La fille de la forêt

Fred MacMurray is a forest ranger, obviously, and Susan Hayward is the woman he loves. Correction: she loves him, and he treats her like one of the boys. He later meets Paulette Goddard, and they get hitched, supplying the plot of rivalry between Susan and Paulette. Costarring Regis Toomey and Brian Donlevy, this movie contains a mixture of light comedy and soap opera-ish drama, making it a cross between the TV show "Dallas" and Carol Burnett's soap opera send-off, "Fresno" in the eighties (which I wish they would put on DVD.) And, the fires will knock you out and look like something out of "Backdraft." You literally can feel the heat, they're so real. I was very impressed with the fact they didn't cut corners in showing the real thing in an old movie like this. In fact, I was very impressed with everything for such a little unknown movie, which I think you will too.

When this movie came out in 1942, technicolor was still a novelty. No new process has surpassed this technique. The star quality of the actors was of the highest order. The story line, while a bit contrived, was and still is entertaining compared to other vehicles of similar themes. The scope of the movie, which includes cast, sets, costumes and scenery, can hardly be duplicated today. It is an outstanding icon of what movies used to be,

Seeing Fred MacMurray, Paulette Goddard and Susan Hayward in this rousing gorgeous technicolor movie was great fun. Story of a Forest Ranger (MacMurray), being chased by the beautiful but butch lumber mill owner (Hayward), and then meeting and falling in love at first sight with a rich girl (Goddard) makes the triangle perfect. Guy marries girl and the fun begins as the vixen tries to woo him back. Funny scene when the three of them are stranded in the woods and have to spend the night with one blanket to share between them.

Excellent forest fire scenes filmed by director Marshall. Climatic final scenes when the fire starter is surprisingly revealed and Goddard and Hayward, caught in the midst of the blazing woods, have to survive. Excellent dramatic footage of the fire and comedy of situation make this great movie fare. With today's films this one done in the early 40s still holds it's own.

Fred MacMurray (Don) is a forest ranger who works in a tight-nit forest ranger community that deals with the preservation of the forest and lots of fire-fighting. Particularly now that an arsonist is setting off fires. The local forest ranger girl is Susan Hayward (Tana) and although she is fondly nicknamed 'Butch', she definitely isn't. She sees MacMurray as her catch. However, one day at a parade in a local town, MacMurray meets and marries Paulette Goddard (Celia) before returning with her to his community. Everyone is shocked. And Hayward is not happy…

The film is shot in Technicolour which adds to the enjoyment and the cast are good although I wish retired ranger Lynne Overman (Jammer) spoke properly. WTF is he saying? We get a mystery as to who is starting deliberate fires played alongside some comical situations as Goddard and Hayward spar with each other. And it's all good entertainment. This film was better than I expected. MacMurray leaves me indifferent, rather like his attitude towards both these women in his life. The interest in the film comes from the 2 female leads. There is also the bonus of hearing snippets of the song "Jingle Jangle Jingle" at various moments. Always nice to hear a tune. Can you guess who the arsonist is? I doubt it.

If you look at the credits you will notice a Keith Richards in the role of a Ranger. That guy really has had a varied life. This was in the days before he plugged in a guitar and joined the Rolling Stones and then fell out of a mango tree.

Whoever thought the beautiful, sexy Susan Hayward would start her career playing a character named "Butch"? In The Forest Rangers, she's not the romantic lead. Paulette Goddard is the beautiful love interest to forest ranger Fred MacMurray, with masculine Susan Hayward waiting in the wings. This love triangle is amusing enough to justify renting this movie, so if you're as much a Susan Hayward fan as I am, I recommend watching it one afternoon for a good laugh.

With tons of special effects combined with real footage of forest fires and controlled burns, The Forest Rangers is a pretty impressive movie for 1942. Stunt doubles are used and abused, and the blue-screen effect is very well edited for the time period. The plot is interesting and fast-paced, and there's both a surprise and a good laugh in the end. It's a little more light-hearted than you'd expect, but it's pretty cute. Plus there's a funny scene between Fred MacMurray and Eugene Pallette straight out of any classic comedy: Fred has been out all night with Paulette, Eugene's daughter, and neither man knows who the other is. So, while Eugene is laughing about Fred's conquest, he has no idea that the girl in question is his daughter!