Three Faces West (1940)
Three Faces West (1940)
„Three Faces West“ is a 1940 Black & White neo-western drama film directed by Bernard Vorhaus, based on a screenplay by F. Hugh Herbert, Joseph Moncure March, Samuel Ornitz and Doris Anderson.
The „We the People“ radio program is devoting a broadcast to the story of refugee doctors, driven from their homeland and looking for positions in the doctor-less towns of America when Dr. Karl Braun one of the physicians, relates the tale of how he and his daughter, Leni „Lenchen“ Braun were driven from their homeland in Vienna.
As a result of the broadcast, father and daughter are summoned to the town of Asheville Forks, North Dakota by John Phillips, the leader of the farmers’ organization there. They arrive in the midst of a dust storm, and Leni, distressed by the hardships she has suffered and by the death of her fiancé, Dr. Eric Von Scherer, wants to leave the town immediately. Her father, however, insists on staying to aid the ailing and impoverished farmers who must helplessly watch as their fortunes are blown away by the wind.
Leni soon adapts to the farm community, and love comes to her and John. Soon afterward, word arrives from Eric that he is alive and coming to America, and Leni, out of gratitude, agrees to meet him in San Francisco and marry him.
John’s troubles mount as a dust storm devastates the land, and he convinces the farmers to follow him to a new home in Oregon. Along the way a troublemaker, Clem Higgins, attempts to agitate the farmers to venture to California instead, but John, after a bout of disillusionment, rallies the farmers on to Oregon.
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Leni and her father are shocked to learn that Eric has joined forces with the Nazis, and father and daughter leave Eric to rejoin John in Oregon.
Cast:
- John Wayne – John Phillips
- Sigrid Gurie – Leni „Lenchen“ Braun
- Charles Coburn – Dr. Karl Braun
- Spencer Charters – Dr. „Nunk“ Atterbury
- Helen MacKellar – Mrs. Welles
- Roland Varno – Dr. Eric Von Scherer
- Sonny Bupp – Billy Welles
- Wade Boteler – Mr. Harris, Department of Agriculture Official
- Trevor Bardette – Clem Higgins
- Russell Simpson – Minister
- Charles Waldron – Dr. William Thorpe
- Wendell Niles – Man-on-the-Street Radio Announcer
„Three Faces West“ ist ein Neo-Western-Drama in Schwarz-Weiß aus dem Jahr 1940 unter der Regie von Bernard Vorhaus, basierend auf einem Drehbuch von F. Hugh Herbert, Joseph Moncure March, Samuel Ornitz und Doris Anderson.
Das Radioprogramm "We the People" widmet eine Sendung der Geschichte von Flüchtlingsärzten, die aus ihrer Heimat vertrieben wurden und in den arzneilosen Städten Amerikas eine Stelle suchen, als Dr. Karl Braun, einer der Ärzte, die Geschichte erzählt, wie er und seine Tochter Leni "Lenchen" Braun aus ihrer Heimat in Wien vertrieben wurden.
Als Folge der Sendung werden Vater und Tochter von John Phillips, dem Leiter der dortigen Bauernorganisation, in die Stadt Asheville Forks in North Dakota gerufen. Sie kommen inmitten eines Staubsturms an, und Leni, verzweifelt über die erlittenen Entbehrungen und den Tod ihres Verlobten Dr. Eric von Scherer, will die Stadt sofort verlassen. Ihr Vater besteht jedoch darauf, zu bleiben, um den kranken und verarmten Bauern zu helfen, die hilflos zusehen müssen, wie ihr Vermögen vom Winde verweht wird.