Californie terre promise

The movie is a stab at an epic western that simply fails to gel. The best part is the "moving west" scenes of wagon trains convoying across the open southwestern terrain. These achieve an epic feel that the dramatics unfortunately fail to duplicate. The screenplay itself is pretty crowded, telling the story of California's becoming a state, no less. From settlers to gold rush to saloons to political intrigue, the story is traced out mainly through Milland, Stanwyck, and Coulouris, with Fitzgerald as a salt-of-the-earth anchor.

Now, that might work, except director Farrow has little feel for the material. The various parts come across in rather limp, unexciting fashion. It's as if he's content to simply film the script without bringing its many conflicts to dramatic life. Thus, the drama is conveyed in words instead of characters. Then too, Oscar winner Milland appears either miscast or uninspired. His role really calls for a bigger personality than Milland's generally low-key wagon master. (He may have viewed a western as a comedown after his award winning role in The Lost Weekend.) Stanwyck is of course Stanwyck even though she's dolled-up to suit Technicolor filming and crowded around by the packed screenplay . Too bad the guy who could have enlivened the action remains in supporting background, namely, the commanding Albert Dekker (Pike).

Anyway, I guess I now know why this epic western remains so obscure, despite its Paramount pedigree and marquee cast.

"California" was an ambitious film from Director John Farrow and Paramount Pictures. In spite of its lavish Technicolr photography and a music score from Victor Young, it falls flat as a big budget movie.

The film is basically divided into three parts, the wagon train sequence, the arrival in California sequence and the fight for statehood sequence.

Wagon master Jonathon Trumbo (Ray Milland) is leading a wagon train of settlers to the promised land of California in the late 1840s. In one of the towns he meets "saloon gird;" Lily Bishop (Barbara Stanwyck) who is being run out of town by the ladies of the town. She asks to accompany the wagon train and wine maker Michael Fabian (Barry Fitzgerald agrees to take her along. When news of a gold strike in California reaches the wagons, the farmers catch gold fever and desert Trumbo and the train.

Later in California Trumbo arrives to find Lily in 'the employ" of ex slaver Captain Pharoh Coffin (George Coulouris) who has ambitions to take over the whole of California by blocking its bid for statehood. Trumbo recognizes Coffin and confronts him only to be beaten up by his brutish henchman Pike (albert Dekker). Although Lily loves Trumbo she still plans to marry Coffin (for his money of course).

The fight for statehood follows with Fabian representing the pro statehood side and Coffin leading the anti-statehood faction. Naturally, the pro statehood faction carries the day. Coffin attempts to force his will with arms, a blazing gun battle ensues and...................................

This movie, although it has its moments, plays more like a "B" movie, especially in the middle, than any thing else. One expects Zorro or The Cisco Kid to ride in at any moment. I mean a villain named Pharoh Coffin, come on. The shots of the wagon train are impressive (probably due to stock footage) and the shots of the landscape are equally appealing in glorious color. But the movie falls flat.

Ray Milland is not really that convincing as a hard nosed wagon master. Stanwyck, always better than her material, gives a good performance as the gold digging Lily. Coulouris' villain is melodramatic and fits more into a "B" movie than an "A" big budget feature. Dekker's brutish henchman is good, but he would have made a better Coffin than colorless Coulouris. Others in the cast include Anthony Quinn, Frank Faylen, Eduardo Ciannelli and Agentina Brunetti. To add to the "B" look of the film several "B" movie veterans appear in small supporting roles.

A better script, some casting changes and we could have had a much more memorable movie.

This is a case where I feel like other reviewers have watched a different movie called "California" than the one I saw. The picture I enjoyed was a top-notch "A" western with an excellent cast, gorgeous Technicolor cinematography, spectacular California scenery, lively action, good pacing, and an intelligent, adult story.

At the top of the cast Ray Milland, Barbara Stanwyck, and Barry Fitzgerald, were at the peak of their careers. All three had garnered Academy Award honors within the past few years before "California's" early 1947 release. Milland was coming off his best actor award for Lost Weekend (1945), while Fitzgerald won best supporting actor for Going My Way (1944) and also got a best actor nomination for the same role! Stanwyck, a perennial bridesmaid of the Academy had received best actress nominations for Ball Of Fire (1941) and Double Indemnity (1944). "California" is a good showcase for their talents, each doing what he or she did best -- Ray the mild-mannered but hard-edged tough guy, Barry the lovable Irishman, and Barbara the hard broad who may or may not be hiding a heart of gold. Good support and stalwart villainy is provided by George Coulouris and Albert Dekker with a large cast of other supporting players and extras.

