The paddle boats were particularly suited to the shallow waters... The most famous were the very elegant gaming boats with casinos, bars and dancing rounding the bends of the Mississippi River...
"The Mississippi Gambler" is filled with many colorful characters... It is good for the reason that it covers a lot of ground and refreshes the eyes with great stars... It is good because Tyrone Power is excellent as the gallant gentleman, a man of high principles, honorable and courteous with women, a man with a sense of honor, duty and justice, steady in the game of skill, style and finesse, a very lucky man in the poker game...
Power erases the rough edges off his film personality and turns in a characterization that is virile without being rough... He and Piper Laurie make an excellent team... This cute headstrong haughty woman proves herself a good dramatic actress... She declares her love to Power on time, when the boat was about to sail...
Julie Adams breathes life into her characterization... She is a beautiful bereaved young woman who lost her heart on the riverboat and tries gently to discourage her admirer...
John McIntire is the veteran riverboat gambler with a dream - to open an honest gambling house, with a partner, on the bank of the Mississippi River...
John Baer is the unsympathetic compulsive gambler who cannot control the urge to gamble and loses everything... Baer is the arrogant descendant of an aristocratic family who wants to settle his debt by giving his sister's valuable necklace... He is the treacherous young man who turns coward on the dueling field...
Dennis Weaver is the good-looking young man who wrecks his life by gambling away all his money... Paul Cavanagh is the loving father who throws down his gauntlet defending his friend's principles challenging the offending party to a duel... Ron Randell is the banker embezzled to abundant luxuries on his willful and obstinate wife..
The film is beautifully shot with costumes above reproach... It is a gratifying entertainment, where romanticism is above all an exaltation of individual values and aspirations above those of society...
