When American visitor Forrest Tucker comes to Scotland with a mysterious agenda, he finds himself taking on more than he can chew in dealing with powerful Orson Welles and his feisty daughter (Margaret Lockwood) with whom he starts off on the wrong kilt.
Welles is the owner of a road which he refuses to open to the locales, and Tucker is desperate to get him to open it. Lockwood refuses to allow Tucker to see her father, and soon it's a battle of wills between each of them. After Lockwood publicly humiliated Tucker, he sets off on delicious payback, and this opens the way up for them to begin communicating. It's sort of a Scottish "Taming of the Shrew" where the shrew won't bend, that is until he allows her in on a little secret that changes everything. The plot turns deadly as the Scottish locales (lead by Victor MacLaglen) band together to take desperate measures to get the road open.
For much of the film, the atmosphere is light and comic, so the sudden twists towards the end are jarring. This was produced and directed by British film veteran Herbert Wilcox, so I'm wondering if he first had wife Anna Nesgle in mind for Lockwood's part. She's tough, crafty and no-nonsense, but don't expect the vixens of her Gainsborough type villains here.
Tucker is a rugged but easy going hero, and Welles is a big pussycat underneath his character's gruff exterior. Some pretty Scottish scenery adds to the flavor, although a little bit of bag pipe music goes a long way. Oh, and by the way, my tagline at the top of this review is Welles' line, not Tucker's.
Welles is the owner of a road which he refuses to open to the locales, and Tucker is desperate to get him to open it. Lockwood refuses to allow Tucker to see her father, and soon it's a battle of wills between each of them. After Lockwood publicly humiliated Tucker, he sets off on delicious payback, and this opens the way up for them to begin communicating. It's sort of a Scottish "Taming of the Shrew" where the shrew won't bend, that is until he allows her in on a little secret that changes everything. The plot turns deadly as the Scottish locales (lead by Victor MacLaglen) band together to take desperate measures to get the road open.
For much of the film, the atmosphere is light and comic, so the sudden twists towards the end are jarring. This was produced and directed by British film veteran Herbert Wilcox, so I'm wondering if he first had wife Anna Nesgle in mind for Lockwood's part. She's tough, crafty and no-nonsense, but don't expect the vixens of her Gainsborough type villains here.
Tucker is a rugged but easy going hero, and Welles is a big pussycat underneath his character's gruff exterior. Some pretty Scottish scenery adds to the flavor, although a little bit of bag pipe music goes a long way. Oh, and by the way, my tagline at the top of this review is Welles' line, not Tucker's.