Annie Oakley **** (1935, Barbara Stanwyck, Preston Foster, Melvyn Douglas, Moroni Olsen, Pert Kelton, Andy Clyde, Chief Thunderbird) – Classic Movie Review 10,482

‘CUPID WAS THE BEST MARKSMAN!’

Director George Stevens’s 1935 Annie Oakley stars Barbara Stanwyck in her debut Western as the sharpshootin’ heroine Annie Oakley, who romances marksman Toby Walker (Preston Foster), causing friction along the way by challenging his marksmanship, and hangs out with Buffalo Bill Cody (Moroni Olsen).

This highly pleasing Western biopic fictionalises and romanticises the story, mixing the outdoors drama with romance. Melvyn Douglas co-stars as Jeff Hogarth, boss of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show, who naturally fancies the fiery Annie Oakley (Stanwyck).

Niftily played by vivacious and vibrant performers, with an appropriately fiery performance by Stanwyck, this tells a very good yarn and it is given added oomph by imaginative director Stevens.

Perhaps annoyingly, an entirely fabricated story pays scant attention to the real facts, and Joel Sayre and John Twist’s screenplay’s treatment of Chief Sitting Bull (played by Chief Thunderbird) is embarrassing, but otherwise the film is exactly on target.

Also in the cast are Pert Kelton, Andy Clyde, Chief Thunderbird, Margaret Armstrong, Delmar Watson, Adeline Craig, Ernie Adams, Frank Austin, Brooks Benedict, Willie Best, Stanley Blystone, Eddie Borden, Harry Bowen, Sonny Bupp, Iron Eyes Cody, Eddie Dunn, Dick Elliott, Bud Geary, Charlie Hall, Otto Hoffman, Brandon Hurst, Gladden James, Si Jenks, Donald Kerr, George Lollier, Walter Long, Theodore Lorch, Jim Mason, Philo McCullough, Robert McKenzie, Lew Meehan, Jack Rice and Blue Washington.

Annie Oakley is directed by George Stevens, runs 90 minutes, is made by RKO Radio Pictures, is released by RKO, is written by Joel Sayre and John Twist, from a story by Joseph A Fields and Ewart Adamson, is shot in black and white by J Roy Hunt, is produced by Cliff Reid and is scored by Alberto Colombo, with Art Direction by Van Nest Polglase.

It is also available in a computer colorized version.

It is shot at the Iverson Ranch, 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,482

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