Evening star., 1952-03-27


by no means the most dramatic v
considerably above average and
is designed for the dude intellec-
tuals who demand more than
mere badman blood.
The exact category into which
''Rancho Notorious" falls is not
quite clear. Sometimes it looks
like pure satire. at others as If
Director Fritz Lang had sue
cumbed to the temptation to make
it pure romantic melodrama. The
latter certainly is the intimation
of one half-angry. half-wistful
speech Miss Dietrich makes to
Kennedy:
II wish.' she says. "you would
60 away and come back 10 years
ago"
What the unadulterated horse
opera lovers will make of talk
like that is something Lang ap-
parently did not give a hang
about.
Rancho Notorious" begins on
q note that creates a tingle Of
surprise when its comedy flavor
begins to come through in later
sequences.
This is. of all crimes. a rape
murder in which Kennedy's
fiancee is the victim. This vii
lainy sends the films hero on a
man hunt down from Wyoming
toward the Mexican border. This
is a lot of barren land and the
pursuit seems futile until Kennedy
gets wind of mysterious ranch,
run by a former gambling hall
beauty. where criminals hide away
until their trails cool.
Naturally. Miss Dietrich is the
hostess of this luxurious hangout
and, just as naturally. the ro-
mantle chemistry of the place is
calculated to change the minute
Kennedy arrives.
Entirely apart from this. how
ever, Rancho Notorious" is al
dramatic rest home. It has all
kinds of rules, one of which is that
none of the guests may pry into
the affairs of the other guests.
This puts Kennedy in quite a spot
since he knows that one Of his
fellow dodgers is the man he in
tends to kill. Just which one be-
comes quite a problem. Three.
one of whom he instinctively |
likes, are obviously eligible for his
While Miss Dietrich'sf inn is
blessed with the most attractive
hostess west of the Alleghenies,
neither she nor her guests are
to let it lapse into a
recreation center. At night. they
get into some rip-roaring gam
bling duels and put on a floor
show featuring her sultry songs,
but daytimes they are busy with /
the livestock and making plans
for their next big bank robbery.
The screenplay by Daniel Tara
dash naturally makes quite a good
deal of the personal relationships |
among these passionate humans. |
The warmest Of these is that in
volving Kennedy and Miss Diet
rich. There is something about
his violent boyishness that ap-
peals to her, but no more so than
her worldliness appeals to him.
However, there's Ferrer. You
cannot have an actor of his ro-
mantle appeal around without /
making dramatic use Of him.
Rancho Notorious" is not caught
on this score. It makes
rather lot of the fact that Miss
Dietrich has been his woman for
years and that, as the fastest
draw in the West" he is not going
to give her up to any upstart. Es-
pecially not to one who devotes
half his courtship time to trying
10 reform Miss Dietrich.
= X X y
Lang and his intelligent cast
DO an excellent job of keeping the
action of Rancho Notorious"
properly sizzling without letting
any of the plots dramatic ele-
ments get submerged.
Most fascinating character in
this busy complex of personali-
ties and incident is Miss Dietrich.
She is the sultry sort who long
ago mastered all the wiles Of
handling the toughest male GUS
toners, but she also manages the
that she regrets this