I recall a review of this one in which the cinematographer, Harry Stradling, Sr., was given high marks for his very classy showcasing of the young Diane McBain's ravishingly blonde beauty. She gave a riveting performance in this one, amidst some rather high-powered competition from the likes of Karl Malden, Dean Jagger, Claudette Colbert, and Connie Stevens getting some well-earned sympathy as a poor young thing besotted with her yearning for pretty-boy Troy Donahue. Miss McBain's filmography is a sorry testament to how Hollywood could take an extraordinarily attractive young actress, possessed of some genuine talent, and misuse and disuse her until everyone within the industry eventually believed that she had nothing worthwhile to offer.
The story was quite a mish-mash and I remember being quite upset that the lovely Miss Colbert had come out of retirement to play a role that reinforced the old cliche that "It's a man's world and you women better kowtow or else!" I wanted her to give that greedy old brute, mercilessly enacted by Karl Malden, and his bullying sons some kind of a comeuppance, which certainly shouldn't have been beyond the screenwriters, whose contrivances were about as convoluted as one could get away with before the revolutions in social mores, just a few years away when this was filmed, overwhelmed us.
But it's a guilty pleasure nevertheless. Delmer Daves really knew how to maneuver the elements to give audiences back then a good measure of mindless satisfaction. It's worth a not-too-demanding look-see.
