Movies about the logging industry have always been very exciting to me because they take the usual western themes and move them up north. The sight of these huge trees being chopped down is both sad and thrilling, a necessary evil because they provide humanity with shelter and paper, providing thousands of jobs and give new trees a chance to grow. The vision of them falling as somebody yells "Timber!" is thrilling, and curiosity makes me wonder how they manage to get them to fall in the right direction as to not hit other trees or land on either the loggers themselves or other wild animals who happen to be there. From 1938's "Valley of the Giants", its 1951 remake "The Big Trees" and 1942's "The Forest Rangers" (which had a memorable scene of the three leads literally trying not to roll of turning logs), these films are cinematically gorgeous. Every one includes different elements, but usually, it focuses on the good guys versus somebody who is trying to take over the company or sabotage the work they are already doing.In this case, the bad guy is Dan Duryea, the head of a syndicate out to take on the little guy who in this case is Rod Cameron. Once again, Rod is involved with the beautiful singer Yvonne de Carlo, and together they must fight to keep the scheming Duryea from taking over the company. Their involvement is threatened by the love of society girl Helena Carter and Cameron's determination to get in good with her father. This beautifully filmed color adventure takes place way up north on the Mississippi where De Carlo runs a gambling show boat ("The River Lady") and is just as tough as the men surrounding her. There's the usual eccentric supporting characters, including the delightfully comical Florence Bates, but fortunately, it is missing the gratuitous grizzled old sidekick that more often than not simply just are not funny.De Carlo as usual is beautiful, and unlike some of her other Universal films, actually gets to use her own voice while singing. Rod Cameron is a strong hero and Duryea a great villain as always. However, the film is at its best when it shows what goes on behind the scenes in the logging industry, especially in the conclusion where a log jam keeps the good guys from nearly beating Duryea and his cartel. It's interesting to note that in this modern world of ours, many industries change, but when you're dealing with nature, obviously technology can't take over certain businesses.

Usually films set on the Mississippi are concerned with the area south of St. Louis to the New Orleans area and the delta. But River Lady is set in the country north of Minneapolis/St.Paul and it deals with the men who chop down trees and some women who scheme to get them. Such a woman is Yvonne DeCarlo riverboat gambling queen who sets up shop to take the logger's wages away and she's pretty good at it. She's got it bad for Rod Cameron, tough talking, two fisted logging man whom she thinks can do better. She buys into John McIntire's failing company on the condition that Cameron be made boss only he's not to know about her asking. But also McIntire's daughter Helena Carter takes an interest in Cameron. All the while Dan Duryea another riverboat gambler who like DeCarlo is watching and waiting for a moment to move in on the logs and Yvonne. He gets his opportunity.The characters are nicely developed though I think that Cameron was a bit of a lug. Although Duryea usually plays oily creatures in his films like this one, I can't believe DeCarlo didn't see he was far more suited to her.Some nice logging sequences and a nasty fight with loggers for both Duryea and Camerone mixing it up at the end as Cameron tries to dynamite a log jam. Action fans should like this.

Yvonne de Carlo did her share of mediocre westerns, but not this time. Here she is prettier than usual, also more subdued. The film takes place in a community of lumbermen who cut enormous trees. They also move them down the river. Also in the river there is the "River Lady" a boat where they gamble, managed by Sequin (Yvonne). Beauvais (Dan Duryea) is her partner in planning mischievous deals. But the great performance comes from Helena Carter (Stephanie), she is unforgettable as the woman who is not corresponded in her love for Dan Corrigan (Rod Cameron). A rare western, ignored in most anthologies efficiently directed by George Sherman in glorious Technicolor.

The "love quartet" aspect of "River Lady" (rich, power-driven Yvonne De Carlo and precocious Helena Carter love rugged tree logger Rod Cameron, crooked businessman Dan Duryea loves Yvonne) is slight and banal, though Helena Carter glows in one of her first roles, and this must be one of the very few instances where (SPOILER!) Yvonne De Carlo doesn't get her man! More interesting is the "business" aspect of the film: the independent loggers fighting collectively against the syndicate that wants to monopolize the market (and drive their wages down). Also interesting are the scenes of the actual process of tree-cutting and log-transporting streaming down the river. A compliment I can pay to this movie is that it looks like it could have been made in the 1950s, but the actual production date is 1948. **1/2 out of 4.