Gentle Annie (1944)

“Gentle Annie” Goss (Marjorie Main) lives on a small farm in Oklahoma with her two sons, Cottonwood (Harry Morgan) and Violet (Paul Langton). It’s a good farm, but Annie dreams of the day when she will be able to return to Missouri.

There’s only one way to finance such a trip, Cottonwood and Violet decide. And that way is robbing trains. And they feel partly justified in their thievery because the local sheriff, Tatum, is corrupt. In fact, they’re pretty sure he had something to do with their father’s death.

When they aren’t pointing guns at railroad employees, the members of the Goss family are as friendly as anyone you’ll find. When a down-on-his-luck drifter (James Craig) shows up, they offer him shelter. They do the same for a young woman (Donna Reed) who also longs for home, but needs a place to stay until she can finance the trip.

Both newcomers grow fond of Gentle Annie and her sons. But they’ve also heard the rumors around town — rumors that the Goss brothers were involved in a train holdup. Little clues keep turning up that give more weight to those rumors.

Mary would prefer to ignore the truth, if that’s the case. Rich William, the drifter who really isn’t a drifter at all, can’t.

Review:

Well-done and unique little tale. Majorie Main, character actor in oh-so many Westerns, does a fine job as a woman who boasts about her deceased husband, loves her sons, but yearns for a return to her home in Missouri.

She adopts Mary as the daughter she never had. As for her sons, Violet takes an immediate interest in the pretty young woman, who also hails from Missouri. So does the drifter.

All of our sympathies lie with the Goss family, but director Andrew Marton and company eschew a fairytale ending … well, at least for the most part.

Among the delightful scenes: Marjorie Main’s Annie Goss showing Mary a picture of a fancy, plumed hat she’d love to own, but fretting that she doesn’t have what you need as a woman to pull off such a hat. Her sons buy if for her anyway.

Paul Lanton as Violet Goss, springing to a lady’s defense while his brother tries to keep him in check in Gentle Annie (1944)

Directed by:
Andrew Marton

Cast:
James Craig … Rich Williams / Lloyd Richland
Donna Reed … Mary Lingen
Marjorie Main … Annie Goss
Harry Morgan … Cottonwood Goss
Paul Langton … Violet Goss
Barton MacLane … Sheriff Tatum
John Philliber … Barrow
Morris Ankum … Deputy Gansby
Noah Beery … Hansen
Frank Darien … Jake
Robert Emmett O’Connor … Childers

Runtime: 80 min.

Harry Morgan as Cottonwood Goss confronts a shopkeeper on the behalf of Mary Lingen (Donna Reed) in Gentle Annie (1944)

Barton MacLane as Sheriff Tatum and Morris Ankrum as Deputy Gansby, up to no good in Gentle Annie (1944)

Memorable lines:

Violet Gross, watching Mary walk down the street: “Look at her prance along … Ain’t she something, Cotton?”
Cotton Gross: “Any woman’s something when you need ’em. Only we ain’t foolin’ with ’em right now. I got the supplies on the buckboard and you got the money for Muddy’s package.”

Mary Lingen: “Why should she be so nice to me?”
Rich Williams: “There are nice people in the world, too.”
Mary: “So far, I’ve missed them.”

Rich Williams: “There’s only one catch to this business of going back to things.”
Gentle Annie: “What’s that?”
Rich: “They never seem the same once you get back there.”

Marjorie Main (right) as Annie Goss shows Mary Lingen a picture of the hat she dreams of owning in Gentle Annie (1944)

Paul Langton as Violet and Harry Morgan as Cottonwood, presenting mom Annie Goss (Marjorie Main) with a special plumed hat in Gentle Annie (1944)

John Philliber as town drunk Barrow, thinking he’s fallen into a big bounty in Gentle Annie (1944)

James Craig as Lloyd Richland, Harry Morgan as Cottonwood Goss and Paul Langton as his brother Violet confront crooked lawmen in Gentle Annie (1944)

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