The Great Man's Lady (1941)

The Great Man’s Lady: Directed by William A. Wellman. With Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Brian Donlevy, K.T. Stevens. A 100-year-old pioneer woman tells her story in flashbacks.

“This is a mess of a movie that, frankly, should not have been made, especially not by a prou0026#39;s pro like Wellman, not even as a favor to the dependably phenomenal Miss Stanwyck. Italian grand opera has never featured a plot gone this far off the rails. Nor are any of operau0026#39;s leading saints or scoundrels accorded the admiration plainly directed at the leads in this film, who show less common sense, valor, or candor than Wile E. Coyote brings to a bad day on the mesa. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI wonu0026#39;t spoil this turkey for intrepid or optimistic viewers, but I will note that the story nods (so quickly you might miss it) to an entire off-screen family whose existence, if contemplated for more than 10 seconds by any character, wouldu0026#39;ve given some interesting version of this film a problem and points of view worth watching. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Reefer Madnessu0026quot; handled continuity better than this. Many of the lavish costumes are out of place on relatively bare sets. Joel McCreau0026#39;s mustache, for heavenu0026#39;s sake, looks like itu0026#39;s about to slip off his handsome face through many scenes! u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eTurner Classic, bless them, just showed this, earning my continued thanks for gallantly refusing to do my quality control for me.”