California (1947)
Overview
"Wicked" Lily Bishop joins a wagon train to California, led by Michael Fabian and Johnny Trumbo, but news of the Gold Rush scatters the train. When Johnny and Michael finally arrive, Lily is rich from her saloon and storekeeper (former slaver) Pharaoh Coffin is bleeding the miners dry. But worse troubles are ahead: California is inching toward statehood, and certain people want to make it their private empire.
Cast
Ray Milland
Jonathan Trumbo
Barbara Stanwyck
Lily Bishop
Barry Fitzgerald
Michael Fabian
George Coulouris
Capt. Pharaoh Coffin
Albert Dekker
Mr. Pike
Anthony Quinn
Don Luís Rivera y Hernandez
Frank Faylen
Whitey
Gavin Muir
Booth Pennock
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CinemaSerf
I always thought Barbara Stanwyck had the measure of any of the men she co-starred with in westerns, and here she certainly holds her own as the manipulative "Lily". She joins a wagon train heading west, but the gold rush rumours split that up and so she proceeds to the coast where she quickly ends up owning quite a lucrative saloon. She's pretty much sharing control of the town with the odious storekeeper/daylight robbery merchant "Pharaoh Coffin" (George Colouris) when her erstwhile pals "Trumbo" (Ray Milland) and "Fabian" (Barry Fitzgerald) arrive, all amidst increasing calls for Californian statehood. Needless to say, those in power locally want the status quo - the new arrivals want something more "democratic". What now ensues are a series of cat-fights that keep this moving along well enough until, what I must admit to feeling was a bit of a disappointing denouement. Stanwyck stands out, and Fitzgerald and the rather oddly cast Coulouris are also effective. Milland, however, well he doesn't quite cut the mustard and there is way, way too much dialogue as this story takes far too long to get up any head of steam. Still, it's got a pioneering sort of spirit to it that I quite enjoyed.
