Cavalry

This is an ugly film and I am very surprised the other reviews let this pass without comment. The film begins during the Civil War. In some god-awful scenes, you see a plantation where the happiest slaves in film history live. They LIKE being in bondage and when the war ends, they are beside themselves and want the Master to stay. But, in a ridiculously teary and melancholy scene, the Master leaves, as Yankee raiders have destroyed his home. While such was often the fate of plantation owners during the war, the well-fed, non-beaten, non-sexually exploited and happy slaves were just too much--and I could imagine viewers today tossing a show at the TV when this sort of idyllic view of slavery is portrayed!! It's historically inaccurate and rather gross. Why not a film about happy folks in concentration camps, then?

The war is now over and Bob Steele has been sent west to ensure that the telegraph lines are put in to connection the nation. In addition, some dirt-bags (the same Yankee raiders but now living in the west) are trying to start their own nation and it's up to Bob to kick butt and restore peace. But how does Steele's story relate to the good folks at the plantation? After all, he's a dang Yankee (though a nice one) and they were good children of the Confederacy?

Overall, the acting is good and the story is pretty good--but the prologue is just grotesque. Watch it if you like but if you aren't offended by the start of the film you might want to read up on this period in history, as it was nothing like this...at least on this planet!

Dad Bradbury writes and directs one of his best efforts. Bob Steele comes on the scene in heroic style as a Yankee soldier saving a Confederate General. Meanwhile, beautiful Frances Grant and her Uncle Lafe (Earle Ross) are burned out by guerrilla warfare. Also, one of the most versatile actors ever, Hal Price along with henchmen Karl Hackett and Ed Cassidy give the wagon train folk and telegraph people more than they bargained for. Great work also by Budd Buster who plays a dual roll as Honest Abe and the wagon master.

This film begins at the tail end of the Civil War with a Confederate officer by the name of "Colonel Lafe Harvey" (Earle Ross) arriving at a plantation to tell his niece "Betty Lee Harvey" (Frances Grant) that her father "General John Harvey" (William Welsh) had recently been killed in action. To make matters even worse, as she is being informed of this bad news an alarm is sounded that a guerilla militia is approaching with the intention of destroying everything in their path. Although both Betty Lee and Colonel Lafe Harvey manage to escape in the nick of time, the plantation is burned and looted leaving them with little recourse than to pack what few possessions they can find and head out west to make a new start. As luck would have it, a week or so later a Union officer by the name of "Captain Ted Thorne" (Bob Steele) arrives at the old plantation and with him is none other than General John Harvey who has been temporarily blinded in combat. Recognizing that his companion is in no shape to travel any further, Captain Thorne leaves General Harvey there to be taken care of and heads back to Washington D. C. as ordered. It's then that he is given an order by President Lincoln to head out west to prevent a telegraph line from being destroyed by Rebel sympathizers who are intent on recreating the Confederacy and using the current Indian territories as a buffer between them and the Union. What Captain Thorne doesn't realize, however, is that the guerillas who burned and looted the Harvey plantation are the same people intent on destroying the telegraph line and to that end they have joined the same wagon train transporting Colonel Lafe Harvey and Betty Lee. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this is a low-budget production made only a few years after sound was introduced in American filmography and as such the overall picture quality leaves much to be desired. Additionally, the script and the acting are somewhat lacking in that regard as well. It does, however, have a unique quality about it and if given some latitude might be of some interest to viewers who enjoy old films from this particular era. That said, while it definitely has it faults, I found it to be worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason I have cut it some slack and rated it accordingly. Average.

I have to give credit to Republic Pictures for the villainy in this Bob Steele film Cavalry. Rarely have I seen a villain like Karl Hackett have such an immense scheme as this one. Such villainy on a grand scale deserved a much bigger budget than Herbert J. Yates could ever have given a film.

Hackett is a disgruntled former Confederate who doesn't believe in surrendering. He's got nothing less on his mind than the establishment of another country in the west, separated by a buffer Indian nation between the Mississippi and his new Confederacy. This means arming the Indians and also preventing the construction of a telegraph.

Which is what Captain Bob Steele of the Union Army is sent out west to do, protect the telegraph and find out who and what's behind the sabotaging of it. Along the way there's time for a little romance with Frances Grant another disgruntled southerner.

Cavalry is not too bad a B western from Republic, their product was usually a cut above Monogram and various fly by night outfits.

Lively oater with a storyline fit for an A-production. In fact, budget-minded Republic went all out hiring extras and riding them around Kernville locations. Plot-wise, the Civil War has ended and folks are moving west for a new life. Trouble is some southern anti-Unionists are conspiring for a separate new country in the West, and are colluding with Indians to establish it. Union army's Capt. Thorne (Steele) is assigned to thwart the separatist plans.

Steele plays it fairly straight, no steely glares he was later so good at. Also, he gets one really acrobatic fight scene, along with a winsome leading lady, Grant, as diversion from all the ugly guys. I don't know how much action is from stock shots, but the many story threads are woven smoothly together, quite a feat especially for director Bradbury who's also Steele's real life dad.

In passing-- note how respectfully both Civil War sides, North and South, are treated; plus, how happy the ex-slaves appear to stay on the plantation. I doubt this thread would pass today's muster.

Anyway, it's a superior oater, sure to entertain all front-row kids, past and present.