Mulher de Fogo

Saloon entertainer Ann Sheridan has to take it on the lam when her louse of an ex-boyfriend, Phillip Reed shows up, one jump ahead of the law. She finds refuge taking care of three small boys for widowed Sterling Hayden. But local gossip starts to run wild; Hayden is the local preacher.

Given this is director Douglas Sirk's first movie for producer Ross Hunter -- it's Hunter's first time in that role -- there might be a tendency to look at this and compare it to the suburban weepers the pair turned out in the second half of the 1950s. I think that would be a mistake. Given their next collaboration was a 3-D western which Sirk said was his favorite American movie, perhaps we should be a tad less auterist in our appraisals, and a bit more commercial. This looks like a bunch of similar 1950s comedies, including HOUSEBOAT. Given that Hunter co-produced it with Universal's high-volume Leonard Goldstein, likely this was simply another assignment for Sirk, one which he turned out as well as he could, before moving on to the next as it came up. As it stands, Hayden gives a surprisingly relaxed performance, and Miss Sheridan does what she does best, which is doing what she's doing at the moment. The kids are cute, and there's a nice role for Lee Patrick as Miss Sheridan's older dance-hall friend.

The story idea in "Take Me to Town" isn't the most original. In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made several similar stories about folks hiding out from the law with a nice family that miraculously reforms the crook. The biggest difference between those films and this one is that the person hiding out is a lady.

When the film begins, Mae (Ann Sheridan) is on a train in the custody of the Marshall. However, she is able to slip out a window and evade the law. Soon she's rechristened herself 'Vermillion O'Toole' and is a singing sensation in the local saloon. But when a photo of her gets out, the law comes looking for her...and she makes a break for the only place she knows she can hide. You see, three little toe-headed boys had just asked her to come to be their housekeeper...with the hope that they'll marry their daddy! I don't think she knew about their ulterior motives...but hiding out with this family seems like a great idea. But the dad (Sterling Holloway) is not thrilled with a woman in the house. What's next? See the film.

While the story is a bit familiar, the film is handled quite well. While it's far from a must-see, it's a perfectly wonderful time- passer...a pleasant and entertaining movie.

The forms the final part of Sirk's early Americana trilogy. As with the first two films, ("Has Anybody Seen my Gal" and "Meet Me at the Fair") it's is a lightweight, extremely affectionate look at American society in the early part of the 20th Century. Along side the abundant good nature, greed and political corruption were dealt with in those films, whereas in this case its acceptance and tolerance for the "other" to which focus is given.

Much of the charm of the movie stems from Ann Sheridan's winning and endearing performance in which she's ably paired by Sterling Hayden. Sirk handles the children particularly well and they turn in lovely comical performances.

While a lot of fun to watch, it's of special interest only in the context of Sirk's career in which he would go on to make far more important and weightier films than this.

Vermillion O'Toole needs a place to hide out after escaping from the law (that wanted her for something she hadn't done). So she accepts the offer of three little boys to stay with them while their father is gone logging (even though he's a preacher on Sundays). She doesn't know they are hoping she'll marry their father and save him from marrying a prissy town woman. It's a comedy so everything comes out all right in the end.

One very interesting note on this movie is that the preacher actually lives his life by Biblical principles, not condemning Vermillion but encouraging her subtly to follow the good he knows is in her heart. Sterling Hayden and the script portray him as a Christian who is neither a bigot or a milquetoast.

This was Ross Hunter's first film as producer for Universal. After his death the obituaries were hardly kind to his great body of work, and that was just before the elevation of Douglas Sirk in places like the English press as being a great director. Without disparaging Sirk I would like to stake a claim that Ross Hunter made Sirk great, and to even claim that 'Take Me to Town' is equal to Sirk's great trio: 'Magnificent Obsession', 'All That Heaven Allows' and 'Imitation of Life'. In some ways it is better as it is bursting with a life and energy that made many other musical westerns pale in comparison. One obituary in The Independent stated that Hunter was gay, but failed to mention that he and his partner supported AIDS charities. Hunter loved life and his enthusiasm towards that life produced great acting where even Sterling Hayden looks as equally responsive as Ann Sheridan whose role in this film outshone any of the others I have seen of hers. She glows, and her wit and charm radiate across the screen. Hayden responds and together with the equally great Lee Patrick make this a ten out of ten musical. At the time it may have been just another double bill film, but after seeing it I defy anyone not to feel better about life. This was Ross Hunter's great gift to the cinema but derided by critics he battled on. Was this due to homophobia? I bet many suspected at the time he was gay and it must be said that in many a film of the Fifties at Universal the screen glowed with good looking guys, in small roles and big. He may have adored women actors as some critics snidely observed, but he had an equal eye for the male and was perhaps the only film producer of the time to do so. Who else could have made Sirk see Sterling Hayden in beautiful soft focus close-up so that all of the audience could see, wow, what a hunk? Hayden bathed in Ann Sheridan's great presence in total sexual equality. Ross Hunter contributed to Gay culture during a dark time and let us celebrate him for it, not deride him. Sirk responded to the inspiration, as did other lesser directors knowing exactly what magic Hunter and the audience wanted. This is true cinema.