One Desire

Circa 1900, an Oklahoma gambler-casino dealer called Clint Saunders (Rock Hudson) teams up with a saloon girl named Tacey Cromwell (Anne Baxter). Clint is late and the owner 'Mac' MacBain (William Hopper), threatens to fire him. Then Clint's younger brother Nugget (Barry Curtis) runs away in search of his older brother and shows up at the White Palace gambling parlor. He meets Tacey Cromwell, Clint's girlfriend, and falls asleep in her room. When Clint finally arrives, he excitedly tells Tacey about a new opportunity. He is moving to Ransberg, Colorado, to take advantage of a recent silver strike .Clint heads to a booming Colorado town and Tacey drops everything to follow her boyfriend. Tacey will not only take care of Nugget, but also an orfamed girl, Seely (Natalie Wood). In the new town, Judith Watrous (Julie Adams), the daughter of the senator and local banker Kenneth Watrous (Carl Benton Reid), falls in love with Clint and tries to keep him away from Tacey. Judith is a manipulative woman who will stop at nothing to get Clint to stay with her. Nobody ever paid me for being a Lady!. Men gave her everything but a good name!. That woman Tacey and Clint the gambling man...he was her only weakness...and she was his greatest strength!

A decent movie full of incidents, love conflicts and bordering on the "Soap Opera" genre. Expensive melodrama-as-high-art dissection of the American Dream with dramatic events, love stories and twisted intrigues. Based on a novel titled "Tacey Cromwell" by Conrad Richer, with a script by Robert Blees and Lawrence Roman . A twisted melodrama with enough double-dealing and scandal, including criticism of the upper class, social gossip and the unjust marginalization of a woman -in this case Anne Baxter- for having a dark past. Complemented it in a vibrant and luxurious Technicolor photography by cameraman Maury Gertsman and giving the mixture a good stir. The acting is acceptable, the melodrama is compulsive, as well as the excellent cinematography by Russell Metty, evocative musical score by Frank Skinner, brilliant lighting, and the colorful production design from Carroll Clark and Alexander Golitzen share a bold disregard for realism. Interpretations are pretty good, Rock Hudson as the ambitious and upright man who seek respectability , Anne Baxter as the loving woman who follows her beloved wherever he goes and Julie Adams as the manipulative girl who's as nasty as a cornered rattlesnake. Adding other notorious secondaries also providing decent interpretations, such as: veteran Carl Benton Reid, William Hopper, Betty Garde, Barry Curtis, and a very young Natalie Wood previously his hit in Rebel without a cause .

The motion picture financed by famed Ross Hunter was professionally directed by Jerry Hooper, but nothing special. Hooper was a good artisan who first worked for Paramount as an editor , then he passed to Universal and immediately proved himself on more intimate subjects, especially those dealing with sentimental or comedian elements . During World War II he joined the Army and worked as a combat photographer where he was awarded a Purple Heart. After the war, Hopper returned to Hollywood where he graduated to directing. After working prolifically in film during the Fifties, Hopper switched to television where he went on to direct over 600 episodes before effectively retiring in the early 1970s. Jerry directed all kinds of genres , such Western : Madron , Pony Express , The Bull of the West . And Thriller as Naked Alibi , The Atomic City , The Square Jungle . And particularly adventures as Alaska Seas , The Sharkfighters, Secret of the Incas and The Missouri traveler , it was the best of Hooper last movies before he became entrenched un Television. As he filmed a great quantity of episodes of notorious series as Voyage to the Bottom of the sea , The Fugitive , Perry Mason , Shenandoah , Adams Family , Caravans and Gunsmoke. Rating 5.5/10 . Decent and acceptable drama .

This is the worst example of what the Universal "living room beefcake" Rock Hudson could make in those years. Not the best of the best, as you can guess, and nor the best of Jerry Hopper. Anne Baxter, poor Ann Baxter did her best at least to save the whole, but for my taste could not make it. But if you crave for the atmosphere of this fifties era, so you can spend a couple of hours watching it.

A woman's drama set in the west not a western. Anne Baxter is aces as Tacey the dance hall queen who wants a simpler life with Rock Hudson, who towers over her, and his brother in a small town until outside forces cause her no end of troubles. She suffers grandly in spangles and feathers all in rich Technicolor but manages to rein in the overheated emotions with a warm controlled performance.

A performance that isn't quite as controlled and all the better for it is Julie Adams' evil rich girl. Always an excellent actress but often cast as the love interest or nice girl she is so deliciously malevolent it's a pity she didn't get a chance to chew the high grade ham more often.

Natalie Wood, her next film after this was Rebel Without a Cause, doesn't have much to do but injects what there is of her part with movie star charisma and spunk. The same goes for Rock who is called upon to be handsome and rather thick. The whole film is really just there to provide a backdrop to the ladies flashy dramatics and on that basis it serves it purpose.

Not available on DVD, hard to believe with any film that has Rock, Anne and Natalie in the cast, this is well worth seeking out.

Having watched Anne Baxter in 'The Ten Commandments' I wanted to learn more about her track record leading up to 1956 by watching this film. Don't bother. The film fails to provide any interesting characters or an engaging storyline. You could say that it is a bad script, but there is a line where Anne Baxter says: 'The most important thing for a woman is to feel needed.' I'm not even sure if Rock Hudson succeeded in making her feel needed in the film as his character was unsympathetic. The film comes nowhere the quality of 'The Razor's Edge' where Baxter earned her Oscar by playing a sympathetic character. This is a poorly written script which does not make full use of the talents of Baxter and Hudson.

In what was supposed to be a soapy melodrama, One Desire ended up a bit of a disappointment. With the heavy dramatic star Anne Baxter playing a stereotypical hooker with a heart of gold and the handsome Rock Hudson as a selfish playboy, you'd think nothing could go wrong with the movie. The story took turns that verged on the ridiculous, and even in a soap opera, plot points that ridiculous didn't fly. Perhaps the original novel was extremely lengthy and fleshed everything out so it made sense, and perhaps the Hollywood movie chose to include all the key points even if they were choppy and silly.

Anne starts off the head hooker in a casino who's in love with no-good cards dealer Rock. When he gets a special visitor, his long-lost kid brother, Barry Curtis, he decides on a fresh start in a new town. Without any commitment or guarantees, Anne packs her bags and goes with them to the mining town. Rock takes a room at a hotel and pays for Anne's house so they can be respectable but so she can raise his brother while he goes to work. How respectable is it to have a man you're not even engaged to paying your rent, at that time? And if Rock is such a jerk to treat her that way, why would she go with him in the first place, keep house, cook, raise his brother, and risk her reputation when he flirts with other women right in front of her? Julia Adams, a banker's daughter, is the object of the ambitious Rock's latest affection, but it turns out Julia has a mean streak in her and takes it out on Anne.

So far, this sounds like a really interesting story, right? Trust me, the second half of the movie is much less fun. You'll get to see Anne in some pretty costumes, and you'll get to see a gawky Natalie Wood in the last childish role before she reestablished herself in Rebel Without a Cause, but there's not much more incentive. For a much better Anne Baxter drama, check out Season of Passion, and for Rock Hudson in a more likable role, try A Farewell to Arms.