Three Faces West

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source: Three Faces West

As part of a program relocating European refugees, Viennese surgeon Charles Coburn is sent to Dust Bowl-stricken North Dakota where people are in desperate need of a doctor. Where's John Wayne figure into all this? He's the unelected leader of the town that falls for Coburn's daughter (Sigrid Gurie). This is an odd movie. A mixture of WW2 flag waver, social messager, and western (Duke leads the modern equivalent of a wagon train). The plot is also a bit of a mess. A short time after the doctor arrives in North Dakota, the decision is made to pack up all the townsfolk and move to Oregon. Why not just send Coburn and Gurie to Oregon first and explain that these people had to relocate there and need a doctor? I guess then we couldn't have had the scenes of Gurie insulting the poor townsfolk who have just given them a home. I kept expecting Duke to say "Go back and try your luck with the Nazis if you feel that way about it." Coburn is likable but this isn't the kind of role he was best suited for. And the less said about his attempt at an accent, the better. John Wayne does fine but this is just another forgettable role made between John Ford films as his star was still on the rise. Sigrid Gurie is the latest in a string of tepid romantic interests for Duke that would continue throughout the 1940s. He was paired with many fine actresses, but the chemistry was often just not there. It's not a bad film, just not a good one. Kind of boring and more than a bit disappointing they didn't explore the Dust Bowl story longer.

Copyright 12 July 1940 by Republic Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Criterion: 18 August 1940. U.S. release: 12 July 1940. U.K. release through British Lion: 11 November 1940. No Australian theatrical release. 9 reels. 79 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Dust Bowl farmers move themselves and their North Dakota township 1,500 miles to Oregon. VIEWER'S GUIDE: Downbeat but inspiring. Suitable for all. COMMENT: John Alton's atmospheric cinematography is the major asset of this odd Americana drama. Although he has close to a characteristic role (a stubborn leader, a man of action and strong principles, yet comradely and romantic), John Wayne is not exactly going to please most of his fans, who are sure to find the setting bizarre. At the time of the film's release, Republic capitalized on Fox's The Grapes of Wrath, but few present-day viewers will make this connection. Another problem is that in order not to be accused of a direct steal from Steinbeck, this film's writers have clouded the central story with a major sub-plot about a refugee doctor, his beautiful daughter and (virtually right at the finish) a former suitor who turns out to be a Nazi. One feels that the story would have come across with more impact had some of these plot strands been eliminated and the Wayne character filled in and backgrounded instead. In fact, the focus of the film is firmly on Coburn for the first half, with Wayne playing a subsidiary role. The location scenes still impress. The dust-storm episodes are unforgettable - even when Alton's striking images are undermined by obvious studio cut-ins. Coburn handles the central role with his usual cunning authority, Sigrid Gurie is charming enough, while Spencer Charters makes the most of one of his biggest roles as Wayne's sidekick and town fixture. Bardette plays a minor villain with grumpy finesse, Russell Simpson over-acts the minister. The rest of the players, including thankfully Sonny Bupp (who I must admit is quite adequate here) have no more than cameos. OTHER VIEWS: Strikingly photographed by John Alton in a tone that is appropriately bleak and gray, Three Faces West is a bit of an entertainment no-no. The script's two stories are imperfectly welded, with audience focus and character motivation changing abruptly. Director Vorhaus is not much help. He's a great fan of close-ups, but does precious little to help the story's pace and drama. What paltry action there is, he seems anxious to get over with as quickly as possible, so that he can get back to more humdrum scenes with foregone-conclusions and lots of beating-about-the-bush dialogue.

A CBS radio program entitled "We the People" assists in finding an American home for Vienna refugee Charles Coburn (as Karl Braun), a skilled surgeon and pool hustler. He arrives with beautiful daughter Sigrid Gurie (as Leni), who is "studying" to become a nurse. Relocated to a small, dusty Midwestern village, they are welcomed at the station by burly John Wayne (as John Phillips) and his uncle Spencer Charters (as 'Nunk' Atterbury), a veterinarian. Ms. Gurie is unhappy in the dustbowl, and wants to leave. Immediately. But, the prospect of romance with Mr. Wayne might change her mind... God answers the citizens' many prayers for rain, but it may not be enough to save the farming town. The entire town is advised to relocate to Oregon. Wayne wants to stay and tough it out. Coburn receives an invitation to work at a top clinic. And, Gurie learns her fiancé, presumed dead, will be arriving to claim her as his wife. She feels duty-bound to accept; but, he has a dark secret... This film does not flatter Wayne, who seems way out of his element. Being paired with Gurie, promoted as another Garbo, doesn't help. They do have a cute scene in Wayne's car ("Jalopy, an Italian car"). **** Three Faces West (7/3/40) Bernard Vorhaus ~ John Wayne, Sigrid Gurie, Charles Coburn, Spencer Charters

THREE FACES WEST is a John Wayne western with a difference: there are no explicit villains here, no bandits or ruthless criminals waiting to be gunned down by our hero. The enemy of the film is the environment itself, or rather the dust bowl that causes hero Wayne and his townsfolk allies to flee from their homes to re-settle in Oregon. There's some political subtext too about the plight of German refugees fleeing the Nazi regime to settle in America. It's not one of the Duke's most exciting pictures, but at least the novelty of the plot keeps it watchable.

