Belle Starr

BELLE STAR should have a disclaimer at the start. Any resemblance between the people portrayed here and the real life characters is strictly coincidental. Furthermore, someone should have told LOUISE BEAVERS that she is no substitute for HATTIE McDANIEL.

The film reeks with what it portrays as Southern charm, including the heavily accented Miss Tierney who struggles with what was supposed to be a star-making role. Fortunately, she's surrounded by a couple of pros: RANDOLPH SCOTT as her husband Sam Starr and DANA ANDREWS as a Yankee who finds himself enamored of her while chasing the outlaw woman in a series of melodramatic skirmishes that seem like throwaways from GONE WITH THE WIND.

Gene Tierney never did receive good reviews for her early films and BELLE STAR is no exception. Furthermore, the Technicolor needs restoration if this ever goes to DVD.

Summing up: A slow paced account of Belle Star's criminal career with a miscast and sophisticated Gene Tierney playing the outlaw in a below par performance that never strikes the necessary spark.