Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence

Glenn Ford made his feature film debut, fourth billed, but in the lead in Heaven With A Barbed Wire Fence. Another one making his debut and fifth billed is Richard Conte under his real first name of Nicholas. Both were under Jean Rogers, Raymond Walburn, and Marjorie Rambeau.

It's a B picture programmer from 20th Century Fox so no great care was taken with this. It's a simple story of a young man who quite the New York City rat race, who has spent his savings on 20 acres of Arizona real estate sight unseen and has decided to be a farmer there, because it means he's his own boss. Most of the film is Ford getting to Arizona to claim his dream and what happens along the way.

Among other things he meets Jean Rogers who is in the country illegally as a Spanish refugee from their civil war. I'm still trying to figure out how illegal she could be if in fact she does have an American mother. Ford also meets Richard Conte who I have no doubt 20th Century Fox saw as their answer to John Garfield. These three make an interesting trio of vagabonds even after they're joined by Raymond Walburn as a hobo professor. In fact Walburn was a paleontology teacher at one time and in his performance he leaves you tantalizing hints about his background before he took to the road. Walburn steals the film in every scene he's in and that's not unusual.

Ford had only made one short subject before being cast in Heaven With A Barbed Wire Fence. Peter Ford's biography of his dad says that director Ricardo Cortez treated him like garbage on the set increasing his insecurities. Ford had nothing but contempt for him and vowed he'd never treat a fellow performer as Cortez treated him if and when he reached stardom. Oddly enough Ford who essayed many roles playing shy and diffident young men probably had his very nervousness working for him. Right after this when Fox didn't sign him after this film, he got his long term contract with Columbia Pictures.

Another winning part here is that of Marjorie Rambeau as a dance hall owner who renews an acquaintance with Walburn who isn't quite sure when and how he met her the first time. They played great off each other.

Heaven With A Barbed Wire Fence is a B film and sloppily put together, but the cast is fine and Glenn Ford's future was assured.

Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939)

*** (out of 4)

A poor New Yorker (Glenn Ford) saves all of his money for six years so that he can buy a ranch in Arizona. Once he has the deed he sets off by train for Arizona where he also meets a hobo (Ricardo Conte) and a Spanish immigrant (Jean Rogers). This film was the debuts of Ford and Conte and both men turn in winning performances but the real prize here is Rogers who is simply delightful and carries the film. When I first saw Ford I didn't recognize him due to how small he looked. The story is pretty good, if standard stuff and the 62-minute running time keeps things moving along. The sappy ending doesn't really work but there are plenty of laughs and nice moments throughout. However, this is another film rotting away in Fox's vault.

This is a wonderful movie! Really. It's not a 'Blockbuster" by today's standards, but it IS extremely heartwarming, well acted, and you-never-know-what's-going-to happen-next type film. Sure, most of us have money, now, to buy groceries and essentials, but what if that all changed?

With such a bumbling potato-head in the WH, right now, who knows what can happen? This film depicts life in the 1930's. For many of you who don't remember that era, or if your 'History Book' conveniently left that part of our recent heritage out -- this was after the Great Depression -- hardly anyone had anything. My parents grew up in that era, and they made their way through it; but they didn't talk about it much.

This film depicts that era. If 'Something Happened', and grocery store shelves were empty and/or you had no money -- or your money was worthless, what would YOU do? How long could you really survive on your pitiful stockpile of "Prepper supplies"? It's worth thinking about.

Watch this movie. Yes there is camaraderie among relative strangers, also fights, trouble with the Law -- however, it all comes out OK -- and it's worth your time to view this film!

I hope to God that part of our History does NOT repeat itself; but NEXT TIME be more careful who you vote for -- AND be far MORE careful about who counts the Votes!!!!!! Oh, and get out of your comfy easy chair -- and GET INVOLVED with politics and governance at your LOCAL levels too!!!

"Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence" is a film written by Dalton Trumbo and directed by, of all people, by Ricardo Cortez! It also happens to be the first starring film for Glenn Ford...who had only been in a short, "Night in Manhattan". Despite receiving fourth billing, clearly Ford is the star of the film and every scene features him. I think such low billing was because he was a complete unknown...but it is the starring role he received.

I noticed that one reviewer seemed to think that the far leftist, Trumbo, had created some sort of communist story here. However, I think quite the opposite...that the film COULD have had much more of a left slant but the writer avoided making much of a political statement with this film. So, instead of being any sort of propaganda, it's just a slight yet entertaining yarn. The story is set during the Great Depression and yet few 1930s films really talked about this one. It's about poor folks and hobos but as I said above, the story didn't seem to have much of an agenda. They were poor but the film didn't seem to push for any action or change.

Joe (Ford) has a dream of owning his own ranch and growing things and raising stock. So, for some time he's been saving his money and recently purchased a small parcel of land in Arizona. He calls it his 'ranch' but at 20 acres, it's not exactly the Ponderosa! He's also not seen the land and trusts that it's everything they advertised. But he has a problem...he's ready to head west to his new property but he hasn't any spare money. So he begins walking, hitchhiking and riding the rails in order to get there....and along the way he encounters some new friends...as well as a lady friend. What is next? See the film.

This story is very slight and not a lot of huge twists...but it's consistently well acted and enjoyable. My only complaint is a minor one. Jean Rogers plays a woman who is supposed to be an illegal alien from war-torn Spain. But her accent doesn't sound Spanish (more Swedish) and she doesn't seem at all a good choice for this part because of this.

The scenario is amusing and primed for storytelling, and all throughout the small length is sufficient mild humor to provide entertainment. There are also dubious recurring themes of sexism, racism, xenophobia, and the inhumanity of established law - all generally glossed over with equally questionable casual indifference, only partly repudiated, and capped off with bizarre (dimwitted and unintentional) gaslighting. The movie is scarcely over one hour long, and is so generally modest in craft and content that it's difficult to find words for discussion without betraying narrative details. Both for better and for worse, 'Heaven with a barbed wire fence' is a bit of a curiosity.

Like everything else here, plot development is very moderate - coming at its own pace, and no sooner. There's not a great deal to the narrative, but it's suitable enough to keep us watching. The performances aren't terribly striking overall, seeming like little more than straight repetition of lines. Only Jean Rogers and Raymond Walburn give any meaningful personality to their characters in their portrayals - it's not much, but I suppose it will do.

And... that's about it.

This isn't a bad movie. But it's hardly remarkable, and not truly noteworthy in any way; it's not really worth taking time to consider writing, direction, or technical aspects, because by the time you do, the movie's over. There's no reason to seek it out, but I guess it's marginally worthwhile if you chance upon it. Keeping in mind firstly that it's not particularly engaging, and secondly the inclusion of some suspect substance - 'Heaven with a barbed wire fence' is a little middling, and a little iffy, but slightly better than not. Take that as you will.