Rose of Cimarron (1952) Jack Buetel, Mala Powers, Bill Williams, Jim Davis, Bob Steele Movie Review

Rose of Cimarron (1952)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Mala Powers in Rose of Cimarron (1952)

Rose has Special Powers

When a wagon train was attacked by Indians a young baby was left orphaned. Found by friendly Indians who despite her flaming red hair and white skin call her Rose (Mala Powers) and raised her as one of their own. When her Indian parents are murdered by a gang of outlaws Rose and her brother Willie Whitewater (Jim Davis) hit the trail to track them down and get justice. The trail takes Mala to a town where having been impressed by Marshal Hollister (Jack Buetel) for arresting a bad guy asks him to help find and arrest the 3 men who murdered her kin. Having spent some time together Rose and the Marshal become close but she finds it impossible to fit in with the white women she meets in town who mock her under their breath.

Mala Powers with her striking red hair is an amazing sight and she looks mighty beautiful when dressed in figure hugging buckskin. Now I am not being sexist but giving you an honest observation when it comes to "Rose of Cimarron" which is a moderately entertaining b-western because it is Mala Powers as the titular Rose of Cimarron who makes this movie entertaining. Beyond Powers' attractiveness, which trust me is played upon in a scene which shows off her figure as she is pulled into a corset; "Rose of Cimarron" is just a run of the mill revenge/justice b-western.

Jack Buetel and Mala Powers in Rose of Cimarron (1952)

So on to the matter of what "Rose of Cimarron" is all about well simply it is Rose seeking justice for the murder of her Indian parents. Now justice for Rose means Indian justice which gets her into some trouble with the Marshal when she ends up in the town's jail but what it means for us is purely a generic western with the only USP being that it is a woman hell bent on getting justice rather than the more usual son, brother or husband. Although having said that for a while the plot gets sidetracked by showing Rose's difficulties with trying to fit in with the white women in town giving us an amusing couple of scenes but nothing special.

Nothing special is really a good description of "Rose of Cimarron" in general especially when it comes to the acting as when you take the beauty of Mala Powers out of the equation we have forgettable western characters. Fortunately whilst forgettable they are reasonably well acted with some western stalwarts such as Jim Davis and Bob Steele showing up in the cast list.

What this all boils down to is that "Rose of Cimarron" is nothing more than a 1950's b-western with the only thing close to being memorable is the attractiveness of the flame haired Mala Powers.


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