Texas Lady (1955)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Tim Whelan

Writer:

Horace McCoy (story)

Release Date:

23 November 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

WOMANLY WILES WERE HER WEAPONS! (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

Prudence travels to an isolated Texas town where she has inherited the local paper. She finds the place...

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Prudence Webb
Barry Sullivan	...	Chris Mooney
Ray Collins	...	Mica Ralston (rancher)
James Bell	...	Cass Gower
Horace McMahon	...	Stringer Winfield
Gregory Walcott	...	Deputy Jess Foley
John Litel	...	Meade Moore (wigwam owner)
Douglas Fowley	...	Clay Ballard (Clarion owner)
Don Haggerty	...	Sheriff Herndon
Walter Sande	...	Whit Sturdy (rancher)
Alexander Campbell	...	Judge E. Ness Herzog
Florenz Ames	...	Wilson (general store owner)
Kathleen Mulqueen	...	Nancy (Nanny) Winfield
Robert Lynn	...	Rev. Callender

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (certificate #17648) | West Germany:12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Columbia State Historic Park - 22708 Broadway, Columbia, California, USA

Company:

Holt-Rosen

Soundtrack:

Texas Lady

Fairly uninteresting b-movie but distracting enough if you're in an undemanding mood

On the way to a small Texas town to claim the local newspaper as her inheritance, Prudence Webb stops off to fleece a infamous gambler (Chris Mooney) in revenge for him winning a lot of money off her father – a debt that eventually led to his suicide. On arriving in the town, Prudence finds that the paper is run by Clay Ballard who denies that the paper was ever signed over to Webb's father and refuses to give up ownership. Prudence turns to the law and quickly makes enemies in the town by using the court system to claim her inheritance and wins her case. With the town's powerbase against her, who'd have expected that it would be Chris Mooney who would come to her aid?! And so goes the story with this fairly run-of-the-mill western that is strangely coloured and lacking anything special to really justify watching. The basic plot sees a bit of romance set against a back drop of a stranger in town causing a conflict with the bad element and, yes, it is delivered as flatly and unimaginatively as that summary suggests. The basic characters don't really add anything of interest and I did struggle to really care about any of them mainly because they were fairly cardboard and uninteresting. Of course, this being a b-movie sort of affair then it is maybe a bit unfair to be harsh on it because all it is aiming to do is fill time and provide a bit of entertainment and not much else. In that regard the film does alright – with poker games, fights, shoot outs, horse riding and action; none of it is anything special of course but it just about does enough to be distracting.

The cast pretty much match this with average performances all round. Colbert is OK but never made a lasting impression on me; she seems to enjoy the lead role and she matches the material. Sullivan should have been the slick man of the film and brought a spark to all his scenes, instead he is rather bland and only really has chemistry with Colbert in his opening poker scene. Support is nothing special at all and the "baddies" never really made much of an impact and thus didn't feed the tension within the narrative.

Overall this is a fairly average film with nothing special to really recommend it for. The story is OK and is delivered with enough stuff of entertainment value to make it passable and distracting on a wet Sunday afternoon but there are much better westerns than this around.