Opening finds Tyrone Power ready to start a career as an honest-dealing riverboat gambler. As he is ready to take off for the trip to New Orleans, dockside incidents team him with John McIntire, a card dealer, and acquaints him with Piper Laurie, spitfire southern belle, and her brother (John Baer). Power is a big winner with his straight card-play and breaks Baer while arousing the enmity of crooked gambler Ralph Dumke. Power and McIntire jump ship, and they make their way to New Orleans, where Power seeks to further acquaint himself with Laurie.
It is during this waiting romantic game that the film slows, with an occasional quickening scene, such as an abortive gun duel that brands Baer a coward and further complicates Power’s suit for the sister, and a few riverboat scenes, in one of which Power is responsible for Baer’s death.
Power carries off the romantic requirements with ease, looks good in his fencing scenes and otherwise takes good care of what action he is given. Laurie is nice to look at in the period costumes, while Adams, in a rather thankless role, fails to come off either photogenically or performance-wise. McIntire’s old gambler does a lot to help carry things along, and Cavanaugh is excellent.
