smatysia I did not think that this was a very good movie. It bored me. It was largely a propaganda film, with John Wayne spouting clichés and inspirational fluff, presumably to uplift the morale of the nation as war rages in Europe and Asia. It also carried an anti-Nazi propaganda portion, (which is fine by me) but I sort of thought that Hollywood was OK with Germany in 1940, since they were allied with the Soviet Union at that time. Wayne, of course was a noted conservative and anti-communist, but I'm not sure how much power he wielded at the studio in 1940. The whole film just came across as preachy and fake. I don't really recommend it to anyone, not even John Wayne fans.

XweAponX This film mirrors what is happening in the United States at this time of August 2009. It is almost as if the filmmaker had seen this present-day situation and created a film prophesying the events.Doctor Charles Coburn and daughter Sigrid Gurie are refugess from Nazi Germany and are asked by farmer John Wayne to come to a North Dakota dustbowl town as the community doctor.Initially daughter Leni (Gurie) despises the dust and even their host John Phillips (Wayne) - But father Dr Braun (Coburn) sees that the community needs help, and as they stay, their attitudes change and they begin to love the community which has adopted them.But they are forced to move as the dustbowl conditions get worse, and are promised land in Oregon by the Government. The only trouble, getting a community of over 200 men women and children safe to Oregon.In the meantime, Leni had fallen in love with Wayne, but when she finds out that her former fiancé who was thought dead is in San Fransisco, out of loyalty she decides she must go see him, so Dr Braun and Leni go off to San Fransisco to see him: But when they get there they find out that the Nazi party had sent him there as a spy, so they return to the caravan going to Oregon.During the trip, one loudmouthed Limbaugh type - A man whose son Dr Braun had saved an appendix burting- starts barking loudly about California instead, and influences a number of the men to go to California with him- Reneging on their agreement to go to Oregon -and his rabble rousing even gets Wayne to give up and drive off.Finally it is a confrontation between Wayne and this man, and it is all about accomplishing what they had set off to originally do.The whole film speaks of honor and trust in a leader, and as it turns out Wayne is that reluctant leader, and when the people finally get to Oregon they see that he was right all the time.It is very rare to find a John Wayne film like this, but in the end, John Wayne stood for the principles that this film expounds on.

SCmovieprof One of the best parts of the picture are some scarce clips of Dust Bowl sequences woven into the picture. The actual location of a mountainous location near Lone Pine, California look nothing like the Great Plains, but you can tell when you see gang plowing by mules, and some other shots shot during the Dust Bowl, that they are the real deal. There is also some confusion when you're told at one point they're in Oklahoma, and in another North Dakota, but it captures at least some of the tough issues faced by the farmers of the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl.Frankly, it is simplistic to see any ONE treatment of these times as definitive. "Letters from the Dust Bowl," "The Worst Hard Times," GRapes of Wrath," etc. are ALL snapshot treatments. Same here. But watch it, take what you can from it, and keep reading and watching as much materials as you can.

classicsoncall This is really quite a remarkable picture, reminiscent more of the Warners Brothers films of the era than something Republic Pictures might have put out. Nominally it's considered a Western (I saw it today on the Encore Western Channel), but the only connection to that genre it has would be it's setting, as itinerant farm workers battle Dust Bowl situations in their settled home land only to be forced to move once again when conditions conspire against them. Leading the charge as it were, is John Wayne in a role that has him confronting the elements, along with a hostile contingent that opposes his choice of destination (Oregon) for the sunny climes of California. The story is wrapped around a budding romance between Wayne's character, and that of Sigrid Gurie as Leni Braun, daughter of an Austrian refugee, both of whom escaped the rise of Naziism in 1940's Europe. The story is complicated even further when it's discovered that Leni's former fiancé (Roland Varno), presumed dead the past two years, resurfaces to place his claim on Leni's heart once again.That last aspect of the picture just mentioned is somewhat troubling when one considers the initial premise of the story. Dr. Eric Von Scherer (Varno) presumably gave his life to help the Braun's escape from tyranny to the United States under a sanctuary program for refugee doctors. He turns up in the latter part of the picture attempting to convince the Braun's that life now under the Reich would be highly advantageous if they returned to Europe. The disconnect blows by pretty quickly, but if you know anything about history, the scene will have you going 'huh?' more than once before it's over. However it leads directly to Leni and John Phillips (Wayne) reconciling their feelings for each other, thereby allowing the movie to close on the Duke and his girl exchanging nuptials for the happy ending.Followers of John Wayne's early films will note that this was one of the rare occasions that you got to catch the up and coming legend in a jacket and tie! I've only seen that once before in 1933's "His Private Secretary". Once in his element though, Wayne's character is pretty much as you would recall him from his early Lone Star and Republic Days, dressed in pioneer attire and ruggedly individualistic. The romance with Sigrid Gurie's character plays a lot more emotionally than virtually all of his prior pictures, and it's rather intriguing to see him remain stoic through the heart wrenching scenes. Gurie was quite convincing as the torn lover between a loyal past and a bright future; her decision was made somewhat easier by the developments described earlier.One has to assume that the title of the movie represents Wayne's character along with the Braun's, otherwise it doesn't make much sense, though that didn't stop the naming of dozens of era pictures with no connection to their title. I managed to catch this one today on Encore Western's self proclaimed 'John Wayne 101' celebration in honor of his 101st birthday. I don't know if the film is commercially available, but it would be worth your while to scour the cable channels for this listing if you're a Wayne fan. It steps just outside of the early mainstream for The Duke, and offers a more introspective character than one is used to seeing in his earlier films.