Les déracinés

Viennese surgeon Charles Coburn and daughter Sigrid Gurie arrive in America and are placed in a rural area of Oklahoma. They stay in a large old house with John Wayne and Spencer Charters. Pretty soon, despite Gurie's homesickness, they are involved in the social and political life in the area.

This is the famous Oklahoma dust bowl era when drought and poor cultivation practices brought about a drying up of once fertile farm land. Wayne and the other farmers do their best to save the land, but in the end except a government offer to homestead new farm land created by a dam built in Oregon, I presume on the Columbia River or one of its tributaries.

Gurie of course falls big time for the Duke. But she hears that Roland Varno who saved them from the Nazis and who she thought dead is still alive. Wayne of course leads a modern day wagon train to Oregon with automobiles instead of Conestoga wagons. He's got his own problems with Trevor Bardette, another farmer who's constantly trying to undermine his leadership.

23 years later John Wayne made McLintock which is more a serious statement of his conservative political and economic philosophy than one realizes. In Three Faces West we have him accepting a government program's help, albeit a self help type program. The film though is couched in terms good enough to satisfy any free marketeer.

One thing I could not understand. Roland Varno purportedly risked his life to save Gurie and Coburn from the Nazis. But when both of them meet up with Varno in San Francisco, he's now a big time Nazi supporter and wants to take them back to Vienna to aid in his new cause. They are taken aback and walk right out on him.

I'm somewhat taken aback myself. For the life of me I don't understand Varno's about face. The script gives us no explanation. It's a big hole in the plot.

Three Faces West also labors under the handicap of coming out in the same year as The Grapes of Wrath. A much better film about the dust bowl and its economic effects.

An old fashion moral tale with sweetness. John Wayne gives a great performance, and Sigurd Gurie shines as the daughter of a Viennese Surgeon (Charles Coburn). The historical significance of this picture is accurate and compelling, though rather melo-dramatic. Ms Gurie gives a kind and sensitive performance in one of the finest roles of her brief career. The Oklahoma dust bowl is the setting for this early 20th century tale that keeps an eye on several moral issues. It tells the brave tale of poor farmers who were strongly bonded with "good honest sweat", and who face a decision to stick together and head west. Spencer Charters, playing the town veterinarian/comedian gives a fine performance as do many of the players in this one. Well worth a watch.

Beginning like 'The Wind' and ending as a more upbeat 'Grapes of Wrath', the original title sounds like a western, but it actually starts as a very contemporary tale of a pair of Austrian refugees arriving in America after fleeing the Anschluss.

Both the director and one of the scriptwriters - one of the Hollywood Ten, no less - were later blacklisted, so I hope they avoided discussing politics with John Wayne on the set.

Three Faces West presents two stories, that of a highly respected elderly Austrian doctor (Charles Coburn) and his daughter (Sigrid Gurie) who have fled the Nazi regime and come to American seeking a place to practice medicine, and also that of a small dust-bowl town in North Dakota in need of a doctor which is personified by John Phillips (John Wayne) who is a farmer and community leader. Initially the doctor and more particularly the daughter are not prepared for the hardships they find and wish to leave but a growing romantic relationship brings everyone closer together. A story like this wouldn't be complete without some more obstacles, and in keeping with the two part tale we have two obstacles one for the budding romance and one for the struggling town.

The film is definitely very much about the message and it essentially has two messages to deliver, there is the message about tyranny and the sacrifices that may be necessary by those who oppose it and also that of the community and working together to overcome adversity. In light of the era that this was made it is not surprising to see such an approach. It is interesting from an historical point of view to observe the attitudes towards Nazi Germany in the United States of 1940 before they had entered the war.

Beyond the good performances from the three principles as well as Spencer Charters in the side kick role there is nothing particularly impressive about the production, but a well intentioned story coupled with an atypical role for Wayne and the interesting historical perspective on both the dust bowl and early years of WWII make this worthwhile viewing for me. It's interesting to note that Sigrid Gurie despite a solid performance would barely make a dozen films over her career. On the other hand Charles Coburn who played her father wouldn't make his first film until he was 56 and continued into his eighties, he also won and Oscar and was nominated for two more.

This film fits into an odd gap - in John Wayne's career, into the tenor of the times, into the evolution of cinema. But it's highly entertaining, at times visually spectacular, and really a lot better than it has any right to be.

The depiction of the Dust Bowl is remarkably strong. There's grit and dust in every shot. Many of the scenes are painted in strong, noir-ish tones. Against this backdrop, we have a solid little story about an Austrian doctor and his daughter finding a new new home. It could have been mere Hollywood fluff, but it all rings quite true. The touch of propaganda you might expect in a wartime production is restrained and palatable, with a positive focus on emotions rather than a negative one on ideologies.

All this is abetted by strong performances from the three leads. John Wayne is only about a year along from his breakthrough role in Stagecoach, and proves himself capable of surprising depths. He's as likable here as he's ever been, but also more human. And much more of an acting talent than we might usually give him credit for. This is one of those overlooked Wayne entries, like Island in the Sky, or Hondo, where you can really see how he earned his star billing. Sigrid Gurie is a perfect match. She runs a gamut of emotions, yet remains always appealing.

It's true that the second part of the story does cover some of the same historical ground as The Grapes of Wrath. But the two films don't really overlap. We have here a happier outcome, and much more of a small-scale adventure-drama than an allegorical social commentary. Obviously, this film isn't on the same level artistically as John Ford's masterpiece. But it's also far better than the mere B-movie it might have been.

If you're a fan of John Wayne, or have any affection for the workmanlike dramas of Hollywood's golden era, this film is going to be a very welcome discovery.