moonspinner55 Review of Wild Is the Wind

Wild Is the Wind (1957)

Clandestine passions well-presented but not altogether convincing...

[6/10 · 23 June 2008]

Anthony Quinn is solid playing a sheep-farmer near Reno--still grieving after the death of his beloved wife--who marries his sister-in-law and brings her over from Italy. Vittorio Nino Novarese's story, which turns into a love-triangle after the new wife falls for the farmer's unofficially-adopted son, may have had some literary freshness...but on-screen the drama which slowly plays out looks like scraps from other pictures. The sheep-farm milieu is interesting if uncompelling, and certainly the brawling Italian family has been seen (and heard) before. The secretive lovers thread recalls Eugene O'Neill's "Desire Under the Elms" (a 1930s play filmed one year after this picture), and although Anna Magnani and Anthony Franciosa give their all to their roles, the relationship between the new Mrs. and the ranch-hand doesn't quite convince. Franciosa has seldom been so rugged and handsome, but what exactly does this strapping young man see in this Old World, somewhat-forlorn lady who is trying to learn English and fit in with this family? It's the missing piece to this puzzle which is never solved, and director George Cukor (doing uncharacteristically unsubtle work) bulldozes straight ahead without looking back. Good-looking melodrama with luscious scoring, some amusing family dynamics, but no intriguing ideas. **1/2 from ****