Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I have to concede that this picture had me constantly off balance. It began with the relationship between Ramona Moreno (Loretta Young) and her brother Felipe (Kent Taylor). Didn't it seem like they were just a little too lovestruck to be brother and sister before Alessandro (Don Ameche) came on the scene? Felipe was definitely looking to take the relationship to a different level before he learned of Ramona's background, but even so, they would have been raised as siblings. The whole thing didn't compute with me.Then there was the casting of Don Ameche as an Indian. That might not have been so bad but with the way his hair was restrained by the headband he looked like Andy Kaufman to me. Upon his very first meeting with Ramona hanging from the apple tree, all I could do was wonder how she got up there in the first place. Stop and think about that for a minute.So when Ramona finally confessed her love to Alessandro it just seemed like it came out of left field. They get married and with a quick scene change they already have a baby. After getting kicked off their land by the white settlers, they're taken in by a pioneer family for a time, but even there, Aunt Ri Hyar (Jane Darwell) goes through a brief moment of racist resentment before figuring the couple is OK.I guess what I'm saying is that all these situations probably needed a bit more development in the story to make sense, but instead they occurred almost as random events with no sense of continuity. On the plus side, Loretta Young made for a quite lovely leading lady with a genuinely wholesome charm for the era. Her appearance in the story is the only reason I can come up with to catch this picture, otherwise you can give it a bye.

This film and the slightly prior "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" became pioneer projects in using the rather recently perfected 3 strip Technicolor filming process in extensive outdoor scenes. Both films deal with conflicts between rural folk: the one between clans of 'hillbillies' in the Appalachians, while this one deals with the generally callus treatment of California Indians and Latinos by recent American immigrants into the recently conquered upper California territory. Based upon the immensely popular and critically acclaimed Helen Jackson 1884 novel of the same title, it's essentially a remake of the 1928 film, again of the same title. All copies of this prior film were believed lost until recently. It starred the famous Mexican actress Dolores del Rio: a considerably less controversial choice than the non-Latin Loretta Young in the present film. This film must have been made just after Loretta had her hushed up out-of-wedlock child with Clark Gable.Unfortunately, I only saw the last half of the film during one of its rare TV showings, thus will have to rely on other info to fill in the first half of the story. Briefly , Ramona is the daughter of a Spanish landowner and a deceased Indian maiden, raised by this family along with son Felipe, who falls in love with her.(In the novel, she's an adopted orphan). However, she falls in love with an Indian hired hand: Alessandro, played by Don Ameche, in his first significant film role: another controversial casting decision. Opposed by her stepmother, they elope, married by a sympathetic, humorous, priest, played by long-lived character actor Victor Kilian. Obviously, some time has passed before the next scene, when they are tending their farm and have an infant. Two Americans ride up to chat with them, one played by Russell Simpson. Alessandro brags about the agricultural quality of his land, and the two move on to San Diego. A while later we see several neighboring houses on fire, and one Indian shot dead after resisting a demand that he vacate his homestead, now claimed by Americans. Soon, Simpson shows up with a similar demand of the young couple. Ramona convinces Alessandro it's best to give in. So, they burn their nearly ripe corn and wheat, abandon their livestock, and load a wagon to travel to who knows where? During a fierce rainstorm in the mountains, they encounter a house and ask for shelter. 'Aunt' Ri Hyar(Jane Darnell)invites them in, thinking they are Mexicans down on their luck. Clearly, she's a very different kind of American(and rare women) from those previously encountered. However, she takes fright when she figures out Alessandro is Indian rather than Mexican. However, when they claim to be Christians, she reverts to her friendly attitude.Unfortunately, their infant comes down with a fever. Ri directs Alessandro to the only doctor, far away. But the doctor is overwhelmed, treating the victims of an epidemic, and refuses to make the trip. However, he supplies some medicine and instructions. Alessandro's horse develops leg problems on the strenuous trip 'home'. Thus, an alternative horse is needed. A farm is encountered, but the American owners are not found. Thus, Alessandro 'borrows' one of their horses. The owners arrive as he gallops off in the opposite direction. The owner(played by famous character actor John Carradine)rides after him. Alessandro gives the infant the medicine as instructed, then goes to a spring for water. Carradine arrives, and Ramona, mistaking him for the doctor, directs him to Alessandro, whom he immediately shoots dead, no questions asked. During the funeral procession, Aunt Ri gives Ramona a long, encouraging, talk, then Felipe(Ramona's familial brother)arrives and they embrace. We are left with the suggestion that Felipe will become her new husband or act as her guardian in the meanwhile(In the novel, he becomes her husband, after a much messier last portion of the story than this film version).Despite much casting criticism by many, I believe Loretta was an excellent choice for Ramona. In the novel, she is described as black haired, with blue eyes, which fits. Loretta was a well established film actress of uncommon beauty and sympathy, as brought out in her concern for her child...Novelist Jackson wanted to portray CA Indians as 'noble savages'. Hence, the classy Ameche was a good choice for Alessandro, if a bit wooden and rather unbelievable as a shepherd. Kent Taylor: sort of a second tier Gable-type is OK as Felipe. But, the most ingenious casting was Jane Darwell as aunt Ri Hyar, who, no doubt, represents what author Jackson would have been like in her situation. In contrast to the male Americans, she welcomes Indians and Mexicans as potential friends, as long as they claim to be Christians. She equates Christianity with being civilized(a very questionable assumption, as history proves!). Her long comforting speech to the recently widowed Ramona serves as a warm-up for her parting speech in her most famous role: as Ma Joad, in "The Grapes of Wrath". She's just as impressive here. In fact, the last half of this film rather mirrors this later film, but from a Native American point of view.This film long predates much more famous westerns(such as "Broken Arrow" and "The Searchers") that provide a similar overall theme that Americans and Indians(or Latinos) best respect each other, and sometimes intermarry. Ramona symbolizes this in her hybrid origins, and in taking an Indian husband, despite her privileged Spanish upbringing, as well as a subsequent Spanish husband. Murderous, thieving, prejudiced Americans are the bad guys.Ameche and Loretta would be reteamed a few years later as the romantic couple in the more remembered B&W "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell".

