Produced by Dore Schary. Copyright 12 November 1951 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 31 December 1951. U.S. release: 31 December 1951. U.K. release: 4 February 1952. Australian release: 2 May 1952. 10,480 feet. 116 minutes. Location scenes filmed at Surprise Valley, Paria Canyon and Johnson Creek in the Mojave desert of Southern Utah.
NOTES: M-G-M cut the film to exactly 10,000 feet (111 minutes) in the U.K.
COMMENT: Typically, M-G-M has transmuted what could have been a moving piece of historical Americana into a wearisome parade of cornball clichés, redeemed by impressive location photography and a spirited performance by Denise Darcel.
The direction by William A. Wellman is visually stylish, but the decision to dispense with background music was a bad error of judgment as its lack points up dialogue and situation clichés more strongly.
Still, there is enough incident to maintain the interest, despite Wellman's method of telegraphing each plot development well in advance and despite a comic-relief Japanese cook who talks to the dog of a dead little boy and has a well-stocked repertoire of philosophic clichés for every eventuality - which come across as twice as boring in this film as he says them first in Japanese!
Revived at second-release cinemas, two or three times in the 1950's, Westward the Women lent itself to the sort of advertising campaign designed to draw in less discriminating patrons.
NOTES: M-G-M cut the film to exactly 10,000 feet (111 minutes) in the U.K.
COMMENT: Typically, M-G-M has transmuted what could have been a moving piece of historical Americana into a wearisome parade of cornball clichés, redeemed by impressive location photography and a spirited performance by Denise Darcel.
The direction by William A. Wellman is visually stylish, but the decision to dispense with background music was a bad error of judgment as its lack points up dialogue and situation clichés more strongly.
Still, there is enough incident to maintain the interest, despite Wellman's method of telegraphing each plot development well in advance and despite a comic-relief Japanese cook who talks to the dog of a dead little boy and has a well-stocked repertoire of philosophic clichés for every eventuality - which come across as twice as boring in this film as he says them first in Japanese!
Revived at second-release cinemas, two or three times in the 1950's, Westward the Women lent itself to the sort of advertising campaign designed to draw in less discriminating patrons.