Belle Starr (1941)

Director:

Irving Cummings

Writers:

Niven Busch (story) and
Cameron Rogers (story) ...

Release Date:

12 September 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Filmed in TECHNICOLOR in the "Jesse James" Country

Plot:

The setting is the Civil War and its aftermath. Belle's family has lost their land to Yankees. She marries...

Plot Keywords:

Guerilla | American Civil War | Beautiful Woman | Outlaw | Character Name In Title

Cast

Randolph Scott	...	Sam Starr
Gene Tierney	...	Belle Shirley, later Belle Starr
Dana Andrews	...	Major Thomas Grail
Shepperd Strudwick	...	Ed Shirley (as John Shepperd)
Elizabeth Patterson	...	Sarah
Chill Wills	...	Blue Duck
Louise Beavers	...	Mammy Lou
Olin Howland	...	Jasper Tench
Paul E. Burns	...	Sergeant (as Paul Burns)
Joe Sawyer	...	John Cole (as Joseph Sawyer)
Joe Downing	...	Jim Cole (as Joseph Downing)
Howard C. Hickman	...	Colonel Thornton (as Howard Hickman)
Charles Trowbridge	...	Colonel Bright
James Flavin	...	Sergeant
Charles Middleton	...	Carpetbagger

Also Known As:

Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen (USA) (complete title)

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

Finland:S

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In 1950, 20th Century Fox reissued this film on a bill with Guadalcanal Diary (1943) and The Purple Heart (1944).

Quotes:

Maj. Thomas Grail: I'll hang him from the highest tree... and his friends with him.
Belle Shirley, later Belle Starr: Wouldn't that require a great deal of rope?
Maj. Thomas Grail: Fortunately, we have an ample supply.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994) (TV)

Scarlett O'Hara in a terrain away from beloved Tara

Scarlett diminished away from Tara. The red earths of the farm was from where she drew her strength.

Therefore, the pale, fickle imitation of "Belle Starr" cannot thrive off Margaret Mitchell's legendary story. It takes every crumb it can scavenge off David O. Selznick's story, and possibly every frame that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The film stoops to terribly low lengths. Belle loses her brother, Scarlett lost her Mother. The Mammie character. Southern determination. It's civil war setting is enough to make the entire laughable production, conceived in a studio bound setting definitely not one to be watched. Although the "Gone With the Wind" novel, brilliant but appalling racist, manages to steer clear of the controversial offence it may have triggered, "Belle Starr" seems to relish in it.

Trimmings, interior sets, costumes, Gene Tierney or no Gene Tierney, seem to save it. The colour cinematography is no doubt pretty, but Randolph Scott and Dana Andrews acting like hams in the background certainly provides no aid to Belle's crusades.

Hundreds of Scarlett O'Hara hopefuls did better away from the splendour in different roles, but Gene Tierney's attempt to reprise some of the 1939 glory, falls overwhelmingly and pathetically flat.

Stay away from this one...far, far away. Minor, unfriendly, unconvincing FOX Westerns do terrible things to the stomach.

Rating: 5/10