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The Virginian (1946)Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the ... See full summary » Director:Stuart Gilmore |
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Title: The Virginian (1946)
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Cast
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| Joel McCrea | ... | ||
| Brian Donlevy | ... | ||
| Sonny Tufts | ... | ||
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Barbara Britton | ... | |
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Fay Bainter | ... |
Mrs. Taylor
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Tom Tully | ... |
Nebraska
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Henry O'Neill | ... |
Mr. Taylor
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Bill Edwards | ... |
Sam Bennett
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| William Frawley | ... |
Honey Wiggen
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Paul Guilfoyle | ... |
Shorty
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| Marc Lawrence | ... |
Pete
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Vince Barnett | ... |
Baldy
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life. Written by Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>
Taglines:
The All-Time Best-Selling Love Story of the West... Now On the Screen In Spectacular Technicolor!Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
5 May 1946 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
Owen Wister's American Classic: The Virginian See more »Company Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)Color:
Color (Technicolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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Virginian: How was I to know she was a lady? She was with you, wasn't she?
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Did You Know?
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. See more »Goofs
The color of Molly's horse changes. See more »Quotes
Steve Andrews: A fine way to treat a lady!Virginian: How was I to know she was a lady? She was with you, wasn't she?
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Molly Woods makes her way to Medicine Bow to become the new schoolmarm, after meeting two cowboys (and great friends) called Steve and The Virginian it becomes evident that both men are quite smitten with Molly. After a series of events surrounding Molly, Steve takes up with the no good Trampas and his group of rustlers, thus bringing the honest Virginian into conflict with his friend and the quick on the draw Trampas.
This story courtesy of writer Owen Wister has been done a number of times, adapted into film form in 1921, 1923 and of course here in this version, it was also made into a television series in 1962. Having not seen any of the other versions I have no frame of reference, but I would wager my last pound sterling that this is not the best adaptation because it fails to live up to its early promise. Joel McCrea takes up lead duties as The Virginian and as decent as an actor as he was in such films like Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story and the majestic Ride The High Country, here he looks bored and struggling to feed off what little energy is in the picture. Sonny Tufts as Steve is badly cast, while Barbara Britton as Molly may well make me wish that all my lady teachers at school had looked like her (if they had of been I would have gone more often!), but she comes across as a fish out of water.
The one bright spot is Brian Donlevy as the baddie Trampas, resplendent in black (of course), he does a nice line in convincing as a bad guy of worth (something he was excellent at in his career), but even he is not given enough screen time to not only flesh the part out, but to also probably bring out the best of McCrea. The shoot out at the finale is weak and it really cements the deal that this was a badly wasted chance to make a Western of some worth. Maybe it's just one of those pieces of literature that can't fully translate to the screen? Maybe the simply plotted story just isn't up to much anyway? Either way this is a misfire and not one to revisit outside of the always watchable Donlevy. 4/10