Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

ScoobyMint Disappointment for a huge fan!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Robert D. Ruplenas I liked this movie.Having seen my share of hogwash from this period of American filmmaking, I can say that the movie kept me interested, which I can't say for a lot of the dreck from this period.We are constantly kept wondering who this escaped, supposedly insane, criminal is, and that question is what sustains our curiosity throughout the movie.There is a certain amount of philosophizing in the script, but it never rises to an arcane level, nor does it interfere with plot development.Casting is excellent. John Ireland is a very capable and underrated character actor. The star of the show is definitely James Barton as the hermit turkey farmer. You can't take your eyes of him, and he is the linchpin. Mercedes McCambridge shines as the loose woman with a heart of gold, and she is an excellent singer.My caveat is with the convoluted finish, with too many plot threads wrapped up in an unconvincing and contrived manner. However, the first three quarters of the movie is good enough to carry us through to the weak ending.It's worth a watch.

blanche-2 John Ireland stars with Mercedes McCambridge in "The Scarf" which features Emlyn Williams and Lloyd Gough.Ireland plays an escapee from a mental institution who is sure he didn't strangle his girlfriend with a scarf, but unfortunately, he can't remember anything. He hides out in a cabin owned by an isolated old man (Ezra Thompson), helps out raising his turkeys, and eventually goes to Los Angeles to see his friend David Dunbar (Williams), a psychiatrist. Along the way, he picks up a hitchhiker (McCambridge) en route to a job as a singing waitress. She's wearing the exact same scarf, but he still can't remember strangling his girlfriend.This is a fairly convoluted story, cashing in on the interest in psychiatry after World War II. Ireland looks very handsome here and does a good job in this small movie. The character of Ezra, the old man, is interesting and likable.This may sound silly, but for some reason, McCambridge singing "Summer Rains" was the high point of the film for me. I thought she really created an atmosphere with it and raised the level of the film.Decent performances, but check this film out for McCambridge.

secondtake The Scarf (1951)A peculiar but sometimes charming movie, filled with empty moments, people sitting and talking, the wind whistling through trees in the desert, and a possible killer on the loose. The best parts for me were the odd pairing of a loner woman played by Mercedes McCambridge and the leading man on the run, John Barrington (John Ireland). Later, both of these characters appear in different places, sometimes crossing paths. McCambridge is a sharp, funny, slightly tragic actress, and Ireland is a super sweet guy. They make a surprising pair.The setting for all this is a nice little village on the edge of the desert, and a dry turkey farm out of town. As Barrington suffers with his guilt and doubts about having committed a murder (strangling someone with a scarf), he bounces from place to place, just barely avoiding trouble. People are rough and Barrington can't get his head together, but he plugs along, butting against McCambridge at times, and the tensions grows before you realize it.It isn't quite a Hitchcockian innocent man on the loose. We doubt him, too. We are unravelling the problem as they go. It isn't always a remarkable unfolding of events, but it has remarkable moments, and a strange, spare mood that is possessing. At first I almost stopped watching it because it was a bit clumsy and raw, but that becomes smoother and more essential over time. Eventually it becomes downright idiosyncratic in the best ways, just on the happy edge of weird. There's even a barroom scene with McCambridge singing a simple blues song, pretty amazingly.The plot takes on some forced twists toward the end, but they are still dramatic ones. "The doctor is allergic to irrelevant laughter."

David (Handlinghandel) This weird item begins on a turkey farm. The farmer is a philosopher.The movie is a turkey with pretensions of philosophical wisdom. Every line, virtually, is an epigram, but, though it was made around the same time, this sure ain't no "All About Eve." The dialogue is like that of a mediocre off-off-Broadway play: full of meaning, full of -- well, something else.The story is interesting enough. Nice guy framed by friend. Nice guy is, inexplicable at least in the surviving print, son of rich man. Decent men triumph and reveal the guilty party.Among the other oddities is the casting of Mercedes McCambridge, a fine character actress, as the gorgeous dame. Gorgeous she ain't, though she turns in a game -- no, not gamy -- performance. She was a far better actress than, say, Cleo Moore, but surely someone more convincing was available.The whole thing is entertaining but annoying. It could have stood on its own, minus the pretension that abounds.