Early in the 20th century a well-to-do settler in Colorado (played by Charles Lane) plans to divert the Colorado river in order to irrigate the desert. He wins an investor from the East, whose engineer (Ronald Colman) soon becomes interested in his adopted daughter (Vilma Bánky). In this, the engineer finds himself the rival of a local cowboy (Gary Cooper). There is a lot going on in this film. People are killed in sandstorms, dams are built and rivers diverted, cities founded and destroyed, there are gunfights etc. Etc. In short: there is everything a great epic movie needs - a movie of the kind I usually love. Still, 'The Winning of Barbara Worth' does not rock my boat. This is because so much stuff is happening that director Henry King pays as good as no attention to character development. None of the people mentioned above are more then empty cyphers. You could easily exchange the cowboy for the engineer - the story would work just as well or poorly. Cooper and Colman have exactly the same kind of character, meaning none at all except that they are handsome, courageous and considerate. The picture is heavily tinted, and this is another issue. Granted, the amber desert scenes are beautiful (not only because of the tinting but also because they are beautifully filmed), but in other scenes the colour is far too dominant. And while the pale grey-blue works well for dusk, the pink, for example, could have been applied more carefully. Still, this is a minor point compared to the weak character development. Essentially, it was that issue which spoilt the film for me.
