True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Operatic drama with Anthony Quinn as a Nevada land baron who travels to Italy & marries the sister of his dead wife. The new wife is Anna Magnani and she proves to be an opinionated pistol. Refusing to acquiesce to self appointed king Quinn, Magnani embarks on a passionate affair with ranch hand Anthony Franciosa. The fact that Franciosa is Quinn's adopted son heightens the melodrama. Magnani, in her second American film (after her Oscar-winning performance in THE ROSE TATTOO), gives a great performance. She exudes sexuality and has a lot of chemistry with both of her leading men. Directed by George Cukor (who replaced John Sturges after Sturges realized the film was shaping into a romance). The now classic music score, including the much recorded title song, is by Dimitri Tiomkin. Charles Lang did the cinematography. The supporting cast includes Joseph Calleia, Lili Valenty (excellent as Quinn's loyal sister-in-law), and Dolores Hart.

This "women's director" was also no slouch with men, and he helps Anthony Quinn to perhaps his best performance. Quinn often overacted, and here, as a hearty, swaggering, brutish sheep rancher who brings his dead wife's sister (Anna Magnani) over from Italy to marry, he easily could have resorted to his usual bluster. But it's a very shaded portrayal, with seemingly conflicting elements of roughness and tenderness that make sense in the end. Magnani is predictably great, even singing well, and Tony Franciosa, as Quinn's adopted son who forms an O'Neill-like triangle (it does feel like "Desire Under the Elms," as another commenter noted), is excellent. The outdoorsiness and earthiness (you even see a lamb born, before your boggled eyes) are un-Cukorlike, but he handles them confidently; and while the symbolism gets a little heavy and Dmitri Tiomkin's music is a bit intrusive, it's an effective family melodrama with a beautifully underplayed fadeout.

An elemental film, starting with the title. Anna Magnani was a force of nature, so the setting in the rugged Nevada mountains is apt, for this highly melodramatic tale. The passions of the characters are paralleled by images of raging rivers, rearing wild horses, and sheep giving birth, to the thunderous chords of Tiomkin's score. Several years earlier Magnani won an Oscar for her performance in The Rose Tattoo, and in this film she again dominates the screen. One of the most touching scenes is a quiet one at the beginning of the film, when she makes a connection with her niece, sensitively played by Dolores Hart. Anthony Quinn is enjoyable in this, although tending toward overacting. Franciosa holds his own with the two powerhouses.

Its not enough to say that Johnny Mathis sings the title song over the opening credits.With Cukor directing this grand meeting of Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani thats says enough.The plot has its melodramatic moments for sure and its another film with the wonderful Dolores Hart who only a few years alter would become a nun.This also has the merits of Anthony Franciosca really playing his best role for many years in films.Franciosca, falls for Magnani in a lustful way while Quinn is away from the ranch.Its really the sweeping scenes and the acting of Quinn and Magnani that moves the film.Looking back , it would have been a treasure to see Magnani act in more US Films ( The Rose Tattoo) but that didn't happen. Finally , in her eyes we see how she made " Open City" ( Rosselini) a memorable film. Produced by the best...Hal Wallis CP