James Stewart cleans up a Wild West town without a pistol in this peak Hollywood Factory entertainment, capping a breakthru year for him and serving up a career reboot for Marlene Dietrich as Frenchy, the saucy saloon singer who’ll ‘see what the boys in the backroom will have.’ Smoothly handled by journeyman director George Marshall (who’d also do the ‘54 Audie Murphy remake), this is one of those can’t-miss storylines (four film treatments, tv series, B’way musical) that thrives by not being pushed too hard, and having everyone play on the same wavelength. Something you can see in Brian Donlevy’s almost likeable villain, lording over the corrupt town of Bottleneck, yet falling for Stewart’s folksy humor and breezy personality, unaware he’s being set up to take a fall. That’s the main gag in the film, winningly fooling everyone . . . on both sides of the screen. While Dietrich, as the bad gal who flips, has some terrifically funny scenes (watch her vamp Stewart on a settee), though she probably turned audiences back her way in a down & dirty fight with Una Merkel. And credit producer Joe Pasternak for rousting up the strong line-up of supporting players at budget-wary Universal.
DOUBLE-BILL/SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: It seems a stretch (okay, it is a stretch), but Stewart’s Destry is not so far from Henry Fonda’s Abraham Lincoln in John Ford’s YOUNG MR. LINCOLN, made the same year. Two tall skinny storytellers who get the point across (and get their way) with roundabout cornpone humor & misdirection. Easy to imagine them switching roles. Say, weren’t they living together at the time? Maybe they ran lines by each other when they weren’t peeking at the pool next door, hoping to catch Garbo take her daily nude swim.
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