Jane Wyman was a sensible no-nonsense actress who had a long career, and a decent run as a genuine box office star whose appeal was playing sensible types who have adventures.
This is one such movie, and as such it's kind of weird it was the last one Pine-Thomas made for paramount - it's got a decent budget, stars, is in VistaVision and colour, and is a woman's picture.
To be fair there is some two fisted stuff with Charlton Heston being an oil man who loves Wyman, who rocks up in her town to set up a department store. That's actually a pretty good idea for a film - the adventures of a fashion magnate in rough-tough Texas - and you wish they'd done more with it.
There's some stock adventures - World War Two spirits Heston away, Wyman becomes partners with a brothel madam (Claire Trevor, whose role is disappointingly small).
Heston and Wyman make a good team - two solid pros. Heston suits playing the male lead in women's pictures, with his swagger, height and virility. I'm not a massive Wyman fan. I really enjoyed how these two admired each other's drive and spunk - though to be honest he seems more into her and she's into him. I wasn't that wild about him insisting she give up her career; I know they needed a third act, and this is me looking at it through a modern prism, but I wish they'd found something else. He bails her out, she needs help, then seems to throw business away... is that it?
Dramatically the film operates at half throttle. There's a bit of war and Heston flirts with a French girl and there's a brothel and Wyman's father kills himself in the backstory but it's all low key. No bankruptcies, no pregnancies/miscarriages/dead partners, no on screen suicide, no deaths even (despite old Thelma Ritter and William Demarest hanging around). It's all very polite.
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