It is interesting that Buddy Ebsen managed to get this one in between seasons of his CBS series. His role is more quiet and reserved in this movie than Uncle Jed, and he has to mail order a bride since Elly Mae is not available. Too bad since Donna Douglas would not do badly here.Lois Nettleton, Marie Windor and Barbara Luna are much more mature ladies here, than Douglas would have been. There is some solid male acting here with Warren Oates getting lessons on how to be the bad guy he would become in the classic Bonnie & Clyde which comes later. The plot has Will Lane (Ebsen) assigned by a friend to protect his son from himself as the young man is a lot irresponsible, After getting full exposure of the kid, he decides the only way to get the kid to settle down is get him a woman. I think it is more of a way to torture a woman but somehow this actually works pretty well and this film turns into a minor success. Hey, not every summer vacation movie can turn into a "Psycho" Especially when the master is not behind the camera.

Interesting, but all too predictable story of a young man, out of control, who is taken under the wing by his dead father's best friend. The solution to his problems in this western is to get a wife.Buddy Ebsen shines here as the guy who searches for Keir Dullea. Lois Nettleton becomes the bride. She brings to the marriage a young son. Widowed, her character is totally not allowed to be developed here.Naturally, there are cattle rustlers who take advantage of the situation and a scene where the young boy's life is put in danger when a fire breaks out, started by the crooks, in the area where he is sleeping.The ending, naturally when things calm down, is poignant and comical as Ebsen shows that it's never too late to find love.

Many movies deserve their obscurity, and none more than this formula Western. Direction, editing, writing-- all are uninspired, especially the occasional attempts at humor.But the casting is atrocious. Desperately bad. They've all done good work in other roles, but in this… So clean-cut he almost squeaks, Keir Dullea is at no point convincing as a gambling, carousing womanizer.Buddy Ebsen adds nothing new—not one glance, not one inflection-- to the tiresomely familiar role of the wise, slow-spoken, solitary old-timer.In the eponymous role, Lois Nettleton stares soulfully toward Ebsen, Dullea, or the near distance. That's about it. Refreshing though it is to see a rather plain actress as a star, she finds no way to redeem—with humor, with spirit-- a woman who did not advertise for a husband (her boss did, played by a wry Marie Windsor), and who has almost no curiosity about her sight-unseen future mate and his home. In fact, objectively, her non-reaction is almost criminally irresponsible for a widow with a child.If ever a film deserved to be in the background of some other activity (including sleep), it's this one.

Reviewer Wolfgang is correct: this is an "old fashioned" Western. But old fashioned or not, it's a minor gem in my little book. Old coot Will Lane's (Ebsen) got a debt of honor to young wastrel Lee Carey's (Dullea) dead dad and, by golly, a debt of honor means just that to old man Lane, worn-out or not. To fulfill that debt he's got to make enough of a man out of young Lee to deserve the ranch deed Dad entrusted to Will for safekeeping. Trouble is Lee spends his days carousing in town with the no-good Jace (Oates), while the ranch goes to seed and Jace steals his cattle. Into this unhappy mess rides old Will with his debt of honor, thinking maybe a mail order bride (Nettleton) and her young son will turn the shiftless Lee into enough of a responsible husband and father to deserve owning the picturesque ranch. Thus, the movie is ultimately about learning those values that endure and separating them from those that don't-- perhaps an old-fashioned idea, but one to consider, especially in our post-modern era.Now, the movie would not work so well without three contributing elements. Ebsen's simply superb as the low-key old man. It's an odd performance, so stoical as to be almost deadpan —I count one smile in the whole 90 minutes. Ordinarily, that would be boring to watch, but Ebsen acts subtly with his eyes and in such a steady dignified manner that he doesn't have to say much. Director Kennedy wisely keeps the camera on Will's face when somebody says something important, so we know what he's thinking because we know what kind of man he is. That way we participate in what he's feeling; we don't just observe it. All in all, the honor-bound Will Lane is in the best tradition of the dedicated Western hero, while Ebsen's collaboration with Kennedy creates a memorable movie character.What an excellent choice Lois Nettleton is as the hopeful, young Annie. Standing there on the train platform, alone with her young son, hoping for a new life with a man she's never seen, amounts to an almost aching portrait of feminine vulnerability. Rather plain-faced, Nettleton never looked like Hollywood, but she brings just the right combination of grit and sensitivity to the role of a bride that you can order through the mail like a package with skirts.The third element is director-writer Burt Kennedy. Often that combination doesn't work, but here it does. He's created the characters and knows just what cinematic effects he wants. It's a very coherent, well-crafted script with a number of good lines. The tongue-in-cheek comedy also comes across effectively—the marriage ceremony is paced so quickly and humorously that we hardly notice how preposterous it is. Note too, how efficiently and humorously Kennedy introduces Will and Lee in the very first scene with character sketches that will come to define them. He also gets a vivid performance out of Warren Oates as the no-account Jace, a role Oates is obviously enjoying and darn near steals the show with.However, in my book not everything is aces. Shooting Jace seems to me a mistake given the general tone of the movie. There should have been a less drastic way of removing him as a bad influence on Lee. Then too, Dullea as Lee looks the part of callow youth and acts it too, but at times the effort comes too close to burlesque. Also, old Hollywood just had to be old Hollywood in outfitting Annie in very unfrontierish form-fitting dresses. I doubt there were many tailors in early day Montana (actually, lovely Kennedy Meadows in the scenic Central Sierras). At the same time, I doubt that the movie's tame title did the box office any good with its very un-Western connotation.Anyway, I expect the few people who read this may wonder why I've bothered to write so much about such an obscure film. But quality, I believe, deserves recognition no matter how big or small the audience. Also, the Internet offers new opportunities to those of us at the grassroots level. A number of minor gems came out of Hollywood over the decades that, for whatever reason, passed by unnoticed, but remain in the archives for rediscovery. Despite its very modest virtues and unpromising title, Mail Order Bride, I think, is one of them.