December 28, 2023

"Johnny" (John Wayne) and his long-suffering partner "Pop" (James Gleason) do contract mining work and are building a tunnel for railway owner "Alexander" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). This latter man is a bit of a pile driver and they are already arguing about safety and cost cutting at the tunnel when "Johnny" encounters his boss's daughter "Maura" (Laraine Day). Dad disapproves profoundly, but the two embark on a romance that leaves both estranged f… read the rest.

"Johnny" (John Wayne) and his long-suffering partner "Pop" (James Gleason) do contract mining work and are building a tunnel for railway owner "Alexander" (Sir Cedric Hardwicke). This latter man is a bit of a pile driver and they are already arguing about safety and cost cutting at the tunnel when "Johnny" encounters his boss's daughter "Maura" (Laraine Day). Dad disapproves profoundly, but the two embark on a romance that leaves both estranged from her father - and that makes their digging even more dangerous. Can they reconcile their differences before disaster strikes? The last half hour picks up the pace quite well - loads of heavy rain and engineering peril, but the rest of this over-long melodrama spends far too long on the smoochy stuff and nowhere near enough on any adventure elements. Anthony Quinn turns up now and again, but is largely wasted as the rich man's nephew "Ricky" and Judith Anderson is likewise underused as the well meaning assistant "Miss Braithwaite" - a woman in whom "Alexander" is clearly interested but his rigid behaviour leaves little room for this to flourish. Like so many of Wayne's leading ladies, Day is a rather underwhelming actress who has a little more to get her teeth into here, in theory, but she seems content to wander around in a different frock each time pouting and pretending she can fry an egg. This is typical fayre for this star, and though it is watchable enough it's not a movie that I reckon I shall ever recall.

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