La valle dei monsoni

As part of a program relocating European refugees, Viennese surgeon Charles Coburn is sent to Dust Bowl-stricken North Dakota where people are in desperate need of a doctor. Where's John Wayne figure into all this? He's the unelected leader of the town that falls for Coburn's daughter (Sigrid Gurie). This is an odd movie. A mixture of WW2 flag waver, social messager, and western (Duke leads the modern equivalent of a wagon train). The plot is also a bit of a mess. A short time after the doctor arrives in North Dakota, the decision is made to pack up all the townsfolk and move to Oregon. Why not just send Coburn and Gurie to Oregon first and explain that these people had to relocate there and need a doctor? I guess then we couldn't have had the scenes of Gurie insulting the poor townsfolk who have just given them a home. I kept expecting Duke to say "Go back and try your luck with the Nazis if you feel that way about it."

Coburn is likable but this isn't the kind of role he was best suited for. And the less said about his attempt at an accent, the better. John Wayne does fine but this is just another forgettable role made between John Ford films as his star was still on the rise. Sigrid Gurie is the latest in a string of tepid romantic interests for Duke that would continue throughout the 1940s. He was paired with many fine actresses, but the chemistry was often just not there. It's not a bad film, just not a good one. Kind of boring and more than a bit disappointing they didn't explore the Dust Bowl story longer.

An American drama; A story about a Viennese surgeon and his daughter, refugees in a small North Dakota town. When the winds of the Dust Bowl threaten they are led away from doom by a farmer leader to Oregon whence he falls in love with the daughter but their future together is complicated by her past. This film's first half is tightly scripted, a contempory tale of 1930s hardship and hostile environments, a celebration of the pioneer spirit. Then comes a theme about migration and scenes become shallow as the character stories fall away, then tension with anti-Nazi propaganda, then a love triangle. This busy progression gave the film an over-engineered feel and perhaps inevitably it led toward a mediocre end. It has good production design and it is photographed handsomely. The cast performed adequately well too. John Wayne has vigour in his part while Sigrid Gurie manages with her poorly written part, but they lacked chemistry.

In a subdued and understated role, John Wayne is excellent.

Other commenters have placed the action in North Dakota and in Oklahoma, but I never heard a home stated. In fact, I thought the script specifically avoided mentioning one. (Maybe like the Simpsons' Springfield?)

The situation and the timing would seem to indicate Oklahoma, but in truth it really doesn't matter, and the film can be seen as somewhat of an allegory, as representative of the dilemma many poor farmers faced during the Dust Bowl and Depression days.

Regardless, it is worth saying again that John Wayne gave one of his best performances, that his character was a different one from what he so often played and he demonstrated that he was by gosh an actor!

The chief bad guy also stood out, and should have, being played as it was by the great Trevor Bardette.

The subplot, the almost thwarted love story, was poignant and timely, and there was a wonderful line spoken by the Wayne character: "We get all tangled up in other people's feelings and duties and obligations," a fact that gets so many people, and even nations, into trouble.

"Three Faces West" is a very good movie, with great direction, some superior camera angles, and possibly some great stock footage, as well as great acting, from Wayne to the atmosphere players.

All of that with an intelligent script makes it well worth watching.

Three Faces West presents two stories, that of a highly respected elderly Austrian doctor (Charles Coburn) and his daughter (Sigrid Gurie) who have fled the Nazi regime and come to American seeking a place to practice medicine, and also that of a small dust-bowl town in North Dakota in need of a doctor which is personified by John Phillips (John Wayne) who is a farmer and community leader. Initially the doctor and more particularly the daughter are not prepared for the hardships they find and wish to leave but a growing romantic relationship brings everyone closer together. A story like this wouldn't be complete without some more obstacles, and in keeping with the two part tale we have two obstacles one for the budding romance and one for the struggling town.

The film is definitely very much about the message and it essentially has two messages to deliver, there is the message about tyranny and the sacrifices that may be necessary by those who oppose it and also that of the community and working together to overcome adversity. In light of the era that this was made it is not surprising to see such an approach. It is interesting from an historical point of view to observe the attitudes towards Nazi Germany in the United States of 1940 before they had entered the war.

Beyond the good performances from the three principles as well as Spencer Charters in the side kick role there is nothing particularly impressive about the production, but a well intentioned story coupled with an atypical role for Wayne and the interesting historical perspective on both the dust bowl and early years of WWII make this worthwhile viewing for me. It's interesting to note that Sigrid Gurie despite a solid performance would barely make a dozen films over her career. On the other hand Charles Coburn who played her father wouldn't make his first film until he was 56 and continued into his eighties, he also won and Oscar and was nominated for two more.

This is by no means a great movie, but not a terrible movie either. This really is an update of a frontier movie with some good ol' American spirit thrown in. This is basically the story of an Austrian doctor and his daughter who come to America seeking refugee from the Nazi's. Then end up in a small town who have farmed the land to death and who themselves are seeking new land to make their lives. John Wayne does his normal thing as the so called leader of the townsfolk dealing with conflict along the way, and also the inevitable love interest of the doctor's daughter. Plodding and really so much inferior to the similar 'Grapes of Wrath'. Not one for me to be watching again.