I suspect the screen writer owes a lot to F. Scott Fitzgerald for this script. Jim Bowie, Alan Ladd, is a bit of a backwoods bumpkin who meets Judalon de Bornay, Virginia Mayo, while on his first trip to the big city of New Orleans. Blinded by her beauty he fails to discover her true nature as a highly manipulative Daisy Buchanan who uses him to obtain her own ends. One has to enjoy how she manipulates him to provoke a knife fight which win or lose may end the thrall her husband Phillipe de Cabanal, Alf Kjellin, owes to gambling and Black Jack Sturdevant, Anthony Caruso. There may be some history in this film but very little. As the movie progresses even the most credulous viewer has to be willing to suspend all belief. You may not be able to repeat the past but you certainly can redress plots in new periods. And the scene, big spoiler, where Phillipe de Cabanal and Black Jack Sturdevant kill each other while believing their opponent is Bowie is over the top. At least Bowie finally has an epiphany as he states, "No woman is worth the lives of eight men." And there is even a little Titanic here as Bowie tosses his knife into the water and goes on to marry Ursula de Varamendi, Phyllis Kirk. Confused? Wait for a rainy day and hope TCM is running the film.
Review of The Iron Mistress