There are legendary moments in Hollywood history where somebody is so blatantly miscast that the results are ridiculous. In most cases, the fault is not the actors, but in a few (most memorably, John Wayne as Ghengis Khan in "The Conquerors"), there is no place else to point the finger. In 1936, Hollywood cast Don Ameche and Loretta Young as "Native Americans" (or "Indians" as they refer to themselves here), simply darkening their skin while giving them black wigs or shoe polish to change their appearance. This was Ameche's first leading role, but Young had been a major star since the beginning of talkies. Of course, the roles were obviously challenging, and both stars give their best to make their characters as real as possible. But 78 years later, their casting raises eyebrows and creates a lot of controversy over the so-called "Golden Years" of Hollywood.In spite of that, this is a riveting movie that you can enjoy if you simply just get past the fact that Ameche, no matter what his background was, came off as too All-American and that Young, even if playing only partial "Native", was as Caucasian as they come. Had the film been made in black and white, their appearances wouldn't transcend the character's nationalities. Yet, being only one of several films made in color that year ("The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" also came out), "Ramona" is still striking to look at, and there are moments when you see that the script really is taking great pains to show sympathy to the people whose land our forefathers stole from underneath them. In fact, that is what is going on here. Landgrabbers come to California, are willing to kill to get their hands on the precious soil already planted on, and Ameche, Young and their baby girl are displaced with no place to go. A pattern in history to be sure. Just look at "Fiddler on the Roof".Ramona is the beautiful heroine, a young girl unaware even in spite of the fact that she looks "native" (or is made to at least appear it) that she is the daughter of an Indian maiden who died and was brought up by her father's second wife. Resentful Pauline Frederick takes her in and mistreats her for years, sending her off to the convent to get "the heathen spirit" out of her, and threatens to do so again when she catches her kissing hired hand Ameche, a full blooded native. Ameche and Young escape before she can be sent back to the convent again, raise their family, are displaced, then find comfort in the home of the sweet Jane Darwell. At first, the kindly fat woman is aghast to find out that they are "Indians" but relieved to find out that they are Christians. "As long as a man believes that Jesus was their savior, they are fine with me no matter the color of their skin", she says after getting over her initial fears. Yes, this film is filled with a racist overtone that tries to present the Indians as human beings who can be "reformed" with Caucasian help and Darwell is doing her Christian duty to do just that. But this is also a tragedy and humanity must suffer if we are to learn lessons from hatred and intolerance. So while I have misgivings about the casting and certain elements of the plot, I know it is a reflection of its time, and history must be documented to show the evils of what prejudice truly is. A pioneer woman like Darwell would indeed come to look at Indians as heathens who can be made whole, and since this took place well over a century ago, we can look back at this and be glad that attitudes have changed, that education has proved our fore-fathers to be misguided, and that while is certainly not perfect, society looks at racist views with disgust and intolerance with an intoleration for it.The supporting cast features a variety of familiar faces in important roles, notably Katherine de Mille as a jealous Indian girl who spills the beans about Young and Ameche to Fredericks; Kent Taylor as Fredericks' son who is secretly in love with Young; Victor Kilian as a comical monk who marries Young and Ameche; and John Carradine as a farmer who vows revenge when he catches Ameche stealing his horse. Henry King, a director of many historical epics of this nature, does an outstanding job of getting every physical detail just right, and even if you can't stomach some of those old ideals, you can't help but be taken in by the film's physical beauty.

Ramona (1936) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A young half Indian woman (Loretta Young) marries an Indian (Don Ameche) but their lives take a turn for the worse when white folks run them off their land. This is an extremely depressing and somewhat shocking film that actually shows the Indians as the good people and the white's as savages, which wasn't common back in the day. The two stars do their usual great work but the direction is all over the place. The Indians aren't well written considering most are talking with Spanish accents. John Carradine has a small role. From what I gathered, this was the forth feature to use 3-strip Technicolor.