Blondes vs. Brunettes #35 - Mona Freeman, RIP

Bit of a change-up … I usually post on Sunday evenings as that’s my only safe “me time” when I’m not mowing, yanking, sweeping, raking, watering or doin’ the family thing.  Speaking of which, tomorrow is Father’s Day, at least here in the U.S. of A, so I thought I’d do a quick post tonight since tomorrow portends to be busy for all of us.

Another change-up: I was going to blog about my time in Kansas City, but was pre-empted by sad news.

The sad news is that Mona Freeman died this past week. 

Borrowing from Wikipedia, “Freeman was a model while in high school, and after becoming the first "Miss Subways" of the New York City transit system, eventually signed a movie contract with Howard Hughes. Her contract was later sold to Paramount Pictures. Her first film appearance was in the 1944 film Till We Meet Again. She became a popular teenage movie star. After a series of roles as a pretty, naive teenager she complained of being typecast. As an adult, her career slowed and she appeared in mostly B-movies, though one exception was her role in the film noir Angel Face (1952). Also in 1952, she was called a "vest pocket Venus" by sculptor Yucca Salamunich because her proportions were the same as those of the Venus de Milo but three-quarter size. Freeman's appearances in films ended in the 1950s but she continued to work in television. Among her appearances were seven guest roles on The United States Steel Hour from 1960–1962 and three on Perry Mason, all of them roles as Mason's client: Jane Wardman in the 1962 episode, "The Case of the Lurid Letter", Rosanne Ambrose in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Illicit Illusion", and Ellen Payne in the 1965 episode, "The Case of the 12th Wildcat", with Perry himself portrayed as the title character by Ellen.”

More importantly, she starred the 1957 western Dragoon Wells Massacre.

I tried to get my hands on a copy of the film, but apparently it’s out of print, so to speak, so I can’t really dive into the details of the blonde vs. brunette struggle between the two ladies.

Here’s how one blog site describes the movie:

"If you've seen "Dragoon Wells Massacre" on the TV schedule and decided to give it a miss because it sounds familiar it is understandable. To be honest having seen it regularly show up I kept on giving it a miss because the story of a cavalry man and a group of people trying to head through Indian Territory sounds a bit unoriginal. But you should watch it because while the set up to "Dragoon Wells Massacre" is familiar what unfolds isn't and this movie ends up an entertaining elaboration on the good guys stuck in Indian Territory storyline.

A prison wagon, a stage coach and an Indian trader all find themselves in the same place at the same time, that place is Indian Territory where the Indians are on the war path. With Capt. Matt Riordan a survivor of an Indian attack, taking the lead they group together to try and get to safety but their journey is full of danger as the Indians track them, picking them off one by one.

Now typically as their numbers drop as one by one another one dies we get down to a small group, completely out numbered and with little chance of surviving, leading to a moment of heroics befitting this sort of western. But the real interest to this variation of the good guys in Indian Territory is the dynamics of the group because we have various relationships. Capt' Matt's former girlfriend happens to be travelling on the stage, yes what a coincidence but also on the stage is the sexy Mara Fay who takes a fancy to Capt. Matt which leads to jealousy between the women. Then there are the two prisoners Link and Tiogo who Ann doesn't trust but they continually prove themselves decent, often misjudged as they protect the group from Indian attacks. And there are more relationships and interactions which go on, allowing the characters to grow and change as the journey progresses.

http://www.mediafire.com/watch/omgcminh6yfgdf1/Dragoon_Wells_Massacre.wmv

Part of the reason why the change in characters and their interactions end up interesting is in the good casting. Who better than the less than handsome Jack Elam to play a misjudged criminal, whose looks make the women on edge. And Barry Sullivan oozes confidence as fellow criminal Link, playing a character who appears to have escaped death on a few occasions and is happy to ride his luck, both when it comes to Indians but also women. And talking of the women Mona Freeman as the jealous Ann and Katy Jurado as the fiery Mara are more than token beauties, they even have quite an impressive catfight. Even those in minor roles, those who will end up being picked off are just as good even in their limited screen time.

What this all boils down to is that "Dragoon Wells Massacre" may look like a run of the mill 50s western but it is more interesting than the norm. Nice embellishments to the story and characters that are more than one dimension make it entertaining from start to finish even when the start is a little too corny."

Sounds pretty good, huh?

Happy Father’s Day!