Book review - "Queen of Technicolor: Maria Montez in Hollywood" by Tom Zimmerman

 Maria gets a book she deserved - one that takes her seriously, goes in depth to her life, times and films. Debunks a lot of myths (Canary Islands, Dominican diplomat) and clarifies: she was the daughter of a well off Dominican planter, married some dude at twenty and was with him for a bit, dumped him, went to New York to be discovered, was, signed to Universal. Things I thought were false were true (eg fiancee who died flying a plane).

Montez worked hard and was lucky - in that Universal put her in a sarogn, yes, but also that a classy producer Walter Wagner could arrange for colour, and she clicked with Sabu and Jon Hall. Without Hall she struggled: Tangier, Pirates of Monterey. Yvonne de Carlo took her place though also Montez simply moved countries.

The films are affectionately treated. The photo sessions get very thorough treatment. Maybe there's one too many sentences describing them. But they were important, I guess.

Montez comes across as a likeable figure. Driven, smart, a bit eccentric. It wasn't worth her fighting with Universal but I don't think that her going along with Frontier Gal helped. If she'd been more co operative I think she would've gone out of fashion - I can't see her kicking on like de Carlo or Maureen O'Hara. 

She had a close family, married well. It was a good life. Still had money. Had some flops but she would've kept employed. She died tragically young (heart attack in bath) but it would've been quick and painless.

Zimmerman did a very good job.

Movie review - "Gypsy Wildcat" (1944) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Looking for variation in the Maria Montez formula, Universal came up with gypsies, and I guess why not... you have outfits, and dances, and gypsy hotblood-ness plus some nobles. Maria is a gypsy girl who turns out to be noble. Gale Sondegaard is a gypsy, Jon Hall an agent for the king. Peter Coe is in the Turhan Bey part as a gypsy in love with Montez who I kept waiting to turn evil. Other cast members include Leo Carillo, Douglas Dumbrille and Nigel Bruce - studio pictures really had their perks.

It's in colour but not lush colour. It feels like a black and white movie (Roy William Neill directed).  I've reviewed this film before and a lot of my previous thoughts still remain. It isn't as lush visually, has resonance because it's about gypsies, it's weird that James Cain wrote it.

Still fun, even if colour is wasted.

Movie review - "Cobra Woman" (1944) **** (re-watching)

 Some very smart people working on this - George Waggner, Robert Siodmak, Richard Brooks. It is silly but done with utter conviction, gorgeous colour and a lot of smarts. It's a combination of South Seas and Lost World as Maria Montez is abducted on her wedding day by people of her island who want her to rise up against her twin sister. Fiance Jon Hall goes to rescue her.

Montez gets to emote and wear an array of outfits. Hall does sturdy heroic stuff absolutely fine. Sabu is engaging and has stuff to do. There are outlandish sets and the cobra dance plus some decent conflict in that evil Montez wants to hop on and bang Hall, and an evil priest Edgar Barrier wants to marry bad Montez. Only 71 minutes!

Mary Nash is the old queen and Lois Collier has quite a lot of screen time as a good island maiden.

Grand fun.

Movie review - "Sudan" (1945) *** (re-watching)

 I'd be curious to know the development of this script. It starts out like a more stock Jon Hall-Maria Montez romance, with Montez as a queen sold into slavery by evil George Zucco. She is rescued by Jon Hall and Andy Devine, and I assume Devine was standing in for Sabu.

But then along comes Turhan Bey, who rescues Montex from some attackers... and Bey and Montex have this romance (It's implied they have sex).  Then Montez, Hall and Devine go back to the palace, Zucco leads a coup... and it's Hall who is tortured, and escapes and helps rescue Montez. And they get Bey.

There's a genuine love triangle because Hall loves Montez... but Bey is heroic too. And at the end Bey goes off with Montez - and she seems quite happy about it. Yet Hall gets a lot of sympathy (and second billing).  Bey is a bit wet to be an action hero - that careful enunciation is better suited for lounges.

Zucco offers expert villainy the sets and photography are fantastic. There's some impressive spectacle. Some dances and action.

Movie review - "Arabian Nights" (1942) *** (re-viewing)

 A cheerful knock off of Thief of Bagdad - plenty of colour and movement, beautiful photography. Maria Montez plays the one sort of role she could play - a haughty danger. The script gleefully pillages old myths and stories: Montez plays Scherenadze, there's comic support characters Aladdin and Sinbad, plus Jon Hall as a secret prince and Sabu helping out. There's a fair bit of torture - Turnhan Bey appears as a cad who is tortured, and some other bloke is on the rack too.

