Yogi's Movie Consumption Blog

A former gunfighter on his search for peace has to defend a family of farmers from the gang trying to take their land. The interesting part of this movie is that the 'bad' guys have quite a strong motive for acting their way. They see their hard-earned paradise endangered by the growing influence from the outside modern world, symbolized by such things as 'the new laws'. In certain ways their 'nation-building' is a doomed enterprise. The interests of the locals are too different, their backgrounds too diverse as they could form a united party to defend their little piece of heaven. Even our protagonist is reluctant to pull the trigger. It is only when he adopts the moral values of family life and is threatened – by him as a potential lover for Marian - he starts to take some initiative. I am reluctant to draw a conclusion about Stevens' (AB Guthrie, the screenwriter) motives behind the story, but couldn't shake the feeling ...

A housing shortage in Washington leads to a bizarre flat share of McCrea, Arthur and Coburn. The film is one of those romantic comedy prototypes. Which means you can guess the ending pretty early, the exchanges are witty and there is a big breakup somewhere in the middle. But with Coburn thrown into the mix the whole thing became way more unpredictable and for me way more enjoyable. The demeanor with which Coburn sets up the whole affair between McCrea and Arthur is just amazing. And I have to admit that I loved that little scene with the trousers. Totally silly, but in its harmless way a great deal of fun. There were a couple of other scenes like that, but this one just stuck to my mind. Some of the jokes are a little "stagey" - woman is in one room, man in the other, they meet in the hallway, walk back into their respective rooms, come out again, act surprised. This is run-of-the-mill fun, not very clever. But many other little visual jokes are. Like what happen...

The life and times of a Norwegian family in San Francisco in the 40s. The film is extremely entertaining although nothing much happens except that the daughter grows up to become a writer and retell her mother's story through her own words. And that's how I saw the film: Through the wondering and naive eyes of a child, believing in the unfailing truth and honesty of his parents. I believe that what makes this film's beauty is the longing for the unspoiled happiness of the perfect happiness in the viewer - and this seems to work extremely well, judging from other commentaries of people around the globe. Most of the characters are over the top, but still they work together extremely well. Especially the obnoxious uncle was a revelation, especially how he started to develop real depth without leaving his comical figure.