Summary
In the untamed Pacific Northwest logging frontier, Tom Denton's arrival as co-owner of Patton Lumber ignites a powder keg of primal tensions. Howard Patton's restless wife Vera employs predatory flirtation against Tom's stoic resistance, fracturing the partnership through unfounded jealousy. Establishing solitary dominion, Tom institutes a prohibition on liquor that triggers chain reactions of violence: Disgruntled lumberjack Slim Dorgan conspires with venomous moonshiner Bull Larkin to dynamite Denton's mill. Intervention comes from Larkin's wife Mary—bound to her abuser by a deathbed vow—whose delayed warning coincides with premature detonation, claiming both Denton's brother and Dorgan. In the explosive aftermath, Larkin swaps garments with Dorgan's corpse to vanish, freeing Tom and Mary to wed and transplant their fragile peace to distant territory. This sanctuary shatters when a wounded specter from their past appears: Larkin himself, unrecognized by Tom while Mary—now pregnant—battles paralyzing fear. After nursing the viper in their nest, Tom suffers a gunshot betrayal. The climax erupts in a Mexican borderland dance hall where Larkin drags Mary through hellish neon, until Tom's miraculous recovery culminates in a cathartic showdown, reclaiming love from the jaws of relentless savagery.
Synopsis
Tom Denton comes from the East to the Northwest lumber region and becomes co-owner of a lumber camp with Howard Patton, whose bored wife Vera insists on flirting with Tom despite his discouragement. After the partners break because of Patton's suspicions, Tom, as sole owner, declares that his lumberjacks must refrain from drinking liquor. When Tom discharges Slim Dorgan for drinking, Slim visits illicit whiskey dealer Bull Larkin, and they plan to dynamite Tom's sawmill. Bull's abused wife Mary, who married him to fulfill her father's dying wish, warns Tom, but the explosion goes off early and kills Tom's brother and Slim. After Bull exchanges clothes with Slim to escape, Tom and Mary wed and move to another territory. Later, Bull arrives wounded, but Tom does not know him and Mary, pregnant, is afraid to reveal Bull's identity. After they care for him, Bull shoots Tom. Bull forcibly takes Mary to a dance hall near Mexico, but Tom recovers, follows them, shoots Bull and reclaims Mary.
Review Excerpt
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The Primal Timberlands: Where Desire Fells More Than Trees
Emerging like a fever dream from Hollywood's silent adolescence, Man's Desire plants its boots deep in the mud-soaked psyche of the American frontier. Director William Dyer—better known for his acting chops in Under Four Flags—constructs a world where towering pines cast longer shadows than morality, and the scent of pine resin mingles with gunpowder and desperation. This isn't the romanticized wilderness of Code of the Yukon's gold..."