Some action, dancing girls, a big fight. It set the template for the later Universal Easterns with Tony Curtis and Rock Hudson..

John Rawlins directed. He's not very famous but he does a dcent job. The studio techs are probably more to be praised.

Movie review - "White Savage" (1943) ***1/2 (re-watching)

 Effective because it's simple. A romance between fisherman Jon Hall and princess Maria Montez - simple conflict (he's rough and she's hoity toity) with Sabu hanging around. The complication is from Thomas Gomez trying to discover some treasure and being hot for Montez. This is simple, logical and well developed. Lovely colour and sets and briskly handled.

Movie review - "Bowery to Broadway" (1944) ***

Universal was such a second tier studio in the 1940s this musical is very endearing in it's tackiness. It's made with their "names" - Turhan Bey, Susannah Foster, Maria Montez, Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan, Ann Blyth - and directed by old Charles Lamont.

The film is a rip off of those 20th Century Fox musicals of the time - they'd star John Payne, Betty Grable, June Havoc, etc and were set in the gay 90s and be about squabbling saloon owners who fall out over a girl. Those had more unity than this which has a more episodic storyline - I think to bring in all the stars.

The leads are Jack Oakie (who was in a few of them at Fox) and Donald Cook. They fall out over singer Maria Montez... only she doesn't appear until an hour in despite her top billing. It's fun to see her - she's slightly more animated here than in her technicolor films. (Having said that it's ashame this wasn't in colour - it would have suited it, and maybe this would be more remembered if it was).

The main plot of the first bit of the movie concerns pianist Turhan Bey (!) in love with singer Susanna Foster. He's creepily possessive, though that was a romance trope at the time - she's injured, he stands by her... then the plot switches to Cook-Montez.

There are turns by Donald O'Connor and Peggy Ryan (singing one song), Ann Blyth. Andy Devine is in it. So too is Evelyn Ankers. Someone plays Lilian Russell. No Lon Chaney Jnr though.

There's plenty of production value. Donald Cook isn't as good as a John Payne or George Montgomery but Jack Oakie is very good, Foster is perfectly cast, Montez and Bey offer novelty outside their normal exotic settings. I actually enjoyed it a lot.

Movie review - "Bombay Clipper" (1941) **1/2 (warning: spoilers)

Fun little Universal programmer which is mostly set on a plane. I actually wish the whole thing had been set on a plane but appreciate that would be tricky. It gives an early role to Maria Montez, who doesn't have a big part, and also to Turhan Bey, whose part is bigger.

The writers shove in a lot of plot - William Gargan as a reporter (he lost his voice through smoking so its hard to see him smoke here), Irene Hervey as his fiancee (it's cute how they get married on the plane!), Truman Bradley as a nasty doctor, Lloyd Corrigan as a courier, Turhan Bey as a shifty looking local who turns out to be an agent, Philip Trent as a pilot with a past. Some times it is hard to tell people apart but it goes at a great speed.

John Rawlins could normally be relied upon to do a solid brisk job and he does so here.

Movie review - "The Thief of Venice" (1951) **1/2

One of a handful of films Maria Montez made in Europe towards the end of her life. This one had a Hollywood director, John Brahm, and co stars, Faye Emerson and Paul Christian, and is close to the sort of stuff she made for Universal - a swashbuckling aventure tale, set in 1575 Venice.

Christian is the hero, a Robin Hood style naval officer fighting an evil member of the inquisition who seeks to rule Venice. Emerson is the daughter of an admiral killed by the baddy who is loved by Christian, who is loved by tavern girl Montez.

Montez is animated and lively here - playing a tavern girl loosened her up. She doesn't get the guy, which is a change - and probably a mistake, because Montez's character is active whereas Marlowe, while pretty, hangs out by pillars Christian is a dashing hero - he made a few Hollywood films.

It was shot in Italy, in Venice and looks terrific - well the buildings and canals do. It's very handsome, even if the print of the film I saw was poor.

It's got some of that Italian weirdness - lots of dubbing, some characters have Italian accents, continuity seems a little slap-dash.

Brahm was known for his film noir and the film has gloomy cinematography - it's in black and white when colour would have been better. But it has been stylishly shot.

There's a full on sequence when Montez is tortured via inquisition. It's got energy and pace.

