OKLAHOMA WOMAN

US, 1956, 73 minutes, Black and white.
Peggy Castle, Richard Denning, Cathy Downs, Mike Connors.
Directed by Roger Corman.

An ordinary B-budget western. It is of interest because it was written and directed by Roger Corman at the beginning of his film career. In the late fifties he produced many short features like this one. He moved to his adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe and his work as one of the most influential producers in Hollywood. Of historical cinema interest.

1. The use of western conventions - situations, characters, crises? Stereotypes?

2. The work of Roger Corman? His beginnings? His success with B-budget films? The conventions of the screenplay, acting, direction?

3. Black and white photography, Superscope, small budget, cast, musical score, length?

4. The west and its heritage: Law and Order, Government and Authority, wealth and corruption, elections, violence, the restoring of order?

5. The feminine focus of the film: title, Marie, the boss, owning and control, the evidence? The women’s' film?

6. Steve Ward as hero: arrival, ambiguity, questions about the relationship with Blake, the sheriff? The land, his intervening? The marshall and the framing? his saving the p5rl and the clash? His being used? The lynching? The finale? Western hero?

7. Marie: The father and the truth, his death? The girl and the mistrust? The rescue and the happy ending?

8. Susan: The tough woman of the west, running the saloon, Steve and trying to win him over, the marshall? Her decline and fall?

9. Blake as villain, snarling, villain, jealousy, the women, the marshall, the fight?

10. The western town and its way of life, law and order, elections, violence, lynching? An ordinary western, but enjoyable?