Taking part in a poll on ICM for the best movies of 1940,I started looking for movies which came out that year. Solely knowing John Ford's magnificent The Long Voyage Home as the only thing he starred in this year,I was intrigued to find out that John Wayne had done another movie in 1940 which sounded like it deals with the same themes Ford touched on in 1940's The Grapes of Wrath,which led to me facing west. The plot: Emigrating to the US as the horrors of WWII grip Europe, Dr. Karl Braun and his daughter Leni 'Lenchen' Braun settle in a Dust Bowl farm town in North Dakota. Welcomed by John Phillips,the Braun's learn that the locals are desperate for new farming machines,but are told by the Department of Agriculture that they must keep to the old ways. Believing that there is no hope left in the Dust Bowl,Phillips makes plans with his fellow townspeople to all travel to a new home,as Leni finds out that her fiancé has embraced Nazism. View on the film: Limiting any action to a dirt road chase to the end credits, director Bernard Vorhaus & cinematographer John Alton plant an atmospheric character study,that digs up the lingering effect of the 1929 crash,with dour brown and bronze colours lining the stomach of the town. Displaying a sharp ear for sound,Vorhaus listens in on the towns waiting for FDRs New Deal,via rustling howls and an eerie yowl from the wind signalling the wasteland state of the country. Carving the Nazi fiancé to be the most film-like element,the screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert/Joseph Moncure March and Samuel Ornitz wonderfully keep the drama grounded,from the Braun's getting a mixed reaction to their arrival,to Phillips difficulties leading him to not reach his hopes of being the cowboy who rides during sundown and saves the town. Joined by a fittingly fragile Sigrid Gurie as Leni,The Duke shakes his (big C) conservative image with a striking performance as Phillips,that rings a warm sincerity for the New Deal facing the former Wild West.

I did not think that this was a very good movie. It bored me. It was largely a propaganda film, with John Wayne spouting clichés and inspirational fluff, presumably to uplift the morale of the nation as war rages in Europe and Asia. It also carried an anti-Nazi propaganda portion, (which is fine by me) but I sort of thought that Hollywood was OK with Germany in 1940, since they were allied with the Soviet Union at that time. Wayne, of course was a noted conservative and anti-communist, but I'm not sure how much power he wielded at the studio in 1940. The whole film just came across as preachy and fake. I don't really recommend it to anyone, not even John Wayne fans.

One of the best parts of the picture are some scarce clips of Dust Bowl sequences woven into the picture. The actual location of a mountainous location near Lone Pine, California look nothing like the Great Plains, but you can tell when you see gang plowing by mules, and some other shots shot during the Dust Bowl, that they are the real deal. There is also some confusion when you're told at one point they're in Oklahoma, and in another North Dakota, but it captures at least some of the tough issues faced by the farmers of the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl. Frankly, it is simplistic to see any ONE treatment of these times as definitive. "Letters from the Dust Bowl," "The Worst Hard Times," GRapes of Wrath," etc. are ALL snapshot treatments. Same here. But watch it, take what you can from it, and keep reading and watching as much materials as you can.

. . . exclaims Leni Braun at her first glimpse of John Wayne's bachelor pad in THREE FACES WEST. This flick has three screenwriters, since Republic Pictures decided to combine key elements of the scripts then circulating for GRAPES OF WRATH, CASABLANCA, and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS into one 79-minute low-budget show, giving each of the plot lines a happy ending. John Wayne takes on the future Henry Fonda, Humphrey Bogart, and Charlton Heston roles, with one are tied behind his back. This film made Sigrid Gurie's career, as she proves that she possesses all the talents of Ingrid Bergman. Paul Henreid's role as the courageous Resistance Fighter is greatly shortened, as he reveals himself to be a Nazi convert during his minute on screen. This, of course, allows Wayne's Rick-like character to marry Gurie's Ilsa stand-in for this feature's Grand Finale. Simultaneously, John's Moses gets to put down roots in the Promised Land, renamed "Oregon" here, which welcomes all the Dust Bowl Okies with open arms. There's no need for any women to wet-nurse grown men named "Joad," No Siree, Bob! Not so much as a turtle dies in THREE FACES WEST, as Wayne only punches out a few old-timers.