Across the Wide Missouri ** (1951, Clark Gable, Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak, Adolphe Menjou) – Classic Movie Review 6711

Director William A Wellman’s 1951 Western stars Clark Gable as pioneering beaver trapper Flint Mitchell, who cynically marries Kamiah (Maria Elena Marques), a young Native American woman, just to gain permission to hunt in her people’s territory in the 1830s.

But, when Flint falls in love with Kamiah, and happiness seems certain, their happiness is jeopardised by a tribal war and a resentful Blackfoot chief.

Wellman’s movie is a, interesting, good-hearted but rather unsatisfying mix of Western plus romantic drama. On the plus side there are good performances from a strong team, the film is different, short (it runs just 78 minutes, probably cut down from a much longer epic movie) and it is prettily filmed in Technicolor on location by William C Mellor. But you expect something a little grander with these participants, and it ends up feeling like just a filler or support feature.

Howard Keel narrates the story by Talbot Jennings, Frank Cavett, based on a book by Bernard DeVoto.

Also in the cast are Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak, Adolphe Menjou, J Carrol Naish, Jack Holt, Alan Napier, George Chandler, Richard Anderson, Douglas Fowley, Russell Simpson, Frankie Darro, Ben Watson, James Whitmore and Henri Letondal, plus many, many more as MGM advertised ‘thousands in the cast’.

Across the Wide Missouri runs 78 minutes, is written by Talbot Jennings, shot by William Mellor, produced by Robert Sisk, scored by David Raksin, and designed by Cedric Gibbons and James Basevi.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6711

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