the plot here be simple . country boy and lem ( farrell ) go to the city to sell the wheat crop and fall in love with a waitress and kate ( duncan ) and marry her and bring her home to a hostile father and a group of woman hungry reaper . there be shade of they know what they want and mouse and men here . the courtship and take place in two lengthy sequence set in the restaurant and consume the first half hour and be lethargically pace . lem be so weak he allow his father to mistreat his wife and who be proposition by mac ( richard alexander ) and one of the reaper and to come away with him . duncan and alexander be the only good thing in this tedious potboiler and which lack the insight and the cinematic beauty we expect from murnau . farrell character have no backbone so we wind up root for a real man ( mac ) to take kate away from it all . with audience sympathy skew and the film lose it narrative progression . the father conversion at film end be unrealistic and unbelievable and make for a contrived denouement . this film be for fan of the star and the director only general audience need not bother .