Mulheres em Perigo

Six condemned convicts escape over a mountain pass (one of them doesn't make it, leaving five) in a blizzard and take refuge in an outpost where the men have temporarily left their wives and assorted other females to watch over the property. It's quite a setup and the movie does not let it down. Directed by Michael Gordon who did the superior Another Part of the Forest, this film nearly equals that one, with the women acting fairly mesmerizing as they eye these cons first with suspicion and later with sympathy and then a little lust. It's fairly predictable but that does not detract from the scenes, especially with Ford and Gene Tierney and Scott with Ann Dvorak. While Glenn Ford is great and has the hero's role, the parts for both Zachary Scott and Jack Lambert as the two heavies, are both excellent. Shot in black and white, the opening scene of them trekking over a mountain in a full on blizzard looks dark and ominous. Gordon doesn't waste any character in the film. Everyone has a background which is revealed with just enough information to leave a lasting impression. Amazing this film hasn't been seen more.

Unusual, exceptional western has six fugitives from a Nevada penitentiary on the run from the law in a snowstorm, taking refuge in a remote woodland village inhabited only by women, mostly wives of traveling prospectors. Glenn Ford plays the falsely accused thief of $40,000 out to kill the liar who wrongly fingered him for the crime and stole off with the money himself; Gene Tierney is the crook's unknowing intended, who instead develops a passion for Ford. Interesting tale plays out melodramatically rather than as a suspense story; still entertaining however, with excellent lead performances and solid work from Ethel Barrymore as the elderly matriarch of the ladies. There's an exciting wrap-up to the whole thing (topped with a dandy fall from a mountainside), plus a narrator telling us it was all based upon a true occurrence. That seems unlikely (as rendered here), though it makes for a rugged adventure with romantic asides. **1/2 from ****

I first saw this peak time one Saturday night on UK ITV in the '70's and it's always stuck with me. It's a B+ Western with a good story and production, good acting and photography, and the very definition of Simple Yet Effective.

Six convicts on the run from a posse in blizzardy California in 1871, become five and then apparently stumble across a small settlement solely er manned by women. It turns out that their menfolk are away on some premise but on their way back while the good convict handsome Glenn Ford was waiting for one of them to return so he could kill him for revenge. Slimy Zachary Scott played the main bad convict manically convinced there was a fortune to be stolen somewhere. The women were in the main only lonely but the bad men were hogged up and dangerous even when not armed, and confirmed main old dame Ethel Barrymore's concern that they were wild bears and not men. The characters were all strong and strongly delineated, if made today the sex would probably be literally in your face but there'd also be a much greater sublety in everything as films are taken more leisurely nowadays. Everyone followed their correct moral paths right down to the morally ambiguous ending – however I suppose Glenn Ford should really have owned up to save the moral dilemma he put both the townsfolk and the majority of us viewers through who think it a good ending to a good little film.

When the film begins, a group of prisoners have escaped in the Sierra Nevadas. Most were soon caught but there are six unaccounted for...and headed towards a very, very small town. To make things worse for the folks in this minuscule town, all the men are gone...leaving everything to the women. While the women do initially get the jump on the prisoners, they cannot let them freeze to death or starve so they take them in...but keep them under close observation. There are some obvious problems...when they are healthier, this group of sociopaths are a serious risk to rape, steal or do other mayhem. Also, one of the men (Glenn Ford) is in this small town for a reason...one of the men from the town set him up to go to prison and he wants revenge. But he also is a decent man...and might be the only thing between the women and these sickos.

In some ways this film reminds me of the Gregory Peck film "Yellow Sky"....which is about a gang of thugs who harass an old man and his daughter. But this one has quite a few differences and is very good in its own right. Unusual and well worth seeing...and based, at least in part, on real events. How much was fiction and how much wasn't, I have no idea.

From 1951, The Secret of Convict Lake stars Glenn Ford, Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore, Zachary Scott, Robert Hylton, Ann Dvorak, Jeanette Nolan, Helen Westcott, and Ruth Donnelly.

This is a departure from your usual western: First of all, it has strong female characters, including Ethel Barrymore, Gene Tierney, and Ann Dvorak.

Six escaped convicts are stopped by a blizzard in the Sierra Mountains. Jim Canfield (Glenn Ford) accompanies them, though he doesn't consider the other convicts buddies.

One is a slimeball, Johnny Greer, played by Zachary Scott, who is after $40,000 that he is sure Canfield stole, which is one reason Canfield was in prison, that and murder. There is also a psycho rapist and murderer, Clyde (Richard Hylton). One escapee died along the way.

The men approach a settlement, occupied by women whose men are away. They are treated decently by the women, but they are told to keep their distance. Canfield seems especially interested in Marcia (Tierney) who is engaged to marry Rudy, the brother of Rachel (Dvorak).

Canfield insists that he did not steal the $40,000 that Greer is after. He has his own reasons for being at the settlement.

As far as keeping their distance, it's difficult due to a love-hungry spinster (Dvorak) and an innocent young girl (Barbara Bates). There's bound to be trouble, and there is.

The ending is very unusual for the times, but to me satisfying.

Very good performances all around, big finale, and an effective snowstorm.