Movie review - "South of Tahiti" (1941) ***

Maria Montez's first leading role is very much in the Dorothy Lamour isn't-she-beautiful-and-hot-for-white-visitors-native-island-girl mode - a type which, interestingly, she didn't play that much once she became a star (she was more likely to be an oriental princess).

Universal made a lot of buddy comedies at the time, many starring Andy Devine - this one has Devine, Broderick Crawford and Brian Donlevy as American sailors who wind up on a south sea island, where Montex is a princess.

It ticks all the boxes of south sea cliches: a dingy bar full of sailors and a hooker, a brawl, lying on the deck of a yacht, washing up on a beach and waking up to find the chief's daughter staring at you, the native turns out to be actually white and adopted therefore allowing a happy ending, random tigers running through the island, sacrifice, hidden temples with pots and fire, shark killing a local, funeral, unscrupulous pearl dealers, breaking tribal law, an ambitious unscrupulous tribal Iago figure and kindly chief.

It's in black and white but is fast paced and quite fun. The cast is strong even if Donlevy isn't handsome enough to play Montez's love. It's unsatisfactory Henry Wilcoxon isn't killed and turns good - no real close ups for him.

Maria Montez Top Ten

1) Arabian Nights (1942) - the film that kicked it off... only fair
2) White Savage (1943) - really fun south seas stuff
3) Cobra Woman (1944) - perhaps the best Montez-Hall Sabu film
4) Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves (1944) -a solid entry before the quality dipped
5) Tangier (1946) - in black and white but a decent noir
6) The Exile (1947) - enchanting swashbuckler
7) The Wicked City (1948) - made in France, with Montez good in a film noir part
8) The Mystery of Marie Roget (1942) - not as good as Gypsy Wildcat or Sudan but I put it here because Montez is effective as a baddy - if she'd stayed alive to the end I think this would be better received
9) Siren of Atlantis (1948) - junky lost city fun... Maria isn't that great but the film was entertaining
10) Sudan (1945) - Montez goes off with Turhan Bey which feels like cheating but she rarely looked better

Movie review - "The Exile" (1947) ***1/2

A charming effort from Douglas Fairbanks, who stars, wrote and produced it, and director Max Ophuls. I'd heard of this film but had never seen it - it was really charming. It could well be the best film Maria Montez was ever in. She doesn't have a big role despite her top billing - but it's a decent part as a countess who visits the exiled Charles in Flanders. Her character probably should have been villainous - her conflict with Paule Croset is relatively and frustratingly mild.

But it's a good story - Charles exiled, short of money, a bit knocked about after a series of failed returns to England, trying to calm down impatient supporters, worried about assassins. Henry Daniell is superb as an assassin - great introduction sequence, with puritans giving him the job, and when he arrives in Flanders the thing really perked up.

Croset is okay as the female lead rather than sensational. She and Fairbanks have a sweet romance. Fairbanks is brilliant in a role that fits him like a glove - smart, brave, a little weary, romantic, impulsive. It's one of his best films. He really should have made more swashbucklers but I understand this one didn't do too well. Maybe it was the lack of color or action - there's only really action at the end. It could have done with a fight in the beginning and middle, maybe.

It's a shame. There's lovely direction by Max Ophuls and it's beautifully shot - long tracking shots, lovely composition. The set is gorgeous - this was adapted from a novel but it also feels like it could have been a play (apparently there was a play version) as most of it takes place at an inn. There's some fields and a village nearby.

Alan Hale is solid support as an ally of Charles. Montez gives an animated performance and has a bath in a weird 17th century device. This is a romantic film. 

Movie review - "Tangier" (1946) **1/2

This was meant to be called Flame to Stamboul and was to be a Maria Montez-Jon Hall-Sabu Technicolor epic. It wound up in black and white - which actually doesn't bug me as much as I thought it would because it's set in a nightclub and has many scenes at night, so color would be wasted.

It's kind of a Casablanca-ish film with war correspondents, local police chiefs, nightclub singers, secret agents. There's a lot of plot and while Robert Paige was underwhelming in the lead, Montez was actually quite good - she seems energised by the change of pace. And there's novelty with Sabu as a waiter singing songs like "She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain".

But the film became worse as it went on - more confusing. I wasn't sure of the setting or who the baddies were - apparently this was a censor thing. It felt like it had been rewritten a lot - character motivations became confused.It also splits focus - Montez shares heroic duties with Louise Albritton and Paige with Kent Taylor. 

It's a shame because this had a lot of potential.

