Argento vivo

Though the role of Trigger Hicks in Spitfire turned out to be disastrous commercially for RKO and did nothing to help the career of Katherine Hepburn, it's still an interesting experiment when seen today. Especially seen by fans who regard Kate as a feminist icon.

Trigger Hicks is about as far as you can get for a role from the most well known graduate of Byrn Mawr in history. Kate's an illiterate hillbilly lass who is a mountain faith healer, respected by many and feared by more for her alleged powers.

Two who don't fear here are a pair of engineers sent to the Ozarks to build a railroad, Ralph Bellamy and Robert Young. Hepburn unfortunately falls for the married Young who of course doesn't tell her of his marriage to Martha Sleeper.

In her own way Trigger Hicks is as much an independent spirit as Tess Harding or Pat Pemberton or any of the other more sophisticated women that Kate later portrayed. I'm sure she thought of the film as expanding her range a bit even though it didn't quite stretch in that direction.

Still it's interesting to watch.