Roughshod

A likeable western made with unusual care and intelligence, Roughshod is also a curiously modest, small-scale undertaking that failed to make a star out of its leading man, Robert Sterling. With the help of his kid brother (Claude Jarman Jr), Sterling leads a herd of thoroughbred horses to California, rescues a troupe of saloon girls and has a run-in with three outlaws. Gloria Grahame plays the leading lady with her customary panache while John Ireland portrays the chief villain. Mark Robson's direction is assured, but the material would have gained from the poetic touch of someone with the stature and skill of John Ford.