Light western has New Orleans saloon queen Shelley Winters returning to her rustic hometown of Bottleneck to find the varmints who killed her father 15 years earlier--trouble is, she doesn't know who they are, and so opens a new saloon as a cover while she solves the mystery. Friendly enough, yet awfully silly second-feature with a plot that doesn't quite hang together. Still, Winters (with a devil in her eyes) fires off some fresh lines while utilizing her feminine wiles to charm the pants off the male residents. Joel McCrea is a bit sleepy as the story-tellin', wood-whittlin' sheriff, but the supporting cast is solid, particularly Elsa Lanchester as gal-pal the Countess. The Technicolor photography is bright and handsome, but the production (a jumbled mix of studio sets and location shots) is visually insecure. Nothing at all to take seriously, but enjoyable while it lasts. **1/2 from ****
Review of Frenchie
