This delirious, over the top western tale of l'amour fou features the always affable John Carroll as the jaded hero and Vera Ralston as a greedy, sociopathic woman of unsavory character who will stop at nothing, including murder, to achieve her desires. Ms. Ralston is not quite up to carrying the film, in a role which was perhaps more suited to the likes of Hedy Lamar or Marlene Deitrich. It's a sort of "Madame Bovary-Scarlett O'Hara goes to Texas" tale, with elements of noir. Besides Carroll (who actually gets to sing the title song) and a good performance by Walter Brennan as a self-righteous sheriff prone to prejudgments, there is little to entertain here other than the gay sub-context of Carroll's unshakable and undying affection for Ching.
Review of Surrender
