And yet another movie review

One of the nice things about being "at leisure" is the movies I get to see on TCM. They did an Andy Hardy festival last week and this week it was Dr. Kildare. But what I want to write about is a small western that you might not know, or if you know the name and not the flick, you might think it's cheesy.

This 1951 film was co-written by Frank Capra and directed by William Wellman and if you ignore Robert Taylor's conventional macho hero (fairly easy to do), you will find a very moving story about mail order brides. It is by turns tragic, funny and poetic. I was greatly moved by two scenes. In the first, after an attack, the survivors call out the names of the dead, just as soldiers would do after battle. And in the second, a woman gives birth in a wagon moving through the blistering desert when one of the wheels falls off. The women move as one to lift the wagon and hold it in place until the baby is born. It's a moment of joy and much needed hope for them and the audience. And finally, women are women, regardless of their long grueling trek from Chicago to California across the desert, and they demand new clothes and time to prepare before meeting the men. This is really a remarkable movie, featuring wonderful performances by an International cast, some of whom you might recognize. It's very real and human. There are moments of beauty and sadness in this poetic story of woman walking toward an unknown future.

Westward the Women is now available on DVD and I highly recommend it. It's a little known western that is unfortunately forgotten and it deserves your attention.