River Lady (1948) User Reviews (6)

"Oh you couldn't dam that river,And maybe I don't give a dam anyway,So you couldn't dam that river,And it washed me so far away."

[morrison-dylan-fan · 7/10 · 1 June 2014]

Originally planning to buy a DVD of the wonderful Film Noir/proto-Giallo title The Screaming Mimi on its own,I got caught by surprise,when the DVD seller told me,that due to postage cost,I would have to order a minimum of 2 titles.Searching around the sellers list of available titles,I was delighted to spot a movie starring an actress who I've been reading a lot of praise for from fellow IMDb'ers called Yvonne De Carlo,which led to me happily getting ready to visit the 'River Lady' for the first time..

The plot:

Returning to a small logging village,the crew on a gambling ship called the River Lady reveal that they are planning to buy out all of the small time log distributors,so that they can become the dominating force.Standing in the way of the plan is local businessman H.L. Morrison,who is desperate to not lose his business to the River Lady's leading crew members Sequin and Bauvais.Seeing Morrison's business as an easy target,Sequin cuts a secret deal which leads to her boyfriend Dan Corrigan getting a job at Morrison's company.As they start to make plans on taking over Morrison's business,Sequin and Bauvais begin to fear that Corrigan will stop the small time businesses from running down stream.

View on the film:

For their excellent adaptation of Houston Branch and Frank Waters novel,writers D.D. Beauchamp and William Bowers use the woodland village setting to give the movie a strong folk atmosphere,with the writers making the residences of the River Lady be the high gambling and drinking kind,compared to the down to earth and humble village residences.Thanks to making each set of residences be different from each other,the writers place a nice 'big guy v little guy' at the heart of the title,with the writers also wonderfully showing each of the villagers' being tempted by the wild life style of the River Lady.

Directed with a real elegance by George Sherman,the beautiful Yvonne De Carlo gives a wonderfully frosty performance as Sequin,with De Carlo showing Sequin to have her eyes on the prize,and nothing else which could cause Sequin to lose her seat at the River Lady's gambling tables.Joining De Carlo,Dan Duryea gives a delightful boo-hiss performance as Beauvais,whilst a stern Rod Cameron shows that Corrigan will do everything possible to stop the river from flowing into Beauvais and Sequin's hands.

So-so Western set in upper Mississipi where confront loggers, corrupt businessmen and a beautiful River Queen

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 14 April 2020]

A passable but average Western with no much action, not shootouts, dealing with tough loggers and their violent facing off contenders in the upper Mississippi zone. It is set circa 1850s, ambitious businessman Beauvais, Dan Duryea attempts to take over the local mill whose owner is the reluctant Mulligan : John McIntire , but there comes Dan : Rod Cameron to help him, while he falls in love for Mulligan's daughter Stephanie : Helena Carter. There also arrives on her gambling riverboat, Sequin : gorgeous Yvonne De Carlo, to meet the lumberjack people who amuse themselves at the casino boat. Meantime , manipulating and seductive Sequin manages to Dan falls for her claws, causing the subsequent jeoulous of Stephanie.

A western drama with thrills, brawls, dramatic moments, romance, colorful cinematography and commendable musical score. This concerns the brawling story of the lusty Mississippi in which some lumbermen arrive in town causing mayhem and confrontation . Stars the always wonderful and sensual Yvonne De Carlo , the Technicolor queen, who performed several Westerns and adventure movies. Co-stars Rod Cameron as a two-fisted logger taking on crooked enemies, the tall and veteran actor playing Westerns through a long career from the 40s, as he acted in a lot of oaters, such as : The old Texas trail, The riders of Santa Fe, The Kansan, Brimstone, Runaround, Trigger trail, Panhandle, Dakota Lil, Belle Star's daughter, Renegades of the Rio Grande, The plunderers, Stampede and he even starred Spaghetti Westerns as Bullets and the flesh, Thunder at the border and Pistols don't argue.

It contains shimmer and glimmer cinematography in brilliant Technicolor by Irving Glassberg, Univetsal's regular. As well as evocative and rousing musical score by Paul Sawtell. The motion picture was uneven but professionally directed by George Sherman in B style, though it has some flaws. Sherman made reliable low budget fares for Columbia between 1945 to 48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another 8 years, where he directed a lot of films. Sherman especialized almost exclusively in B westerns there, including The Three Musketeers series which featured a young John Wayne. As George directed westerns as The last of the fast guns, The lone hand, Santa Fe stampede, Red Skin, Chief Crazy Horse, Calamity Jane, Relentless, Comanche territory , among others. Rating 5, 5 out of 10, acceptable and passable western that will appeal to Yvonne De Carlo fans.

Tree loggers of America, unite!

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 21 September 2012]

The "love quartet" aspect of "River Lady" (rich, power-driven Yvonne De Carlo and precocious Helena Carter love rugged tree logger Rod Cameron, crooked businessman Dan Duryea loves Yvonne) is slight and banal, though Helena Carter glows in one of her first roles, and this must be one of the very few instances where (SPOILER!) Yvonne De Carlo doesn't get her man! More interesting is the "business" aspect of the film: the independent loggers fighting collectively against the syndicate that wants to monopolize the market (and drive their wages down). Also interesting are the scenes of the actual process of tree-cutting and log-transporting streaming down the river. A compliment I can pay to this movie is that it looks like it could have been made in the 1950s, but the actual production date is 1948. **1/2 out of 4.

