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Fantastic!

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

This film was actually RKO's biggest failure of the year. This movie has Wayne playing an engineer who is building a railroad bridge across a gorge. He and his financier partner in this effort dislike each other intensely with spats that range from the inadequate financing of the project to the shotgun wedding of Wayne's character to the tycoon's daughter. This is where The Duke completely breaks from the hero he normally plays and acts like a spoiled child who believes that he who dies with the most toys wins. He and the tycoon's spat escalate to the point that sabotage is occurring and lives are being lost. There's some beautiful cinematography in this one, and although the plot just didn't work for me, Wayne's acting did. Most people don't like this film at least in part because Wayne convincingly plays someone completely unlikeable - and that's the point. He's given a role completely out of step with what he usually plays and does a good job.

What is there about John Wayne? To me, he remains a sort of an enigma. There are quite a few of his films I admire and enjoy a great deal. Yet, his acting is about as shallow as a river in Death Valley. And, his acting in this film is pretty shallow in the love scenes....and this is essentially a love story. But worse than his love scenes is the scene where he is talking in his sleep. Although, the film around John Wayne here has some depth to it.Better than Wayne here is one actress who often doesn't get a lot of credit -- Laraine Day. This is one of her better roles, although for a B actress I was always just a bit partial to her.Sir Cedric Hardwicke is also excellent here, if unlikable. It's actually a role that fit him well. Equally good is Judith Anderson, not quite as austere here as she could be on screen.There are also a few fine character actors here: James Gleason and Paul Fix, for example. A very handsome Anthony Quinn is here, not yet having attained stardom. And, Quinn is very good here.Although it's only the sub plot, the building of a railroad tunnel here is quite interesting, and done quite well.The real plot here, however, is a controlling father, a woman who is interested in a man, and a man who is interested in that woman. Except for Wayne's shallow acting in the love scenes, this part of the story is well done, as well.If there's one thing to complain about -- aside from Wayne's awkwardness in love scenes -- it's the very fake exterior scenes that are matte paintings. The color is so fake.Personally, aside from a few films like "Rio Bravo" and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence", I think this is better than many of John Wayne's films, but it is seriously underrated. I give it a strong 7 for the story line.

"Tycoon" has a lot going for it. Unfortunately it doesn't really deliver. John Wayne plays a familiar persona, and does so very well, as always. Laraine Day, with whom I was not familiar, turned in a very good performance. The most notable of the cast, I thought, was Anthony Quinn in a supporting role. Having said all this, the film really fails to engage. I don't know why. The plot had a lot going for it, the photography was nice, the direction OK. I just can't put my finger on why this isn't a better movie. Grade: C-

Tycoon is a nice John Wayne film which looks splendid in color. Wayne plays a different character than usual. For the first part of the film he plays his standard All-American man, but during the second half he turns to a heel. Day looks fabulous. A negative point of this film is the dreary character of Hardwicke. The story and the exotic locale makes this an entertaining film.