Trashy, racist tabloid entertainment consciously devised as an attempt to repeat the success of Gone with the Wind - a spirited woman in a time of turmoil is loved by one man, who is good for her, but loves another, who isn't. It isn't as good for two main reasons - Jennifer Jones and Gregory Peck are okay rather than excellent and it lacks an interesting back drop (there's some stuff about settlers disputes with other settlers, but Selznick just should have set it during the Civil War too).
The crux of the plot involves Jones fighting her sluttish instincts - mum was a tramp, dad shot mum and mum's lover. She's torn between decent Joseph Cotten and bad boy Gregory Peck - Peck isn't the first actor one thinks to play a bad boy and there's a reason for that, but he's alright. The support cast is really stunning, including Lilian Gish, Walter Huston, Charles Bickford and Herbert Marshall - they are excellent. The production values and colour make this easy on the eye and if you don't mind the racism (Mexicans = whores, Butterfly McQueen as a dopey maid) you will probably have fun with all the action and over the top sex melodrama.
(Orson Welles does the opening narration.)
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