Tonight's Movie: Westward the Women (1951) - A Warner Archive Blu-ray Review

One of my all-time favorite films, WESTWARD THE WOMEN (1951), is now available on Blu-ray from the Warner Archive Collection.

Regular viewers have heard a lot from me about this fine Western over the years. I first watched and reviewed it in 2007, when I saw it on VHS.

I created a gallery of stills from the film in 2015, following a screening introduced by William Wellman Jr., and in 2021 I visited the film's Kanab, Utah location and shared photos of the film's remaining sets in my Classic Movie Hub Western RoundUp column. I'd like to suggest that anyone interested in this film visit those articles and enjoy the many photographs.

The story features trail guide Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor) traveling east along with his boss, Roy Whitman (John McIntire), to find brides for the employees at Whitman's California ranch.

Around 140 women sign up to make the arduous journey, despite being warned they will face many hardships; indeed, Buck projects that one in three of the women will not survive to arrive in California.

The trip becomes even more challenging when most of the trailhands abandon the trip early on, but the women eagerly learn new skills and forge ahead toward California.

This is a completely engrossing 118 minutes which I feel is some of the finest work by director William A. Wellman. Charles Schnee's screenplay was, interestingly, based on a story by director Frank Capra.

The staging, along with the black and white cinematography by William C. Mellor, is such that at times it almost feels like looking back into history; I have to remind myself at times it's not real, which is a remarkable thing to say about a movie.

Taylor was never better than he was in this film, and he's matched by a fine cast of actresses, including Denise Darcel, Julie Bishop (previously known as Jacqueline Wells), Beverly Dennis, Lenore Lonergan, Marilyn Erskine, Renata Venati, and the indomitable Hope Emerson, playing the widow of a seafaring man who wants to start a new life. Henry Nakamura is also fine as the gutsy Japanese cook.

This movie truly has it all, with every aspect firing on all cylinders. I've been glad to see the film gain wider recognition in the years since I first saw it, and I'm very glad it will now find new audiences thanks to this Blu-ray. I'd add that the Blu-ray print and sound quality are both excellent.

The nice collection of Blu-ray extras consists of the trailer; a very good commentary track by Scott Eyman which was carried over from the previous Warner Archive DVD release; the featurette CHALLENGE THE WILDERNESSS (1951), about the movie's location filming; and a December 1952 Lux Radio Theater production starring Taylor and Darcel. For good measure there are also a pair of Tom and Jerry cartoons of the era, TEXAS TOM (1950) and THE DUCK DOCTOR (1951).

WESTWARD THE WOMEN is an outstanding film in every way, and the Blu-ray presentation does it full justice. I highly recommend both the movie and this Blu-ray release.

Thanks to the Warner Archive for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray. Warner Archive Blu-rays may be ordered from Movie Zyng, the Amazon Warner Archive Collection Store, or from any online retailers were Blu-rays are sold.

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