21 years after winning her Oscar as a runaway heiress in "It Happened One Night", Claudette Colbert was the "Texas Lady" who, by rather roundabout means, inherits a newspaper in a small Texas town where she comes up against corrupt cattle barons Ray Collins and Walter Sande and their hired gun Gregory Walcott. If, on the surface, Tim Whelan's western seems like a slight affair, think again. Horace McCoy's screenplay crams more plot into the films 80 odd minutes than most films manage in 3 hours, (and remember he was the author of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?") and while not always the most probable of plots, it's nevertheless very entertaining. Of course, Colbert herself was always one of the most likeable and watchable actresses ever to come out of Hollywood even if, as here, she's somewhat miscast and a good decade older than her love interest. Barry Sullivan. Minor perhaps but a curio that's worth seeking out.
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