Seven Women

It's a shame that John Ford's final picture had to be less than satisfying, but even adequate Ford is better than most efforts. Patricia Neal was to play the lead and shooting began with her. However, when she suffered her strokes, Bancroft replaced her and those scenes were re-shot. The plot is unusual for Ford, who made his reputation filming macho male films. Going far afield from the Old West, Ford must have wanted to show that after 48 years behind the lense, he could direct a film about women. The picture takes place in China in 1935. Mazurki, a Mongolian warlord, is pillaging the area near the China-Mongolia border. (The Austrian-born Mazurki had portrayed a...