Belle Starr's Daughter (1948)

First, a little historical background: Belle Starr did have a daughter. Originally named Rosie Reed, she later changed it to Pearl Starr. Unlike her mother, she didn't ride with the wolves, so to speak. Mostly, she became a prostitute, later owning several bordellos and other businesses. Evidently, she was a good business woman. In this film, she's called Rose and is played by Ruth Roman. For a brief period, she rides with the remnants of her mother's gang, after her mother's death. This film followed the 1941 film "Belle Starr", with leads Randolph Scott, and a young Gene Tierney. That was filmed in color, with the present one in B&W. ....... Rose has 2 sometimes suitors in George Montgomery, as Marshal Tom Jackson, and very tall Rod Cameron, as Bob 'Bitter Creek' Yauntis: a holdover from Belle's gang, who becomes the new leader of the small gang, upon Belle's death. The overriding question for Rose is : who killed her mother(It's never been agreed who killed the real Belle Starr). Bob and sidekick Yuma were the last members of her gang known to have been in her house, where she and Uncle Jim were shot, said to be found dead by Marshal Tom and his crew, who arrived not long after Bob and Yuma departed. Tom's bunch buried the two(a mighty quick decision), and burned her house, which didn't help Tom's plea that he didn't do the killing. The audience knows who killed Belle, as they saw the shooting. Belle was angry with Bob and Yuma because they had gone over to Antioch and killed the marshal. She said she would turn them over to the new marshal(Tom) for trial and punishment(probable hanging). Hence, Bob shot her to prevent this. Near the end of the film, a mortally wounded Yuma confesses to Rose that he saw Bob shoot her mother, something Rose doesn't believe at first. But, she never finds out why he killed her......This revelation causes a complete change in Rose's attitude toward Tom, whom she had assumed was the killer. Meanwhile, Tom has been chasing Bob and his 2 remaining gang members:Brone and Slim. With remarkable accuracy, while riding his horse, he shoots down the latter 2 , then mortally wounds Bob, who also falls off his horse. Bob, on the sneak, nearly kills Tom, wounding him in the thigh before dropping over dead. His last words were "You're wrong about one thing, Marshal. You'll never hang me". Wounded in both his shoulder and thigh, Tom initially acts hostile when Rose appears. But, she melts his icy reception with the news that she now regards Bob as her mother's murderer. Tom says he will have to arrest her and she will spend some time in jail. She expected that, and asks if he will wait for her. After a moment's reflection, he says "Yes", and they ride off together........The director was Lesley Selander, who had an extensive resume of westerns directed, albeit that most were B westerns. This film had the feel of something between an A and B film. It had an A running time of nearly 11/2 hours, but the B&W cinematography, and certain cheap performances made it feel more like a B picture. They must have been using black powder cartridges, there was so much smoke associated with firing their weapons! See it at YouTube.

Copyright 3 November 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Globe: 8 January 1949. U.S. release: November 1948. U.K. release: 28 March 1949. Australian release: 2 June 1949. 7,760 feet. 86 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Colorful Western in which Belle Starr, a notorious Wild West bandit, is killed by Bob Yauntis, one of her own men, who lays the blame on a marshal. Belle's daughter, Rose, turns bandit in order to take vengeance on the marshal, until he proves his innocence. Rod Cameron gives an excellent performance as the bad man, with good work coming from George Montgomery and Ruth Roman.NOTES: A Fox release and follow-up to the highly successful BELLE STARR.COMMENT: A-grade western with an exciting script by W.R. Burnett (author of Little Caesar and The Asphalt Jungle) and direction by Lesley Selander that is far more slick and stylish than his usual standard. There's plenty of action and the pace is fast. Rod Cameron and Fred Libby contribute interesting character portrayals. Ruth Roman fills the title role quite agreeably, while George Montgomery lends some skilful horsemanship to the climactic chase. (A pity that his fist fight with Jack Lambert is so obviously staged with doubles). The supporting cast is strong and production values, including the atmospheric photography by William Sickner, excellent.

W.R. Burnett was responsible for writing some of the most memorable films in history - "Little Caesar" (1930), "Scarface" (1932), "The Beast of the City" (1932), "High Sierra" (1940) and "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950). He also wrote westerns, of which "Belle Starr's Daughter" is among them.The town of Antioch has made a truce with Belle Starr but a couple of her men have shot up the town and killed the Marshall. When she tries to go to Antioch to repair the damage, her renegade men kill her and also Jim Davis. Belle Starr's daughter, Cimmaron Rose, comes to stay in town and takes exception to the young sheriff (George Montgomery) who, she thinks, killed her mother. Finding a locket he realises that her mother was Belle Starr. Bob (the renegade man) comes back to Antioch and kills Bailey when he threatens to tell the truth about Belle Starr's death. He then convinces Rose that the young sheriff was responsible for her mother's death and she rides off with his gang. Bob shows his true colours when one of his gang is shot.Starring Ruth Roman and George Montgomery - certainly not stars of the first magnitude. The supporting cast are far more interesting. Isabel Jewel is Belle Starr. Her part is small but with all her performances, she packs it with intensity. I am a huge fan of Miss Jewels. Wallace Ford - who was the star of Burnett's "The Beast of the City" (1932) and became a great character actor plays the drunken foreman, Bailey. Kenneth MacDonald who was a fixture in westerns had the small role of Jim Davis. Lane Chandler, who in the 20s was destined for a big career in westerns - but along came Gary Cooper. He spent most of his career playing bit parts and in this film he had the small role of Marshall Evans.

Belle Starr's Daughter shows the team trying to ease out of the then doomed cowboy B movie market - three sort of stars, reasonable production values and a plot with some attempt at resonance and shading of the characters.Cameron proved surprisingly effective as the bad guy. He did a similar turn in a Hitchcock TV episode and the two can be considered his best work. Wally Ford is always good value and the rest get by, with Montgomery suitable as a straight arrow law man and Roman young and appealing. Isabel Jewel is a surprise, after all her dewy innocent parts of the thirties and the piece is strong on welcome character faces - Kemper, Lambert, McDonald and the rest.The action staging is excellent and the setting adequate, even though most of the scenes are shadowless over lit. Nice touches like the menacing night "This street was full of horses" or the final "I'm hit too." Lesley Seylander proved one of the few of the B movie directors able to deliver more ambitious work.