LastingAware The greatest movie ever!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

JohnHowardReid Director: George Stevens. Screenplay: Joel Sayre, John Twist. Story: Joseph A. Anthony, Ewart Adamson. Photography: J. Roy Hunt, Harold Wenstrom. Film editor: Jack Hively. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase and Perry Ferguson. Music director: Alberto Colombo. Sound recording: P.J. Faulkner, John L. Cass. Associate producer: Cliff Reid. (Available on a superb Warner-Turner DVD).Copyright 15 November 1935 by RKO-Radio Pictures. U.S. release: 28 November 1935. 91 minutes. SYNOPSIS: A backwoods sharpshooter enters a contest against the world's best. She would have beaten him too, except that...COMMENT: This admirably glossy straight version of the Annie Oakley-Frank Butler story has both its admirers and detractors. As for me, I like it. True, it bears even less relationship to the real story than Annie Get Your Gun. Nonetheless, as pure entertainment this Annie is a winner. Aside from Melvyn Douglas who is forced to struggle valiantly as the other man, this version assembles a great cast, although, would you believe, in my opinion it's Chief Thunder Bird who actually walks away with the movie's top acting honors?

smatysia A decent Thirties era melodrama loosely based on the life of Annie Oakley. I looked into Oakley a bit after seeing this film, and her life has been highly fictionalized. Oakley was a bit of a feminist for her day, and that did come through a little bit in the film. (Rational feminism, not the semi-nutty political feminism of recent decades) Barbara Stanwyck did a jam-up job playing the backwoods girl, and looked awesome doing it. (of course) Oakley, for all her talent, was a bit deficient in the hotness factor. But, hey this is a movie.The film heavily featured Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and I wonder a bit how close they were to accuracy on that. After all the show was still in living memory when this movie was filmed. No buffalo were shown, although they were alluded to once. I suppose they were very scarce in those days.Anyway, I liked the film more than I expected to. Check it out.

classicsoncall I was intrigued by the opening narrative introducing the story as it paid tribute to Annie Oakley, a legend who made her mark a 'half century' ago. Here it is more than seventy years since the film was made, and it still holds up as an entertaining if highly fictional Western based on the life of the sure shot artist and her days with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.Though Barbara Stanwyck is best know for her role as Victoria Barkley, matriarch of 'The Big Valley' TV Western family, it's easy to see how she naturally fit in with the Western genre as she raises her rifle to knock clay pigeons out of the sky. Historically, I'm not sure if it would have gone down that way, but Annie admitting she didn't have the heart to beat Toby Walker in the shooting contest because he was 'just too pretty', was a neat way to set up the rest of the story.What adds a lot to the film in entertainment value are the humorous bits thrown in by a host of characters. I was surprised to see Willie Best as the second cook attempting to pilfer a quail for himself early in the picture, while Andy Clyde worked his expressive face for maximum effect as hotel owner MacIvor. The best though, was Chief Thunder Bird in his characterization of Sitting Bull; he had a couple of clever bits with the disappearing bed and the 'scalping' scene. I don't think the real Sitting Bull would have been as amusing, but it works here.At the center of the story is the subtle hint of a romance on the part of Annie's manager Hogarth (Melvyn Douglas), and a more overt one between Annie and her big top rival, Toby Walker (Preston Foster). Toby starts out the story as the guy you want to hate, but manages to come through the story as a decent guy. The film's abrupt finish with Toby and Annie in warm embrace is the kind of ending that I'm sure made movie goers of the era believe they got their money's worth.

bkoganbing Annie Oakley (1860-1926)born in dire poverty and without spending one day in a school room, became one of the great feminist icons of all time. Talk about taking a man on in his game and beating him. It was not press agent ballyhoo about her prowess as a rifle shot. This romanticized biographical film captures the essence of her character and her love for the guy she dethroned as shooting champion.In some spots of the film you can practically drop the songs that Irving Berlin was later to write for his hit show about Annie. But we get a different picture of Frank Butler than in Annie Get Your Gun. Butler is not even Butler, he's Toby Wheeler as played by Preston Foster. He's a kid from the mean streets of New York City who learned his sharpshooting in the shooting galleries on the Bowery. He doesn't near and endear himself to the westerners working at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In fact they hate Foster so much that whatever qualms they had about Annie being a member of the female sex the crew gets over real fast.Barbara Stanwyck captures the real Annie if not in height in spirit. The real Ms. Oakley was barely five feet tall, but by all accounts she was a modest retiring type who never forgot where she came from. She was not as raucous as Ethel Merman on stage and later Betty Hutton on screen portrayed her. She let her shooting speak for her. Melvyn Douglas has the third lead as William F. Cody's business partner Jeff Hogarth. Melvyn usually lost the girl to bigger name players though he was always a gentleman as he is here. Personally I wish he had done better in this film especially.Annie Oakley is a nice film, not as well known as the musical later derived from her life, but still easy to take with good players at their best.