Main Cast: Loretta Young, William Holden, Robert Mitchum, Gary Gray, Tom Tully
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 93 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
This late-40s western features Robert Mitchum as an Indian scout who happens upon an unlikely family cabined up in the Great Northwest. They're unlikely because the widower settler (William Holden) has "purchased" a wife (Loretta Young as wife Rachel) to help raise his son and do the female chores around the farm. The son resents the surrogate mom and the whole bunch aren't too happy when Mitchum shows up and starts making eyes at the lady. Their mutual attraction makes Holden jealous and he starts finding his wife a lot more attractive. It takes a full-fledged Indian attack to force the action, resolving the issue as to who's the right fella for Rachel. ~ All Movie Guide
Albert S. D'Agostino - Art Director, Walter E. Keller - Art Director, Jack Okey - Art Director, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Norman Foster - Director, Les Millbrook - Editor, Jack J. Gross - Executive Producer, Roy Webb - Composer (Music Score), Constantin Bakaleinikoff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gordon Bau - Makeup, Maury Gertsman - Cinematographer, Richard H. Berger - Producer, Darrell Silvera - Set Designer, John Sturtevant - Set Designer, Russell A. Cully - Special Effects, Waldo Salt - Screenwriter, Howard Fast - Short Story Author
Despite its low budget, the film became RKO's most successful film that year, making over $350,000.
Plot
In colonial America, David Harvey (William Holden), a recent widower living in the wilderness, decides that his young boy Davey (Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him. He goes to the nearest settlement and consults Parson Jackson (Tom Tully). David gets talked into buying the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (Loretta Young) and marrying her.
Their marriage, however, is in name alone. Rachel serves more as a servant than a wife and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his dead mother Susan. Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a family friend (and former suitor of Susan's), visits and falls in love with Rachel. When he offers to buy her, David must fight to keep her and discovers his love in the process.
