The time: 1905. The place: a small town near Chicago. Barbara Stanwyck plays Avis, a woman who comes from a middle-class family, but is now on the verge of getting very rich: she has orchestrated a real estate deal that will leave her with 400 thousand dollars in profit, and she will let no one get in her way, even if it means lying to or blackmailing her own brothers. But the arrival in town of a man she loved many years ago, but who ran out on her to marry another woman, complicates matters. Stanwyck is aces in this efficiently directed (by the famous Jacques Tourneur) tale, stepping over everyone and everything, until she develops a conscience. And that may be the problem here: the ending is a little too rushed and moralistic. **1/2 out of 4.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews