailman would seek help once they let him through their cordon around the town. Mind you, the help turns out be just two Texas Rangers, to whom Ralston meekly gives in.
Yet again in a 1950s Western, I wondered if the sums being gambled had been inflated to present-day values to convey their size; $10,000 was a heck of a lot of money in the 1880s.
Several of the supporting cast were very wooden.
The best thing were some of the outdoor shots of the countryside, albeit photographed in slightly curious tints.
The film's opening sequences suggest that Chris Mooney is an ace gambler, but he can't be that great if he's wiped out first by a woman who's only learnt the game a year ago and then by the owner of a small-town saloon, the Wigwam, Meade Moore. And he's a very forgiving guy because he falls for the woman and immediately becomes close buddies with Moore.
It doesn't seem to dawn on the barons that the US mailman would seek help once they let him through their cordon around the town. Mind you, the help turns out be just two Texas Rangers, to whom Ralston meekly gives in.
Yet again in a 1950s Western, I wondered if the sums being gambled had been inflated to present-day values to convey their size; $10,000 was a heck of a lot of money in the 1880s.
Several of the supporting cast were very wooden.
The best thing were some of the outdoor shots of the countryside, albeit photographed in slightly curious tints.