Pursued

Teresa Wright in Pursued (dir. Raoul Walsh, 1947).

A noirish frontier melodrama with a robust Max Steiner score and some pointedly psychoanalytic elements (recurring flashbacks of a murderous primal scene, undertones of pseudo-incest, lots of symbols). What make it more than just pretty good are the ominous rock outcroppings, solemn skyscapes, haunted rustic shadows, and other such atmospheric intimations of fatalism--intimations that are not quite fully honored by the arc of the plot, but are nevertheless quite affecting. Robert Mitchum riding alone in the hills sitting up real straight on his horse singing "The Streets of Laredo" is like a little sneak preview of his role eight years later as the villainous preacher in Night of the Hunter. Wright's then-husband Niven Busch wrote the screenplay. With Judith Anderson, Dean Jagger, Alan Hale, and Harry Carey, Jr.