Movie review - Aces of Action#13 - "Raiders of the Desert" (1941) **

Richard Arlen and Andy Devine were teamed by Universal in a series of action comedies, which I think were inspired by the antics of What Price Glory? - two friends who get into various adventures. This one sends them to a backlot fictitious Arabian country - a part of which is being developed by a benevolent American businessman (George Carleton), who isn't the villain, but an admirable figure - which is an interesting depiction of American colonialism. There are villainous locals who want to reclaim the country for themselves, so not it's not exactly PC.

I didn't mind the film. It's not terribly bright but it moved along and Arlen (a heavyset actor) and Devine are fine as a team. Linda Hayes is spirited as the girl, and various white actors pretend to be actors. Even though it was a low-budget film and only at Universal, it was still Universal so the production values are decent and there's quite an impressive brawl at the end, with the French (?) Foreign Legion coming to the rescue.

The film is interesting not just for its political depiction but also its support cast - Maria Montez is in a very small role as a local girl, and Turhan Bey has a more prominent part as a villainous local. Both would go on for bigger and better things.

Movie review - "Wicked City" (1949) **1/2

Enjoyable old melodrama was shot in France with French talent but done in English. It stars the husband and wife team of Jean Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez. Aumont is fine - I'm not a big fan of him as an actor but he's okay.

The surprise is Montez who is actually good - maybe "competent" is more accurate, but she's certainly more natural and skilled than in her famous Universal movies. She's a vixen who romances sailor Aumont then is responsible for him being knocked out. He goes off to romance Lili Palmer (giving the best performance in the film) then comes back to get revenge on Montez, and go to prison.

There's some decent seaside atmosphere, and interesting use of whistling "Jingle Bells".

Book review - "Star of India: The Life and Films of Sabu" by Philip Leibfried

Disappointing look at the career of an actor who deserved better. Sabu was one of those fairytale film stories - a young man from Myesore whose father and mother had died, was a ward of the Maharaja who worked with the elephants, and was discovered by the makers of  Elephant Boy. Sabu became a sensation - it's a great performance - and he was lucky in a sense to be under contract to Alex Korda, who then went and fashioned a series of vehicles for him: The Drum, Thief of Bagdad and Jungle Book.

The last two were made in the US, where Sabu stayed in the war. He signed with Universal and enjoyed continuing popularity with three films starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez; there would have been more (Hall and Montez made three more films, each featuring roles clearly ear marked for Sabu), but Sabu wanted to fight - he enlisted in the services and saw action in the Pacific as a gunner. He spent time in Australia and befriended Bob Dyer.

His post war career started wobbily with Montez in Tangier then he was in a classic, The Black Narcissus. However it was hard going after that - a bunch of minor adventure films.

It must've been depressing for Sabu but he worked hard, did well in real estate and also made extra money performing in circuses. He married and had two kids then died of a heart attack at 39.

This last fact is one of many described in a matter of fact way by the author without going into detail - I mean, surely that's worth some discussion, a person dying so young without notable cause? (Surely his impoverished upbringing?) Other things are mentioned and skipped over - a lawsuit against Sabu, a paternity suit, the murder of his brother. Instead there's a lot of listing of co stars and directors and some stories of the making of the films, which feel cobbled from various books.

The author has done some interviews and clearly has admiration for Sabu. It's not a terrible book you just wish it was more thorough in certain areas.

Movie review - "The Mystery of Marie Roget" (1942) **

The original story was a sequel to The Mystery of the Rue Morgue and this film makes great capital of that - it constantly refers to the Rue Morgue, an achievement of Dupin, which was filmed by Universal in 1932.

That was more of a horror movie - this isn't really, though there are horrific elements: in particular murders of two women, both of whom have their faces mutilated. There's also mention of a killer leopard. But it's generally a straight mystery - similar in ways to the Universal Sherlock Holmes films of the time.

The investigating duo are police officer Gobelin (jaunty Lloyd Corrigan) and Dupin (Patric Knowles). Knowles is awful - flat, dull, uninteresting. So not a star.

Other actors are a lot better: Maria Ouspensaka as the head of the family, Nell O'Day is fine as the ingenue, John Litel and Edward Morris are solid character support, and Maria Montez is a femme fetale. Montez isn't much of an actor but it was good to see her play a baddy - a woman out to kill her sister - and the film suffers once she disappears. She sings a (presumably) dubbed song too.

