Although the late Jennifer Jones excelled at portraying sweet and benevolent ladies on screen (Sister Bernadette in "The Song of Bernadette," Jane Hilton, the epitomized all-American girl, in "Since You Went Away," the ghostly and angelic Jennie Appleton in "Portrait of Jennie," the perfect schoolmarm in "Good Morning, Miss Dove," for example), as her millions of fans all know, she also specialized in playing lustful, self-willed and oftentimes tempestuous women. 1946's "Duel in the Sun," with Jennifer as the hot-blooded Pearl Chavez, is a perfect example of that type, but a look at "Ruby Gentry," made six years later by the same director, King Vidor, shows that Jones could be just as effective in a much smaller picture, playing a similar role. "Duel" was mockingly referred to as "Lust in the Dust," and I suppose one could give "Ruby" the tagline "Romp in the Swamp." In this one, she starts out as Ruby Corey, born on "the wrong side of the tracks" (a so-called "swamp trotter") in the modern-day, fictitious town of Braddock, N.C. Although desperately in love with well-to-do Boake Tackman (played by Charlton Heston in one of his earlier roles), she marries the wealthiest man in town, Jim Gentry (the always marvelous Karl Malden), on the spiteful rebound. A marital tragedy strengthens Ruby's resolve to avenge herself on both the snobbish townspeople and on Boake himself, leading, "Duel in the Sun" style, to even more tragedy down the line. Jennifer, it must be said, is simply marvelous here; her poor-white Southern accent doesn't slip once and her chemistry with Heston is a thing to behold. The film also features atmospheric direction by Vidor and a lovely, memorable score by Heinz Roemheld. In all, a quality production, and yet another victory for the great Jennifer Jones.
Review of Ruby Gentry
