What makes it different from others?

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

The movie is certainly enjoyable. However, the plot is in my opinion, lacks subtleties as there was something somewhat ludicrous about Lamarr's borderline-psychopathic femme fatale part. From the beginning to the end, the movie was generally fairly predictable.I am very fond of Lamarr, and, apart from her stunning looks (although marred by an overly heavy make-up in this particular movie), I still thought she played her part well. Add to that that this is a period drama, with stunning costumes.Having said that, once again the overall plot didn't really cut much ice with me.

Hedy Lamarr is fine, she a beautiful woman with talent. BUT this character she plays in this film is not! Lamarr plays Jenny Hager a woman I dislike the moment she walked onto the screen and opened her mouth with her psycho babble. I hated Jenny and couldn't watch the film without fast forwarding to the end to watch how she dies - and glad she did.This is a story of Jenny, a witch (to word it nicely). Really there is nothing strange about Jenny - she's just an evil *bad word*. Jenny uses the excuse of her upbringing to con men out of their money and breaks their hearts deliberately. Jenny knows exactly what she's doing when she does it - she knows exactly what she's saying when she says it. There is NO excuse for her behavior as an adult, yet she willingly and knowingly does it.The men end up finding out what Jenny is up to yet they do nothing about it. They are to blame just as much as Jenny for allowing Jenny to continue to do what she does best - con men out of money.Jenny cons or sweet talks one man out of money, then goes after the mans son and finally goes after the man's best friend. In the end she tries to run over two people with a horse and buggy/carriage and falls off a small cliff area and is hurt and dies - GOOD! She deserves what she got in the end and she did it all to herself. The End.2/10

This turgid hodge podge of a movie features some good performances along the way, but Hedys'character is too often unfathomable. Could prove OK for lovers of over ripe potboilers in the Mills and Boon category.Most actors do well with their over baked rolls, and even though George Sanders is cast a little against type, he handles it well. The Kids, during the somewhat cruel opening scenes try hard, but the script is a little over the top.It's all quite lurid for its day, with B grade specialist Edgar Ulmer, giving it some dark moodiness. There's a good traveling Preacher segment with a fiery sermon waking up some guilt in Hedys'twisted persona.Offers some odd interest, especially as a comment on the dangerous levels of lawlessness in backwoods towns in the mid 1800s. But the overall effect, is one in need of better handling.

Heddy Lamarr plays a young woman who people think is sweet and innocent, but it's mostly a conniving act in order to get what she wants out of life. Again and again, she hurts people, uses people and even kills in order to get ahead in this very colorful film.This is a very fascinating film--with lots of salacious material to keep it interesting. On top of that, it's one of Lamarr's better performances--giving her a bit more emotional range than usual. In many of her films, she seems more like a runway model than an actress--with lots and lots of costume changes but very little to actually say or do. Here, she is clearly the star and does a fairly good job--even though you can detect just a hint of her native Austrian accent (and that's odd for a girl supposedly from Maine). Too bad she didn't get too many more chances with films like this one.Despite the positives, I should also point out that the film has a serious problem with maintaining the integrity of Lamarr's character. Throughout most of the film she's black hearted, conniving and without a conscience. However, rather abruptly, she develops remorse for what she's done and tries to come clean--something a sociopath like her character NEVER would have done on her own! Then, abruptly, at the end, she's back to her old evil self. All this inconsistency make the movie really hard to take at times--though it sure is interesting to watch--sort of like a guilty pleasure!