Der rote Reiter

Improbably enough, Tyrone Power plays one of the first Canadian Mounties in this film. While I just couldn't picture him in this role, he was fine in the role as an interpreter sent to discuss peace with a renegade Indian tribe. The first half of the film was amazingly leisurely paced and lacked the usual level of excitement found in a Western, though the second half improved quite a bit. What I particularly liked was how the Indians were generally portrayed. Unlike earlier Westerns of the 30s and 40s, this one was much more sympathetic in its portrayal of the natives--showing them as intelligent and generally quite honorable. Also, to get past the usual dialog and accent problems, early in the film the narrator announced that Power and the Indians spoke the native language but it was translated to English for the benefit of the audience (an unusual announcement to say the least).

Aside from a nice portrayal of most of the Indian, the story also featured a cute Indian lad who actually helped the story--something cute child actors rarely do! On the negative side, the overall effort, to me, seemed rather listless in places and just didn't seem like much more than a very good time-passer. Interestingly enough, I watched this movie with my wife and she really liked it--more than I did, and this is unusual since she usually HATES Westerns.

I'm not sure, but has there ever been a film made with a less than sympathetic treatment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? The Mounties have done very well cinema wise and Pony Soldier is not setting any new patterns.

It doesn't have to because it's a very entertaining film. The plot has a lot of similarities to Broken Arrow which 20th Century Fox also produced. Tyrone Power is playing Constable Duncan MacDonald, newly arrived at Fort Walsh and sent out on a mission to negotiate a peace with Cree Indians who've left their reserve and tangled with U.S. Cavalry south of the border. On the way back they've taken two white prisoners in a raid and Power is looking to get them back. One is Penny Edwards who catches the eye of Cameron Mitchell and he decides she'd make a good squaw for his little brother. The other is Robert Horton who's an escaped outlaw.

So intrepid Mountie Power along with his Indian guide Thomas Gomez go to the camp of the Crees. Gomez is a most reluctant guide, in fact he's kind of blackmailed into making the journey. Thomas Gomez is an underrated and capable actor who deadpans some very funny lines.

Two others in the cast really make this work. Little Anthony Numkena plays the Cree Indian boy who Power adopts and that turns out to be a great negotiating technique. But their affection is genuine and the scenes between Power and Numkena are some of the best in the film.

Stuart Randall plays the Cree Chief Standing Bear. His portrayal is very similar to Jeff Chandler's more heralded portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow. In fact the Indians are not stereotyped, they are three dimensional characters here. Randall does a fine job as Standing Bear, negotiating with Power and having to contend with militants in his own camp led by Cameron Mitchell. Since Jeff Chandler had already broken the same ground with Cochise, Randall's performance has been overlooked, unfortunately so for him.

Tyrone Power is a whole cloth hero here and does a fine job. One of the things that Americans don't appreciate is that the Mounties were there in large measure to protect the native Indians from white depredation. Canadians have always loved contrasting that to how the U.S. Cavalry treated the native population. Our cavalry was there on the settler's behalf. The contrast is certainly a matter of historical record, but I wonder if Canada had seen the immigration westward that America did, would their Mounties have been more like our blue coats.

Tyrone Power is the title character in this good western whose mission is to effect the return of the Cree tribe from the United States back to Canada in the name of the Queen. Of course, the Indians just want to hunt and return to their old way of life and to lift a few scalps along the way. Power is aided by a trail-savvy, talkative half-breed scout who provides droll comic relief along the way. The film has more dialogue than action, although white hostages held by the Indians lead to some tense moments for the Mountie. The officer's peace efforts are threatened by a band of hostile Indians, with most of the skirmishes coming at the end of the picture. The movie has a great cast of western character actors and the camera work is also very good.

Greatly enjoyed this film which had great photography in Arizona and showed in great detail the Native American dwellings and customs. Tyrone Power(Constable Duncan MacDonald),"The Eddy Duchin Story",'56, played a young Canadian Mounted Police Constable who was on a mission to rescue settlers who were captured and held hostage. Thomas Gomez,(Natayo Smith),"Key Largo",'48 gave an outstanding performance as a guide to Duncan through the Indian country and demanded great rewards for his services. Penny Edwards,(Emerald Neeley),"Two Guys from Texas",'48 was the only white woman around and was greatly abused through out the entire picture. Despite all the conflicts among the Indians and the White folks, Duncan MacDonald was able to adopt a young boy as his son with the Indian community blessings. I have seen Thomas Gomez perform in many Classic films, but I truly enjoyed his great acting abilities in this film and regret he had a very short lived career.

I'll second what one (several) reviewers said about the location of the filming being ludicrous . . . But I found this more than interesting, almost intriguing, and the leads of Power and Gomez are excellent.

I suspect the story line is largely, if not totally, fictional. Didn't matter to me: It was entertaining, focused on finding a peaceful solution, and the action and crowd scenes are impressive for what had many trappings of a B-movie.

Seen today, Gomez's style and performance come close to making me cringe. Viewed from the perspective of 70 years ago, it's an outstanding performance with some clever words and effective acting.

Liked it, didn't love it, definitely worth seeing if your style runs to action and thought and bright colors.