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Reviewer:Spuzz - - January 26, 2006 Subject: Horse Whisperer 1949! Rather interesting movie here that combines melodramatic weepie with a western. Bill Edwards stars as a soldier who gets out of the service to become a cowboy, only to learn that he slowly going blind! When he gets to the ranch, he comes across a wild horse that NOONE can break! But of course, he just walks up, and the horse is like putty in his hands. He decides that the horse will be, yes, his seeing eye-horse! Soon, he falls in love with a ex-nurse, who catches on that he¡¯s slowly going blind (she caught him riding his horse with a handkerchief over his eyes!) but he doesn¡¯t want pit from her. Will he see her again? There¡¯s a whole pile of other things, wild horses, the horse¡¯s mate and his kid, her former beaus, a forest fire that wander in and out, they¡¯re throwaway plot devices. They don¡¯t slow the story down, they¡¯re padding it, yet the movie doesn¡¯t really seem too long because of it. I really liked Bill Edwards in this role. Big strong man who faces up to the fact that he¡¯s human (and the fact he has Super Horse helps too).
This film is fine except for one glaring point. There¡¯s about 5 minutes of horse fighting in this. It looks like it was staged just for this film, and there¡¯s no WAY that the horses here could not have escaped any injuries from the fights seen here. No animal protection laws yet! Anything goes! Tsk.
Reviewer:bobsluckycat - - July 22, 2005 Subject: Light Western Drama This little film, released in early 1950, while somewhat off-beat, has a lot going for it, albeit low-key. Prolific director, writer, producer of westerns Robert E. Tansey turned out a neat little story set post WW II in Wyoming. It's a light drama/romance and horse story all rolled into one, and guess what? It works. Bill Edwards is properly stolid. The suporting players all uniformly good. Rocky Cameron (Gene Alsace)stands out among them. Long time character actors Don Harvey and Robert Carson also very good in small early film roles for both. The horse "Starlight" is fine as well. On the negative side, the stock footage of horse fights and wolves, while blended nicely, is so familiar that it detracts from the over-all film. I was probably 10 when I saw this film for the first time, so a lot of it went over my head. This time around, 55 years later, I liked it on a different level. This could be re-made today as a contemporary western and be just as vital as then and with a "G" rating. No way Hollywood would do that.
Credits
Cast
Bill Edwards .... Lon Evans
Doris Merrick .... Jeanne Barton
Forrest Taylor .... Martin Evans
Don C. Harvey .... Cmdr. Patrick (as Don Harvey)
Robert Carson .... Tom Adams (as Bob Carson)
Gene Alsace .... Lem (as Rocky Camron)
Merrill McCormick .... Yancy (as W. M. McCormick)
Johnny Carpenter .... Chuck (as John Carpenter)
John L. Cason .... Henchman
Maria Hart .... Dude
Concha Ybarra .... Nantee
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