Yvonne de Carlo's memorable stint as the Log Lady.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 31 August 2015]

Movies about the logging industry have always been very exciting to me because they take the usual western themes and move them up north. The sight of these huge trees being chopped down is both sad and thrilling, a necessary evil because they provide humanity with shelter and paper, providing thousands of jobs and give new trees a chance to grow. The vision of them falling as somebody yells "Timber!" is thrilling, and curiosity makes me wonder how they manage to get them to fall in the right direction as to not hit other trees or land on either the loggers themselves or other wild animals who happen to be there. From 1938's "Valley of the Giants", its 1951 remake "The Big Trees" and 1942's "The Forest Rangers" (which had a memorable scene of the three leads literally trying not to roll of turning logs), these films are cinematically gorgeous. Every one includes different elements, but usually, it focuses on the good guys versus somebody who is trying to take over the company or sabotage the work they are already doing.

In this case, the bad guy is Dan Duryea, the head of a syndicate out to take on the little guy who in this case is Rod Cameron. Once again, Rod is involved with the beautiful singer Yvonne de Carlo, and together they must fight to keep the scheming Duryea from taking over the company. Their involvement is threatened by the love of society girl Helena Carter and Cameron's determination to get in good with her father. This beautifully filmed color adventure takes place way up north on the Mississippi where De Carlo runs a gambling show boat ("The River Lady") and is just as tough as the men surrounding her. There's the usual eccentric supporting characters, including the delightfully comical Florence Bates, but fortunately, it is missing the gratuitous grizzled old sidekick that more often than not simply just are not funny.

De Carlo as usual is beautiful, and unlike some of her other Universal films, actually gets to use her own voice while singing. Rod Cameron is a strong hero and Duryea a great villain as always. However, the film is at its best when it shows what goes on behind the scenes in the logging industry, especially in the conclusion where a log jam keeps the good guys from nearly beating Duryea and his cartel. It's interesting to note that in this modern world of ours, many industries change, but when you're dealing with nature, obviously technology can't take over certain businesses.

Lady looking for respect

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 2 September 2022]

RIVER LADY is a rousing western with music. It's about a community populated by two different crowds of people. The first group is a bunch of lumberjacks led by independent-minded Rod Cameron. He and a pal (Lloyd Gough) have been chopping down trees with their buddies. It's payday, and they head into a nearby town to blow off some steam. Of course, a saloon owner (Florence Bates) knows these guys are rough and tumble, but likable.

The second group involves the more refined folks in town. They're led by mill owner John McIntire, whose business could use an infusion of capital. McIntire's daughter (Helena Carter) has lived a sheltered life, and she's just returned from a finishing school back east. She's intrigued by the rugged lumberjacks invading their community, especially Mr. Cameron who catches her eye.

Unfortunately for Miss Carter, the guy's heart seems to already be taken. Cameron is romantically involved with a riverboat queen named Sequin, who is played by the film's star Yvonne De Carlo. Miss DeCarlo has brought her boat with its marked cards and crooked roulette wheel up the Mississippi to provide some flashy entertainment. She intends to fleece the men of their hard-earned cash.

She also intends to turn Cameron into her husband. Part of this involves a plan to encourage him to do business with McIntire, as that will bring them both some much-needed respectability. She tells Cameron she wants to own the biggest house on the highest hill so she can look down on the snobs that avoid her on the street and act like she's the dirt under their feet. To further her social climbing ambitions she takes money that she makes from her shady riverboat enterprise to secretly invest in McIntire's mill.

Complicating matters is a wily syndicate boss (Dan Duryea) who has designs on DeCarlo and wants to remove Cameron from the equation. He will stop at nothing to get what he wants, and I do mean nothing. Mr. Duryea has a field day with this role.

Both Duryea and Cameron had worked with DeCarlo on previous Universal pictures. DeCarlo's breakthrough at the studio, SALOME WHERE SHE DANCED, was her first pairing with Cameron; they also made FRONTIER GAL together. And before production began on this film, she'd just finished BLACK BART with Duryea; they would also costar in CRISS CROSS. Duryea brings out the femme fatale in the actress; and Cameron brings out the softer side in her.

Universal lavished a lot of attention and expenditure on RIVER LADY. It is presented in sumptuous Technicolor, the costumes are exquisite, and there's plenty of on-location shooting with scenes that depict how timber makes its way to the mill. A spectacular sequence involves a huge logjam and dynamite.

The barge that Miss DeCarlo commandeers has been reused from SHOW BOAT (both the 1929 and 1936 versions). But it is not the main attraction of this film. The main attraction is the lady herself...Yvonne DeCarlo.

Logging Country

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 15 April 2015]

Usually films set on the Mississippi are concerned with the area south of St. Louis to the New Orleans area and the delta. But River Lady is set in the country north of Minneapolis/St.Paul and it deals with the men who chop down trees and some women who scheme to get them.

Such a woman is Yvonne DeCarlo riverboat gambling queen who sets up shop to take the logger's wages away and she's pretty good at it. She's got it bad for Rod Cameron, tough talking, two fisted logging man whom she thinks can do better. She buys into John McIntire's failing company on the condition that Cameron be made boss only he's not to know about her asking.

But also McIntire's daughter Helena Carter takes an interest in Cameron. All the while Dan Duryea another riverboat gambler who like DeCarlo is watching and waiting for a moment to move in on the logs and Yvonne. He gets his opportunity.

The characters are nicely developed though I think that Cameron was a bit of a lug. Although Duryea usually plays oily creatures in his films like this one, I can't believe DeCarlo didn't see he was far more suited to her.

Some nice logging sequences and a nasty fight with loggers for both Duryea and Camerone mixing it up at the end as Cameron tries to dynamite a log jam. Action fans should like this.