The Lady from Cheyenne

"The Lady from Cheyenne" is loosely built around Wyoming's granting of the right to vote to women in 1869-- and if you want a history lesson, this movie isn't the place to look. It isn't accurate, and it isn't even plausible. But it is a pleasant, diverting and harmless film with an attractive comic performance from Loretta Young as a naive but earnest schoolteacher who fights for the cause of suffrage as a means of rescuing her town from corruption. Carole Lombard was the first choice for this role, and Young emulates her fast-paced, breathless delivery, but she captures the character's idealism better than Lombard would have, and she carries the film with her charm. The supporting cast is strong, the sets are convincing and Frank Lloyd, who specialized in period films, directs with a light touch and a properly brisk pace. Nobody's ever going to call it a masterpiece, but it's certainly a pleasant way to pass the time. By the way, the title is misleading; the heroine goes to Cheyenne, but she isn't from Cheyenne.

I didn't expect Hollywood to produce a feminist movie in 1941. Nor did I realize what a superb actress Loretta Young was. She is delightful as the feisty, bustling heroine. The movie would be flat without her. How sad that this enchanting actress was assigned only a handful of A movies by the studios during a 30-year career. No wonder she left movies for television. Don't miss this and don't. Miss The Farmer's Daughter or Alexander Graham Bell.

Did you know that Wyoming actually was the first government entity in the world to give women the vote in 1869? Check it out on Wikipedia. Granted, the movie was only inspired by these events and its ending is a bit of a copout. But how often you see movies about subjects that really matter. Also, in 1941, who gives our heroinne invaluable advice that helps her win? A humble black waiter. Don't miss it on You Tube.

Edward Arnold brings his pet crooked lawyer, Robert Preston, to serve as auctioneer as lots are sold off by the railroad. Arnold wants all the riverfront lots, so he can control the water rights. In an excess of gentility Preston sells one such lot to schoolmarm Loretta Young. Soon Arnold has control of the entire town except for Miss Young's lot and newspaper editor Frank Craven, who is badly wounded and his press wrecked. Everyone knows who did it, but there's no way to bring Arnold to justice, since only those who hold the franchise can serve on juries, and women can't vote. So Miss Young heads to the territory capital. With the advice of Willie Best and the aid of various mildly disreputable ladies like Gladys George, she attempts to secure the franchise.

The lack of historical reality in this movie doesn't disturb me as much as it does in other movies that supposedly recount major and minor events. There are songs that won't be written for as many as forty years; there are railroad robberies before the first one by the Reno Brothers. It's presented instead as a humorous fable, with lots of able comic performers filling the supporting roles, because according to some modern historians, the reason the women got the vote in Wyoming more than half a century before the rest of the country is that much of the territory's wealth was controlled by women of ill repute who used their wealth to advance women's rights generally. Frank Lloyd's handling of the story is about as close to that viewpoint as you could manage under the Code. With Jessie Ralph, Stanley Fields, Samuel S. Hinds, and Al Bridge.

Despite "The Lady from Cheyenne" being an A-budget film, it's plot is strictly from a B-movie western....and I've seen many dozens of Bs with this same story line. Now this doesn't mean there isn't some originality about the picture, it does feature a female who is fighting the local baddie boss....but otherwise it's pretty typical of the westerns of the day.

When the stoy begins, Jim Cork (Edward Arnold) is setting up a town...complete with a sheriff and judge who will do his bidding. Cork's goal is to make himself the big despot who controls the town and his plan for doing it includes buying up all the land with water--and then using this to either take away others' land or making them stay and bleeding them dry. The only one willing to stand up to this jerk is the local school teacher, Annie Morgan (Loretta Young)..but what can one woman and her crusade do to stop Cork and his army of baddies?! And, what could she possibly do when she visits the capital and lobbies the lawmakers?

What I enjoyed most about this film was seeing Willie Best. Best was a black actor who frequently played very stereotypical roles....and mostly negative ones. However, here he actually plays a very smart character--and it's refreshing seeing him in such a part. It's a small one...but a major step in Best's career, as he's playing an admirable and intelligent guy.

Aside from Best, the film is enjoyable and worth seeing....mostly because the film is quite different from most westerns. Yes, it has the greedy baddie but what it does with it is quite unusual.