Some people can't picture Ray Milland as an appropriate western lead because of his British accent, even though it had became slight by the late 1940's when he had be living in the United States for two decades. But lots of people in the West would have had British and other foreign accents. Remember, we were and still are a nation of immigrants. Besides which Ray was imminently qualified to play westerns by his real life experiences. Having served several years in a crack British cavalry regiment in the 1920's, he was an expert horseman, and it shows by the way he sits a steed in "California". And he certainly knew which end of a gun the bullets came out of. A crack marksman, he helped his regiment win several prestigious shooting matches in his army days. Interestingly, he actually plays a professional trick shot artist in another western, Copper Canyon (see my review).

John Farrow's usual efficient direction and Eda Waren's editing keep the story moving along at a sharp pace. The script by Frank Butler and Theodore Strauss provides an intelligent, adult story with literate dialog. It gives an accurate, compelling picture of the California gold rush and the gold fever gripping immigrants to the Pacific Coast, as well as the movement for California statehood, a plot by the baddies for an armed overthrow of the government, and a torrid love triangle. As the intense, dark melodramas now known as film noir were at the height of their popularity when this western was filmed, the script endows the principles of the love triangle, Milland, Stanwyck, and Coulouris, with shady pasts. Milland's character, it turns out has deserted the Army. Stanwyck has been thrown out of every town she ever parked in for being -- shall we say charitably -- a floozy. Coulouris, villain enough as it is, has an even darker past as a slave ship captain. And he is now going slowly off his nut remembering the cries of the chained slaves and his fears they would rise up and get him. Dekker, occasionally a leading man or second lead, but more often a polished villain, is wasted here as Coulouris's former first mate and brutish henchman. Since Coulouris is always a bit over the top, perhaps "California" would have been better served if Dekker had had his role.

The script and Farrow's direction gives us just the right blend of dramatics and action. A rousing, old-time, full-bodied score by Victor Young helps move it along. Unlike other reviewers, I found the frequent outbursts of singing by both on-screen characters and an unseen chorus an asset to the picture, adding life and color and even historical accuracy. Some in this history challenged generation may not realize that in the days before people had television, computers, radio, movies, or even phonographs, they had to entertain themselves. They sang all the time, walking down the street, in their yards, in barber shops, at socials, around campfires (as in "California"), and in saloons. Even the meanest of saloons could usually scratch up some kind of band.

The costumes, sets, firearms, gun leather, lamps and other accouterments in "Callifornia" show an unusual degree of historical accuracy for a western of this era. No one has a repeating rifle, all muzzle loaders or crude breech loaders. Cap and ball revolvers are used in the closeups at least -- never mind they were not the exact models for 1849. You other gun nuts: in how many other movies have you seen a Hall breech loader? Good effort in this department.

Ray Rennahan, who did the camera work, gets credit for the unusually fine color cinematography, but with Natalie Kalmus on board as the Techniclor consultant, superb color was insured. The Technicolor Corporation required a consultant on every movie using their patented process, and Mrs. Kalmus, ex-wife of the inventor of Technicolor, was usually it. She was known around the studios as a bossy, irritating old dame, who interfered in set designs, camera set-ups, costume color and materials, prop selection, and virtually every other aspect of a color filming. She must, nevertheless, have known what she was doing. Every picture with her name on it will have muted, perfectly co-ordinated, precisely lighted, and generally superior color. After all, the studio technicians of the 1940's, as skilled as they were in black and white filming, had little experience with color. They actually needed a Natilie Kalmus, like it or not.

"California" in an A-1 Technicolor western, a visual treat and smooth, exciting entertainment from Hollywood's finest era.

California really disappointed me. It is without question Barbara Stanwyck's least shown Western ( and the only one that eluded me). The problem is not that it is bad movie ( it isn't), it is that Barbara ( Lily) is wasted. Barbara in westerns from the beginning ( Annie Oakley) until the end ( The Big Valley) is the reason to watch. Not here: It is. Ray Milland's ( Jonathan Trumbo) Film all the way, and he dominates the movie. One major plus is the print. I am willing to bet that Universal remastered the movie because of how crystal clear the print is. I still cannot get over how disappointed I was in this movie. I give it 5/10 stars. All for Milland and the quality of the print.

Definitely NOT a great movie, but very enjoyable, especially if one is a Stanwyck fan. Cinematography bounced back and forth from lush, to "quick, get it done" shots.

Ray Milland did not quite cut it as the hardened trail boss and buffalo hunter. But maybe that's because his character really is not-he deserted from the army for getting involved with a married woman. Stanwyck shines as the self-reliant lady gambler and flirt who has been tossed around her whole life, with a few exceptions.

Yes the movie is rather corny, but let's face it the movie industry was right in the middle of the Macarthy era and needed safe material to work with. It DID give a rather honest perspective of how many lost sight of what they really had set out for, and how others took advantage, at any cost.