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California (1947) -- Epic account of how California became a state, featuring a wagon train, the Gold Rush, a wicked saloon queen, and an evil profiteer.
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Overview

User Rating:
6.3/10   211 votes
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Director:
John Farrow
Writers:
Frank Butler (writer)
Boris Ingster (story)
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Contact:
View company contact information for California on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 February 1947 (USA) more
Genre:
Romance | Western more
Tagline:
The Fabulous, Fantastic West! WHERE A MAN'S PLEASURE COSTS HIM HIS GOLD TREASURE! (original print media ad - many caps) more
Plot:
Epic account of how California became a state, featuring a wagon train, the Gold Rush, a wicked saloon queen, and an evil profiteer. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
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User Comments:
"A" Picture Gloss: "B" Movie Plot! more (7 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Ray Milland ... Jonathan Trumbo

Barbara Stanwyck ... Lily Bishop
Barry Fitzgerald ... Michael Fabian
George Coulouris ... Capt. Pharaoh Coffin
Albert Dekker ... Mr. Pike

Anthony Quinn ... Don Luís Rivera y Hernandez

Frank Faylen ... Whitey
Gavin Muir ... Booth Pennock
James Burke ... Pokey
Eduardo Ciannelli ... Padre
Roman Bohnen ... Col. Stuart

Argentina Brunetti ... Elvira
Howard Freeman ... Sen. Creel
Julia Faye ... Wagon Woman
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
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Runtime:
97 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)
Certification:
Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #11214, General Audience)
Filming Locations:
Buffalo Flats, Malibu, California, USA more
Company:
Paramount Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since. more
Quotes:
Johnny Trumbo: No court would try you, Captain, because no one would hold that a black was a man. He was an animal which you beat and chained, and all he had to offer up against you was a prayer.
Pharaoh Coffin: Bilge, Mr. Trumbo, bilge. Most men love the chains they wear. They need a master the way they need their mothers. I've heard such talk from pulpits, "the meek shall inherit the earth." No, Mr. Trumbo, the earth belongs to the men who make the law, and the law belongs to the men who can lay it down.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Hidden Hollywood II: More Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Vaults (1997) (TV) more
Soundtrack:
SAID I TO MY HEART, SAID I more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful.
"A" Picture Gloss: "B" Movie Plot!, 6 June 2007
5/10
Author: (bsmith5552@rogers.com) from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

"California" was an ambitious film from Director John Farrow and Paramount Pictures. In spite of its lavish Technicolr photography and a music score from Victor Young, it falls flat as a big budget movie.

The film is basically divided into three parts, the wagon train sequence, the arrival in California sequence and the fight for statehood sequence.

Wagon master Jonathon Trumbo (Ray Milland) is leading a wagon train of settlers to the promised land of California in the late 1840s. In one of the towns he meets "saloon gird;" Lily Bishop (Barbara Stanwyck) who is being run out of town by the ladies of the town. She asks to accompany the wagon train and wine maker Michael Fabian (Barry Fitzgerald agrees to take her along. When news of a gold strike in California reaches the wagons, the farmers catch gold fever and desert Trumbo and the train.

Later in California Trumbo arrives to find Lily in 'the employ" of ex slaver Captain Pharoh Coffin (George Coulouris) who has ambitions to take over the whole of California by blocking its bid for statehood. Trumbo recognizes Coffin and confronts him only to be beaten up by his brutish henchman Pike (albert Dekker). Although Lily loves Trumbo she still plans to marry Coffin (for his money of course).

The fight for statehood follows with Fabian representing the pro statehood side and Coffin leading the anti-statehood faction. Naturally, the pro statehood faction carries the day. Coffin attempts to force his will with arms, a blazing gun battle ensues and...................................

This movie, although it has its moments, plays more like a "B" movie, especially in the middle, than any thing else. One expects Zorro or The Cisco Kid to ride in at any moment. I mean a villain named Pharoh Coffin, come on. The shots of the wagon train are impressive (probably due to stock footage) and the shots of the landscape are equally appealing in glorious color. But the movie falls flat.

Ray Milland is not really that convincing as a hard nosed wagon master. Stanwyck, always better than her material, gives a good performance as the gold digging Lily. Coulouris' villain is melodramatic and fits more into a "B" movie than an "A" big budget feature. Dekker's brutish henchman is good, but he would have made a better Coffin than colorless Coulouris. Others in the cast include Anthony Quinn, Frank Faylen, Eduardo Ciannelli and Agentina Brunetti. To add to the "B" look of the film several "B" movie veterans appear in small supporting roles.

A better script, some casting changes and we could have had a much more memorable movie.

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