There's a lot of story - two murders, attempted murders, pulling out brains, duel challenges. It lacks focus - Morris is driving the action, then Montez, the Knowles. Really the film should've been told from Knowles' POV, no matter how dull he was.

There's solid production values and photography - you can tell it's a studio movie. It could have done with a lot more suspense and shocks - it's not particularly well directed and it's not surprising this isn't better known. Still, I didn't mind it.

Book review - "Yvonne" by Yvonne De Carlo (1987)

The cinematic work of Yvonne De Carlo deserves re-appraisal - for a time there in the late 40s and early 50s she was a genuine lower level star at Universal, playing a succession of slinky Eastern dancing girls and tough Western dames in some unpretentious technicolor films. She and Maureen O'Hara were these quasi-feminist adventure stars, until the 50s took hold and both wound up staring admiringly at the heroes.

De Carlo was an old pro in the best sense of the world. She started quite young, with a pushy mother and absent father (very common elements in biographies of female star). She did a lot of dancing when younger and moved to the US from Canada; her looks saw her win beauty contests which resulted in a dancing gig at the Florentine Gardens. She worked hard at her dancing and was eventually picked up for the movies, doing a stint at Paramount.

In the 1940s girls with "exotic looks" were not discriminated against; de Carlo played a series of dancing girls and natives; she was going to step in for Dorothy Lamour in Rainbow Island but Lamour changed her mind. She also just missed out on good parts in For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Story of Dr Wassell. Her career was stagnating there but got a huge boost when Walter Wagner cast her in the lead of Salome Where She Danced which turned her into a star.

Salome was made by Universal who put her to work in lots of Easterns and Westerns, and wanted someone easier to deal with than Maria Montez (and De Carlo could sing and dance which Montez couldn't). Occasionally she got the chance in something more prestigious like Criss Cross. De Carlo eventually branched out into comedy, notably in England, and got a few parts in "A" pictures, like The Ten Commandments and Band of Angels. But she never made the full transition to "A" stardom - it's harder for women, especially in the macho late 50s. And to be fair De Carlo didn't have the individuality of great stars - or even great icons like Maureen O'Hara; she lacked spark and life-sometimes she blended into the scenery. But she could act and sing and dance, often better than she was given credit for.

De Carlo found things harder  from the late 50s onwards, but she kept at it - working regularly in TV and having a career boost when starring in The Munsters. She also achieved fame on Broadway in Follies. She expresses regret her agents didn't push her for Broadway roles earlier; I'm surprised she didn't appear in more musical films - Universal did make them, though not as often as they did in the 40s.

As a good looking girl De Carlo spent a lot of time fending off lecherous Hollywood wolves/sex pests - Errol Flynn, Franchot Tone, Orson Welles. She was keen on Sterling Hayden but he didn't do anything. Ditto James Stewart. She had amiable dates with Red Skelton and knew Burgess Meredith, a romance with Ray Milland before finally losing her virginity to someone called Carl Anthony. She says Billy Wilder was the first great love of her life. She later had serious romances with Howard Hughes (who made love like an engineer which made me laugh), Robert Stack, Howard Duff and Jock Mahoney (she fell pregnant to him but lost the baby), flings with Burt Lancaster, Carlos Thompson, Tony Curtis and Robert Taylor. There was Aly Khan, of course, who was a great lover - it isn't a very discrete book!

The book gets harder going as once De Carlo marries stuntman Bob Morgan. A sexy man's man, he was overly fond of a drink, and not a particularly devoted husband. She was going to leave him but then he had an accident which resulted in him losing his leg. From then on it was work, work, work as she took every gig going - night club acts, crummy roles in films. She was perennially unlucky in love - she had a taste for love rats (married men, pricks), which never improved.

I liked reading about her encounters with Maria Montez - de Carlo came to Universal as a Montez back up taking her role in Frontier Gal but Montez and she got along; Montez would talk about her being reincarnated, warn her off Howard Hughes and recommend de Carlo and Jean Pierre Aumont (her love interest in one film) play more love scenes because you got more close ups that way.

De Carlo admits to being a right winger - I would've been interested to hear more about this. (I imagine a lot of actors who slogged their way up from the chorus were right wing eg Ginger Rogers.) The book was written before her son died.

It's an entertaining book - a little harrowing (all the sexual harassment), and sad (the career and financial battles). De Carlo had a pretty good life - fame, some good parts, sex with handsome men - but struggled to hang on to money and a good relationship. Still, the world was a better place for her being in it.

