Barbara Stanwyck is Hannah Sempler, a lovely young woman living in Philadelphia in 1848 and engaged to be married to a much older businessman made Cadwallader when she falls for frontiersman Ethan Hoyt (Joel McCrea).
They elope and head to Hoyt City. Ethan has given her the impression it’s a real city. In truth, it amounts to the cabin he lives in. But he dreams of the land he owns around that cabin becoming a city one day.
But building a city requires money, so Ethan begins prospecting. He had little luck finding gold, and what he does find is covered in muck. It’s Hannah who discovers that muck is actually a rich silver deposit.
She convinces Steely Edwards (Brian Donlevy) to lend her the money Ethan needs to mine that silver. But upon finding out where she got the money, Ethan leaves in a jealous rage, vowing never to return. You see, like Ethan, Steely fell in love with Hannah at first sight, and he’s been seeing quite a bit of her ever since.
What Ethan doesn’t know when he storms off is that Hannah is pregnant with his first child; actually, she winds up having twins. But they’ll never meet their father, and Hannah will never be truly reunited with the man she loves and inspires to build the city he once only dreamed of.
Review:
A film that will remind viewers of 1929’s Oscar winning “Cimarron” in that it portrays the woman behind the man — Stanwyck in this case — as the true hero. Stanwyck’s self-sacrifice on behalf of a man who leaves her behind and makes a fortune as a result of her discovery plays a bit beyond belief today.
But Wellman and Stanwyck serve up enough delightful, memorable and touching moments to overcome any deficiencies in the story.
Among the most delightful: The way mischievous and lovely young Hannah slides down a stair rail backwards so she can listen in as Ethan talks business with her father and her fiance. Among the most memorable: Flood waters washing away the stagecoach in which Hannah and her infant children are riding. Among the most touching: Hannah tearing up her marriage certificate at the end of the film so no one can uncover a scandal that could destroy the memory of the man she loved. Thinking she was dead, Ethan remarried and had two children with a second wife.
The story is told flashback style. A statue of Ethan is being dedicated in a now thriving Hoyt City and newspaper reporters are hounding Hannah for her story. Now more than 100 years old, she decides to share that story with a young biographer, played by K.T. Stevens, daugther of respected director Sam Wood.
This marked one of six films Stanwyck and McCrea made together. The others included two more Westerns, “Union Pacific” from 1939 and “Trooper Hook” from 1957.
Directed by:
William Wellman
Cast:
Barbara Stanwyck … Hannah Sempler
Joel McCrea … Ethan Hoyt
Brian Donlevy … Steely Edwards
K.T. Stevens … Girl biographer
Thurston Hall … Mr. Sempler
Lloyd Corrigan … Mr. Cadwallader
Etta McDaniel … Delilah
Frank M. Thomas … Frisbee
William B. Davidson … Sen. Knobs
Lillian Yarbo … Mandy
Helen Lynd … Bettina
Mary Treen … Persis
Lucien Littlefield … City editor
John Hamilton … Sen. Grant
Fred “Snowflake” Toones … Pogey
Runtime: 90 min.
Memorable lines:
Hannah Sempler:, after a host of reporters have barged into her home: “To what do I owe this peculiar honor, may I ask?”
Hannah Sempler to female biographer: “Ah, yes, girl, men were different in those days, men like Ethan — a drink in one hand and luck in the other.”
Young Hannah to her maid, Delilah: “Delilah, were you ever engaged?”
Delilah: “I ain’t tellin’.”
Hannah: “I mean, engaged — it’s not like being married, is it?”
Delilah: “Sakes no, child. Engaged is maybe. And married is done-done.”
Ethan Hoyt, late in life: “Hannah, how’d I do?”
Hannah: “Fine, Ethan. Fine.”
Ethan: “You gave me the strength and the courage.”
Hannah: “But you did it alone, Ethan. All alone.”
Ethan: “No, Hannah, not alone. You were with me. Every step of the way. I wanted you to be proud of me.”
Hannah to the female biographer once their interview has ended: “Run along. You’ve got 100 years of your own to live. If you can take it.”
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