Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

zardoz-13 Arthur Lubin's entertaining but sophomoric comedy western "The First Traveling Saleslady" casts Oscar-winning actress Ginger Rogers are a corset salesperson in the Old West. James Arness and Clint Eastwood co-star. Initially, our heroine Miss Rose Gillray (Ginger Rogers of "Kitty Foyle") with the help of her friend Molly Wade (Carol Channing of "Skidoo") establish the Gillray Corset Company in New York City and persuade sell to theatrical producer Martin Schlessinger (Fred Essler of "G.I. Blues") stage a revue with ladies in their corsets. Schlessinger likes the idea, especially after Rose hints that if he doesn't want to that she can find another producer. Just as Schlessinger had feared, the ladies of the Purity League form a picket line to protest what they consider to be scandalous apparel, and the police shut down the show. Drowning in debt, Rose refuses to sneak out of town as one of her employees suggests, and she goes directly to see one of her biggest creditors, James Carter (David Brian of "Flamingo Road"), who owns the Carter Steel Company. Steel is an integral part of all corsets. When she tries to see Carter, he brushes her off while he complains to Teddy Roosevelt (Ed Cassidy of "Boss of Rawhide") that he cannot make any headway selling barbwire in Texas. The biggest cattleman in Texas, Joel Kingdom (James Arness of "Flame of the Islands"), refuses to buy it, and salesmen who try to sell it often wind up hanged. Rose exploits this predicament as an opportunity to eliminate her debt to Carter, and she argues that she can sell all of Carter's barbwire. Carter admires Rose's spirit, but he thinks that she is biting off more than she can chew. Nevertheless, Rose sneaks out of New York with Carter's barbwire hidden in boxes with her corsets stenciled on them. The primary objection that Kingdom and everybody else in Texas raise is that cattle will suffer being hemmed in by the barbwire. At one point, Kingdom has the local sheriff incarcerate Rose and Molly. Throughout the picture, Rose repeatedly encounters a man in a car, Charles Masters (Barry Nelson of "The Shining"), and he usually complicates matters for her. He crashes into her horse and buggy, and they wind up riding to her New York corset headquarters with Rose's horse pulling Masters' broken-down car. A running joke between them is Charles' ridicule of Rose's feminism. Ultimately, these two cross paths with each other again and again, while Rose brushes off the amorous advances of both Carter and Kingdom. Meanwhile, when they arrive at a hotel in Kansas City where the Cattlemen's Association has convened a meeting, Molly meets a handsome army lieutenant, Lieutenant Jack Rice (Clint Eastwood of "Star in the Dust"), who is recruiting men for Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders. Mind you, the cattlemen abhor the idea of barbwire because it will hurt their livestock. Eventually, Kingdom has our heroines locked up. Later, after he learns about Molly being thrown in jail, Lieutenant Rice rides in like the cavalry to save the day. Everything concludes with a jury trial to champion the idea that barbwire won't harm cattle. Rose calls on Mexicans to testify at the trial. She wants to prove her point that cattle aren't harmed by barbwire."The First Traveling Saleslady" is no great shakes as westerns go, but it is definitely amusing fluff.

writers_reign This may well, as Ginger Rogers liked to say, have finished RKO, where not only herself and Fred Astaire, but Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant and others enjoyed early success. This is nothing if not bizarre; six well-known names and no two even close to suggesting they're in the same movie. In Rogers case there is not an iota of chemistry between her and 1) Barry Nelson, her leading man - in the sense that they wind up together and 2) Carol Channing, her co-star and team-mate in a 'female buddy' movie. Channing and Nelson were both more comfortable on Broadway and both found success there. Here, Channing has the only number in the film proper (there is a title song sung over the credits) and though she brings it off it's a stand-alone item rather than an integral part of the plot. But if Channing and Rogers are mismatched Channing and Clint Eastwood, who actually share a kiss, borders on the grotesque. Add Jim Arness as a heavy and you have a real curio.

jotix100 This was Ginger Rogers last movie for the studio in which she was a star, RKO Radio. In fact, most of the interest in watching this weak attempt at comedy is the cast that was put together for the film. Director Arthur Lubin seems to have been directed by remote control and the screen play Devery Freeman and Stephen Longstreet supplied was not interesting. It's a mystery how this film was made, at all.Unfortunately, the film doesn't offer much to Ginger Rogers in the way of an colorful role to play. She was a much better actress that deserved better than this Rose Gillray, the corset maker turned barb wire saleslady. Barry Nelson is the man who believes in the future of the automobile and whose path to California keeps meeting Rose in the most unlikely places. Ms. Rogers and Mr. Nelson don't show much chemistry between them, and probably this is where the film fails, something than with another director, could have been solved, but which Mr. Lubin ignored.The film offers performances by Carol Channing, a Broadway star that never made it big in the movies. She plays Molly, Rose Gillray's assistant. In fact, she has the best lines in the film. A young Clint Eastwood is seen as Lt. Jack Rice, a member of the Rough Riders that Rose and Molly meet at the hotel. James Arness, another television idol, plays the rich landowner Joel Kingdom. Lastly, David Brian, an actor that tended to be seen in heavy roles, makes a good appearance as James Carter, the barb wire manufacturer.This is a film to be watched as a curiosity.

rosiezu1 In this day and age of R rated movies with blood and sex and violence, isn't it nice to have a little foolishness and fun in beautiful color. Enjoyed the costuming. Loved seeing Clint Eastwood in his youth. Loved seeing Carol Channing as well. James Arness before Gunsmoke was fun. It was just a fun movie for a rainy Sunday afternoon.The movies with Doris Day, Ginger Rogers, and others at the time brought relaxation and escape. Reality movies like we see today are too real. Our lives are real enough.To go back to a time that was relaxing, funny, and not real is a good break. Nothing wrong with reality movies, but movies like this are a chance to take a breath, smile and enjoy with the whole family.