Today’s quick review: Three Faces West. Dr. Karl Braun (Charles Coburn), a refugee from Vienna, and his daughter Leni (Sigrid Gurie) relocate to a small North Dakota town in desperate need of medical help. There John Phillips (John Wayne), the leader of the town, tries to convince them to stay in spite of the dust storms and modest living conditions. Meanwhile, John struggles to keep the town’s farmers going in the face of drought and erosion.
Three Faces West is a romantic drama set in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. John Wayne stars as John Phillips, a hard-working man trying to keep a farming community alive through environmental collapse. The movie follows his budding relationship with Leni, the strong-willed daughter of an Austrian doctor, and the farmers’ increasingly desperate attempts to keep their crops alive. In spite of this setup, Three Faces West delivers little drama of note.
Where the movie shines is in capturing the plight of Dust Bowl farmers. The farmers are caught between their stubborn pride and the intractable reality of the land, left hoping for a miracle rain storm to save their crops. Their struggles serve to highlight an important period in American history. The movie also touches on the rise of Nazi Germany through Dr. Braun and his daughter, although their refugee status only comes up sporadically.
Three Faces West does a better job setting up conflicts than it does resolving them. Every dramatic arc in the movie ends in one brief, anticlimactic moment, whether that’s an abrupt change of heart, a convenient revelation, or a fight that is over before it has begun. The scaffolding setting up for these moments works well enough, and once they are done, the movie continues on its way, but they rob Three Faces West of much of its satisfaction.
The result is a movie with fine dramatic ingredients, but without the wherewithal to use them correctly. Austrian refugees forced to adapt to life in the rural West, farmers caught between a rock and a hard place, and the unlikely love between John and Leni are the makings of a compelling story. But Three Faces West never stitches them into a cohesive whole, and its events never build towards a larger finale. Approach with caution.
For a lighter John Wayne romance, try The Fighting Kentuckian. For a drama starring John Wayne as a man holding a rural community together, try Dark Command.
[6.2 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033159/). I give it a 6.5 for unique subject matter and a mediocre plot.