If "Ramona" had nothing but color it would almost have enough. Between the cloudbursts they have shot enough California scenery to justify a considerable portion of the fantastic boasts from out of that sunny land. Aware of the possibilities of their material and their improved equipment, the photographers have used some genuine artistry in the choice and compositions of their scencs. A sunrise is caught at its brightest, and lovely lands are duplicated upside down in lovely waters.

But there are other things in store. The plot is meant to have a primitive compulsion about it, and in many places it has. Loretta Young is Ramona. When she learns that her mother's skin was red, duty joins inclination to make her marry Alessaudro, a very handsome Indian played by Don Ameche with none of the traditional "Ugh". In the course of a very persecuted life Alessandro gets shot to death. But just when divine justice is being reproachfully questioned by Ramona's homely protectress, along comes Filipe (Kent Taylor), Ramona's other lover, and promises to be a satisfactory compensation. If these broad outlines leave you cold, you may still be affected by the sight of John Carradine, that lean, relentless fiend from "The Prisoner of Shark's Island", dragging along the futilely resisting Ramona as he goes to pump three bullcts into the helpless Alessandro, for having taken his (the American's) horse in a desperate effort to save the life of his baby.

Loretta Young always has a sad look in her eyes, and in this picture it is somehow more effective when she is being rushed by a dozen caballeroes than when she has lost her husband. Altogether her presence and her hearing and her acting are highly pleasing. Don Ameche and Kent Taylor are certainly good enough, and that extremely physical Katherine de Mille loses to Loretta with as dour a sulleness as she did in "The Crusades". Its charms being thus threefold, the picture is a good investment.