Una signora dell'ovest (1942)

"Recently he finished filming Carovana ("Carovan") with Isa Pola and Michel Simon, a film exceptionally researched and realized with ample technical and artistic views, the parish priest particularly. Rossano Brazzi figures in a role suited for his exuberant temperament, as he is physically prepared to take hard risks."

"The Italian "Spaghetti Western" as we know it today first appeared sometime in the early 1960's. At first, films like Albert Band (Alfredo Antonini)'s Duello nel Texas (GUNFIGHT AT RED SANDS), or Mario Costa's BUFFALO BILL, HERO OF THE FAR WEST were released in 1963. Then in 1964, Sergio Leone's FISTFUL OF DOLLARS became the persona of all following Italian made westerns. But when really was the first Italian western made? Well, research points to 1942 as the year the first one was made. It was a picture called, Una signora dell'ovest, loosely translated as THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST which itself was an extension of an opera first seen in 1910 called THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST, which has since been filmed several times. David Belasco wrote the original screenplay.

"This film is the first western ever made in Italy. It tells the tale of a young saloon dancer who inadvertently gets romantically involved with the man who killed her husband and framed her recent lover. She accepts his advances until she learns the truth. She then returns to her lover and discovers that he has been married all along."

"Koch lacks the courage to set his film amongst our own cattlemen, the "buteri", and thus to transfer the action to a more realistic setting. The most irritating things about this film are the "cardboard" backgrounds, and a general atmosphere of the baroque. However, we cannot ignore Koch's serious commitment to his work."

"The story concerns the adventures of an ex-music hall artiste and her lover, Diego, in the golden West; they team up with a rich cattle baron, William (Rossano Brazzi), who leads them to Butler (Michele Simon), a strange old man who gives them the rights to an abandoned mine. Butler kills Diego, making it look as if William is the real killer. The signora believes Butler's story, "seeks consolation in his arms"; later, when she learns the truth, she rides off in search of William, finds him happily married and asks his forgiveness. The film was filmed amidst wartime cardboard sets."

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