Die Farm der Besessenen (1950)

Die Farm der Besessenen: Directed by Anthony Mann. With Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Walter Huston, Judith Anderson. A firebrand heiress clashes with her tyrannical father, a cattle rancher who fancies himself a Napoleon, but their relationship turns ugly only when he finds himself a new woman.

“Probably a rarity as I can see it: Anthony Mannu0026#39;s The Furies would fit in just as well on AMC or TCM as it would, if it would ever screen old movies from the 40s and 50s, on the Lifetime network. What this means is that for the film being technically classified as a Wetern, it really has a lot more to offer for audiences of hardened men looking for another memorable performance from Walter Huston, and for women looking for a tough but conflicted heroine with Barbara Stanwycku0026#39;s character. Mann has terrific source material to work with (the writer also wrote Duel in the Sun), in part because it doesnu0026#39;t cater simply to those looking for a shoot-out. On the contrary, The Furies derives its fascination as a work of psychologically complex family games of power and personal ownership. The u0026#39;Elektra complexu0026#39; issue touched on by other reviewers isnu0026#39;t misplaced, but thereu0026#39;s more to it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis isnu0026#39;t quite to say itu0026#39;s entirely one of Mannu0026#39;s best films, or a masterpiece on the Western genre. It takes a little time to get started, past some of the daughter/father scenes of laughing with one another, and for the drama to really get plugged into about the dealings of ownership of the land of TC Jeffordses. The father, TC (Huston), says heu0026#39;ll give all he has to his daughter, Vance (Stanwyck) to run, but it might not be that easy of a transition. We see this tangled web develop, of Stanwycku0026#39;s two love interests, one from way back with the Herrerau0026#39;s (still very bitter with TC for taking their land) and another with a banker who has a real love-hate thing for the fiery daughter of a big-bad baron like TC. And both the Jeffordsu0026#39; characters being what they are- really big, amazing personalities- require the actors to pull them off.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLuckily, Mann has the right two people with Huston and Stanwyck, especially with the latter the star projects such confidence and darkness and, at the same time, vulnerability itu0026#39;s not hard to see how she could have been the star in her day. Mann also gets some rich work from a supporting cast; one of which, playing the matriarch of the Herrera clan, is very memorable in a specific shoot-out scene where she talks to herself frantically with TC in her gunshot sight. Thereu0026#39;s also further development about a level of payback in the third act, and other more melodramatic touches involving TCu0026#39;s bond with an older woman that really gets Vanceu0026#39;s gaul (not even so much her father bonding with her, but for her assertion into the clan to push her out far away into Europe, leading to a startling confrontation and a pair of scissors). If youu0026#39;re not strapped-in for some almost soap-opera-ish touches, look elsewhere.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBut overall, Mann directs all of this with a fine eye for the darker corners of the western landscape, of the dry and barren lands of the deserts- some of these look shot at night, or developed to look darker than they are- with the cacti and horses riding on in them striking as something more evocative to go along with the big rooms and typical locations of a circa 1870 New Mexico set. And thereu0026#39;s even a hanging scene in the film that should rank on any film-loveru0026#39;s list of important scenes; Scorsese even included it in his documentary on American movies, and itu0026#39;s well worth the inclusion. For some good stretches of time, and particularly for the second 2/3 of the running time, The Furies does its job well on its audience, drawing in both sexes for various reasons into its story of land ownership, love and loss, and a father and daughter bond that is touchy and amusing at most pleasant moments. 8.5/10”