Movie review - "Song of Scheherazade" (1947) **1/2

Walter Reisch's only film as director and it's an entirely decent effort, helped by Universal giving him a good budget and Technicolour. I wasn't that wild about his story but it was a bit different - a biopic of some Russian composer Nicky Rimsky-Korsakov. I'd never heard of this bloke and to be honest wasn't that familiar with his tunes but apparently he's famous. And he was genuinely a sailor as this film has it - he stops off Tangiers while on a world trip and falls for a dancer, who inspires him to write music.

The lead is played by French actor Jean Pierre Aumont, a drippy type with a sappy face who doesn't seem to be that much of an actor. He had a good career, getting a Hollywood push in the 40s - he lacked Louis Jourdan's looks and Jean Gabin's talent, but he did have a good story, fleeing France when it was occupied. He also had solid war service, fighting for de Gaulle's forces, and an interesting personal life, being married to Maria Montez. He's not that memorable on screen though, at least not to me and I didn't care much about his character's worries.

Better value is Yvonne de Carlo as the dancer... who also happens to be an impoverished noble, so she's doing it on the sly. De Carlo is sexy and engaging and a good dancer; I agree with Sam Spiegel's verdict that her persona was "plebian" - she's not entirely convincing as an aristocrat. I wonder if Universal  intended Maria Montez to play this role - it would have suited her.

The support cast is interesting. Eve Arden is far too young to play de Carlo's mother but is fun. Philip Reed is a bit wet as a Russian prince who has a whip duel with Aumont but then becomes his mate .Brian Donlevy is an extremely American Russian ship captain. Someone called Charles Kullman sings a few songs. There are some entertaining dance numbers and production values are high; I enjoyed the comedy interludes too.

I wouldn't call this an entirely successful movie, and no one seems completely well cast, but it entertains.

Movie review - "Frontier Gal" (1945) *

Universal signed Yvonne de Carlo as a sort of back up Maria Montez, so when Montez turned down the role in this, de Carlo stepped in. Problem is the film is still clearly written for Montez - she's a hoity-toity dame who speaks in a foreign accent and runs a saloon.

Rod Cameron, an overweight puffy dude who had a brief vogue as a leading man, pops into town looking for revenge. Cameron strikes sparks with de Carlo, sleeps with her (it was hard to tell by what we saw but this seemed implied via the dialogue...that they'd had sex not just kissed), then she thinks they're getting married but he's got a fiancee - which is pretty racy. So she forces him to marry her at gunpoint then reveals he's on the run.

There's an unfortunate rapey vibe - indeed it's one of the most rape-y Westerns I've seen. In the first act De Carlo is always slapping Cameron's face and he's roughly kissing her and she slaps him again and he kisses her again and she's supposed to like it; then later on he abducts her and forces her to go on a honeymoon; when he arrives back from six years absence he grabs her and drags her upstairs and she's struggling. He rapes her twice! (Or at least that's what it seems like.)

Then when he meets his six year old daughter by de Carlo he winds up abducting her from de Carlo because de Carlo allows her to sing on a bar, and then spanks the daughter when she throws a tantrum (but the daughter doesn't mind because it means he loves her). And he goes and fetches his old fiance! Then later on when the daughter is kidnapped by the baddie, de Carlo tries riding after them.. and Cameron forcibly removes her from the horse. And at the end Cameron gives de Carlo a spanking to show he loves her with the daughter looking on.

It's really horrible. It's also tonally a mess because the film starts off with Cameron seeking revenge against the guy who killed his partner... all good stock Western stuff... but then his six year old daughter becomes involved and the film moves into Full House territory with cuteness of a clueless cowboy dealing with his daughter... but the mum is still around, and the dad is keeping the daughter from the mum! The revenge plot is forgotten until the end - actually it's forgotten at the end too because the baddie kidnaps the daughter, it's got nothing really to do with shooting Cameron's partner.

There's an awful scene where de Carlo - this is after Cameron has stolen her daughter - goes on how much she loves Cameron, how she'll do anything for him, etc etc. Then later on de Carlo's meant to be all embarassed because she runs a saloon... whereas Cameron was in prison!

How to fix it? I think start the film when Cameron returns from prison (i.e. the six year later mark... remove the prologue). Have him come to town. Don't make De Carlo the mother, make her a saloon keeper looking after the kid; kill off the mother so Cameron's actions aren't so obnoxious and immoral.

De Carlo looks nice but has to be passive the whole thing. She slaps Cameron a few times but gets spanked and raped in return.