Bonanza (TV Series) Gabrielle (1961) User Reviews

Heidi Of The Sierra Nevadas

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 20 December 2010]

Airing on Christmas Eve of 1961 this film is a reworking of Heidi adapted to be a Christmas story for Bonanza. I believe it was subsequently broadcast in and around Christmas for the rest of the life of this series.

Dan Blocker and Michael Landon find little Diane Mountford alone on a trail after they found where the buckboard her parents were driving plunged down a mountain, killing them. She's blind and they were on their way to see her grandfather who lives like a hermit in the Sierra Nevadas. They bring her back to the Ponderosa.

When they reach her grandfather played by John Abbott he wants nothing to do with her. He's a bitter old man, sent to prison for a crime he didn't commit and has shunned society ever since.

But in the Shirley Temple tradition, young Ms. Mountford breaks the old man down. It all ends with Christmas at the Ponderosa.

This is a very touching episode and I'm glad some other viewers feel the same way I do.

Excellent episode

[davilbr · 11 May 2008]

This is one of the most moving and touching episodes of "Bonanza." Of course, it was always a quality program and this production shows why it was so much more than just another Western.

Some may call it predictable, but it still tugs at the heartstrings and the ending is most satisfying.

Eleven year old Gabrielle is an orphan blind girl who has no family except for her embittered grandfather, living like a hermit in the mountains after spending time in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Atter initially rejecting her, his heart softens and he comes to the Ponderosa to claim his granddaughter and even spends time with the Cartwrights on Christmas Eve.

Apparently the blind have no vertebrae in their neck.

[acdc_mp3 · 5/10 · 11 January 2024]

This was your standard Christmas episode from the era that pans out exactly how you expect. A child in peril, misunderstandings, gruff mountain man with a stony heart, and the Cartwrights exuding all that is good and wholesome in the world. Absolutely nothing wrong with that in my book! My problem is apparently no one seems to realize that, other than the inability to see, blind people are completely normal in how they function in life. The representation of someone being blind in this episode was borderline comical. I chuckled periodically at how she stared with a completely still head to assure us that she is indeed blind.

Aside from that, this is a warm and fuzzy episode that will give you Christmas cheer and warmth all the way up your backbone, stiff neck and blind eyes!