Spondonman I first saw this peak time one Saturday night on UK ITV in the '70's and it's always stuck with me. It's a B+ Western with a good story and production, good acting and photography, and the very definition of Simple Yet Effective.Six convicts on the run from a posse in blizzardy California in 1871, become five and then apparently stumble across a small settlement solely er manned by women. It turns out that their menfolk are away on some premise but on their way back while the good convict handsome Glenn Ford was waiting for one of them to return so he could kill him for revenge. Slimy Zachary Scott played the main bad convict manically convinced there was a fortune to be stolen somewhere. The women were in the main only lonely but the bad men were hogged up and dangerous even when not armed, and confirmed main old dame Ethel Barrymore's concern that they were wild bears and not men. The characters were all strong and strongly delineated, if made today the sex would probably be literally in your face but there'd also be a much greater sublety in everything as films are taken more leisurely nowadays. Everyone followed their correct moral paths right down to the morally ambiguous ending – however I suppose Glenn Ford should really have owned up to save the moral dilemma he put both the townsfolk and the majority of us viewers through who think it a good ending to a good little film.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Some films end up being forgotten and that's the case with this excellent western directed by Michael Gordon (Cyrano de Bergerac, Pillow Talk) and with great black and white cinematography by Leo Tover (The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Tall Men, The Sun Also Rises, among many others). Inspired by a legend of the Convict Lake (Sierra Nevada, California), it tells the story of men who escaped from jail and go looking for 40000 dollars, through the snow in a lonely group of houses located on an almost unreachable valley. Glenn Ford and the great bad guy Zachary Scott are the main male characters and Gene Tierney, Ethel Barrymore and Ann Dvorak, the female. Great script, even Ben Hecht touched it, though uncredited. Dale Robertson lends his voice as the narrator, also uncredited. This film was a critical and commercial success and I am sure that it will eventually be back where it belongs, among the best westerns, in DVDs , etc.

moonspinner55 Unusual, exceptional western has six fugitives from a Nevada penitentiary on the run from the law in a snowstorm, taking refuge in a remote woodland village inhabited only by women, mostly wives of traveling prospectors. Glenn Ford plays the falsely accused thief of $40,000 out to kill the liar who wrongly fingered him for the crime and stole off with the money himself; Gene Tierney is the crook's unknowing intended, who instead develops a passion for Ford. Interesting tale plays out melodramatically rather than as a suspense story; still entertaining however, with excellent lead performances and solid work from Ethel Barrymore as the elderly matriarch of the ladies. There's an exciting wrap-up to the whole thing (topped with a dandy fall from a mountainside), plus a narrator telling us it was all based upon a true occurrence. That seems unlikely (as rendered here), though it makes for a rugged adventure with romantic asides. **1/2 from ****

MARIO GAUCI Unusual Western which creates a wonderful atmosphere throughout with the gleaming black-and-white cinematography of the snowy setting; the narrative is set in motion with the appearance of five escaped prisoners (hungry, tired and with the law on their tails) at a small backwoods village, which they presently find inhabited only by the womenfolk. The former are led by Zachary Scott and, in their majority, expect to have a run of the place – but have reckoned without the resilience of the women, who have learned to defend themselves from outsiders.Besides, Scott is constantly at loggerheads with Glenn Ford: the latter had been convicted by the false evidence given at the trial by a local (the intended of heroine Gene Tierney), and Ford has come there expressly for the purpose of revenge – while Scott is eager to lay his hands on the fortune he believes Ford stole and, consequently, is hidden there! Due to a raging blizzard, the women are forced to extend their hospitality to the prisoners; however, the two groups live in isolation from one another, until the barn is accidentally set on fire and the men lend a helping hand – which breaks down the barrier if only for a little while.Two other important female roles are those of Ann Dvorak as Tierney's prospective sister-in-law (a shrewish spinster who's subsequently given the runaround by the slimy Scott – only so that he can get her to reveal the location of the weapons, which the women have hidden away) and Ethel Barrymore as, naturally, the matriarch of the settlement (bearing a strong will to make up for her fading health). Among the convicts are Cyril Cusack (the philosopher in the group) and Jack Lambert (the equally unavoidable brutish thug); another is a harmless-looking young man who goes into blackouts when contradicted and is then gripped by a homicidal fury – he strikes a friendship with the youngest in the place (Barbara Bates) but is soon forcing himself on the girl when he gets her alone…which leads him to a fight with Ford and then has to contend with the wrath of the other women, who promptly attack him with their pitch-forks! Of course, Ford and Tierney themselves develop feelings for one another – and, ultimately, the latter confesses that she doesn't love her fiancée (having accepted him only out of gratitude for the attentions he gave Tierney when down on her luck). Eventually, the menfolk of the village turn up and the convicts have to shoot it out with them (minutes only after Dvorak has disclosed the hiding-place of the money – stolen by her brother – and which Tierney has given to Scott so that he and his companions could leave!); amid all this hubbub, Ford has a showdown with his old nemesis (witnessed by Tierney). The finale is quite splendid: with the weather now calm, the posse has resumed the chase – arriving on the scene just as the townsfolk are holding services over five graves (whose occupants the former take to be the fugitives); at first, the locals were divided over whether to give Ford away or not but, after Tierney has pleaded his case, Barrymore's authority over the community ensures that everyone is of the same mind.Though essentially modest (running for a mere 83 minutes), the film is both good-looking and well-acted – very much an under-appreciated genre effort, evoking memories of such classics as THE OX-BOW INCIDENT (1943) and YELLOW SKY (1948), which ought to be on DVD (God knows Fox have done well by their vintage catalogue). By the way, I've got two more exotic Glenn Ford titles from this same era to catch up with – namely APPOINTMENT IN HONDURAS (1953) and PLUNDER OF THE SUN (1953) which thankfully, are on DVD