Director: Norman Taurog

Cast: Deborah Kerr, Robert Walker, Mark Stevens

Synopsis: A young English woman inherits a Texas ranch and heads to America to start a new and prosperous life, having no idea of the sort of man trouble she’ll attract.

There’s something strangely old-fashioned about this movie that is difficult to define. The storyline is one that was more suited to 1940 than 1950 – it seems too small and insubstantial for actors of the calibre of Deborah Kerr and Robert Walker to be involved, and the storyline too lightweight.

Anyway, the plot – such as it is – concerns the pursuit of an heiress by a con-man, a millionaire and a lawyer, and takes place largely on a US-bound cruise liner. The leads play their parts capably, although Mark Stevens as the lawyer is a little anonymous. Having said that, I can’t help feeling both Walker and Peter Lawford would have been more effective had they exchanged roles. Perhaps that’s just because of Lawford’s cut-glass English accent, though – a characteristic that has become synonymous with villainy in a slew of recent flicks. James Whitmore provides able support, but is a little under-used.

There are a few humorous moments, but within a week of watching it you’ll be hard-pushed to remember much at all of this unambitious little pic.

(10th February 2002)