Once a Gambler, Always a Gambler

Belle Le Grand

(1951)



A southern gambling queen, Daisy Henshaw a.k.a. Belle Le Grand, played by Vera Ralston, who happens to have a noticeable eastern European accent, is released from prison and looking to make a grand life for herself once again. She's reunited with the main plantation housekeeper where she lived before being sentenced for a crime she didn't commit. Most of all, Belle hopes she'll also be able to be reunited with her sister, Nan, who was sent off to an orphanage when their dear old dad passed away while she was in the slammer. The years roll by and from a distance and a psuedonym, Belle pays for her sister's schooling and singing lessons. Finally they cross paths but Nan, at first and for awhile, is unaware Belle is her sister. In fact she keeps it quiet so much so that no one knows but her. Things begin to get more complicated when they both fall for a big-shot miner who brings Nan to sing at the new opera house in Carson City.

Since this isn't a short B-western, there's more time to involve a plot twist here and a turn there making this western a decent movie which in the end gets wrapped up with a nice, pretty bow. It's not the usual western with lots horses, cowboy hats and six-shooters... this has tuxedos and opera but it works.

*movie poster image taken from www.moviegoods.com