River Lady (1948)

Yvonne De Carlo is Sequin, owner of the River Lady, a riverboat she takes up and down the Mississippi in order to take the earnings of loggers in exchange for whiskey, women and gambling.

Sequin’s doing quite well for herself, but dreams of doing better yet.

She’s the secret financier behind The Syndicate, a group forcing independent mill owners out of business in order to create a monopoly on lumber coming from the area.

Sequin also has her eyes set on Dan Corrigan (Rod Cameron), a strong-willed logger quite content with the unsettled life he’s leading.

Problem is, Sequin wants a husband who’s a successful businessman, someone worthy of living beside her in the biggest house on the highest hill in these here parts.

So she makes a deal with Morrison (John McEntire), one of those independent mill owners facing financial ruin. She’ll rescue his business, if he hires Corrigan to run it.

Complications arise when Morrison’s lovely and rebellious young daughter Stephanie (Helena Carter) also sets her sights on Corrigan.

Yvonne De Carlo as Sequin, owner of a riverboat and dreaming of becoming the richest woman around in River Lady (1948)

Rod Cameron as Dan Corrigan, settling into a job that doesn’t keep him away from Sequin for months on end in River Lady (1948)

Review:

The presence of two lovely ladies vying for Corrigan’s attention salvage a Western that’s short on traditional Western action.

You won’t hear a gunshot ring out until the film’s final five minutes. And the climatic showdown features two groups of loggers bearing clubs swinging them at one another while trying to keep their balance on floating logs.

Surprisingly for a film in which Yvonne De Carlo is top billed, it’s Helena Carter who has the better part. She’s a coquettish, bored young woman eager for excitement.

So when she hears to loggers are coming, she slips away from her home, sneaks down to the water’s edge and peeks over a barrel as dozens of rugged young men looking for a good time rush toward town.

That’s how she meets Corrigan. And in spite of her lady-like upbringing, she proves just as devious in trying to snag her man as Sequin, who’s never been considered “a lady.”

Dan Duryea is Beauvais, the man who does Sequin’s dirty work and would like to take Corrigan’s place in her heart. Lloyd Gough is the good friend who does his best to keep Corrigan on the right path when he’s about to stray.

Helena Carter as Stephanie Morrison, a young woman uninterested in playing ‘hard to get’ in River Lady (1948)

Dan Duryea as Beauvais, Sequin’s partner in acquiring mills all along the Mississippi River in River Lady (1948)

Directed by:
George Sherman

Cast:
Yvonne De Carlo … Sequin
Dan Duryea … Beauvais
Rod Cameron … Dan Corrigan
Helena Carter … Stephanie Morrison
Lloyd Gough … Mike Riley
Florence Bates … Ma Dunnegan
John McIntire … H.L. Morrison
Jack Lambert … Swede
Esther Somers … Ms. Morrison
Anita Turner … Esther
Edmund Cobb … Rider

Runtime: 78 min.

Song: “Louie Sands and Jim McGee”

John McIntire, a mill owner trying to hang onto his business in the face of threats from The Syndicate in River Lady (1948)

Esther Somers as Mrs. Morrison, concerned about her headstrong young daughter Stephanie in River Lady (1948)

Memorable lines:

Employee a Dunnigan’s saloon: “Hey, Ma!”
Ma Dunnigan: “Don’t yell at me. I ain’t deaf. What do you want?”
Employee: “The loggers are comin’. Be here in about an hour.”
Ma: “Well, don’t just stand there. Go inside and put the breakable things away. Bring up the cheap whiskey out of the cellar. Check the locks on all the doors. And tell the marshal to stand by.”

Dan Corrigan to Sequin: “Look, I’ll do all right. But I want to do it my own way. When I get married, I want a wife, not somebody who’s whipping me to go faster all the time.”

Beauvais to Sequin, of her plans for Corrigan: “Go ahead. Make a gentleman out of him … But after he gets to be a gentleman, he’ll want a lady. Not you.”

Lloyd Gough as Mike Riley, a friend of Dan Corrigan’s, sympathizing with one of the woman who love him in River Lady (1948)

Florence Bates as Ma Dunnegan, the bar owner who helps Dan Corrigan shanghai a logging crew in River Lady (1948)

Dan Corrigan, as Stephanie flirts shamelessly: “Stevie, behave yourself. Or I’m going to give you the worst spanking of your life.”
Stephanie Morrison: “I might even like that.”

Sequin: “I want the biggest house on the highest hill in this town. I want enough money so that I can treat those respectable women the way they’ve always treated me — like the dirt under their feet.”

Dan Corrigan: “Little girls don’t go around proposing marriage to men.”
Stephanie Morrison: “I do.”
Corrigan: “It’s a bad habit to get into. Somebody’s liable to take you up on it.”

Jack Lambert as Swede, a logger who bumps heads and trades punches with Dan Corrigan in River Lady (1948)

Helena Carter as Stephanie Morrison, getting a peek a the loggers as they race toward town and a good time in River Lady (1948)

Yvonne De Carlo as Sequn with her partner in The Syndicate, Dan Duryea as Beauvais in River Lady (1948)

Rod Cameron as Dan Corrigan, discussing what he expects from a wife with Sequin in River Lady (1948)