Some major talent having an off day - writer Casey Robinson, director John Farrow. It sounds like a sure fire material: two men crash in the mountains, cop Steve McNalley and crook Rory Calhoun and they come across a girl Jean Simmons. McNalley and Calhoun are fine but simply don't have the star power of a, say, Robert Mitchum. Simmons is horrendously miscast.
There's rapey stuff from Calhoun as he manhandles Simmons and she falls for him. Brian Aherne is Simmons' father. I know they're educated but Simmons seems weird.
It builds to a finale where Calhoun or McNally die but it doesn't - Calhoun agrees to turn himself in and McNally agrees not to kill him. That's dull. The film needed a villain. Even nature isn't the villain. There's no twists or interesting characterisation. It's just dull.
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