Nuvola nera

An atmospheric, character-driven exercise in suspense shot mainly out in the open in brilliant sunlight, set shortly after the massacre at Little Big Horn. Handsomely mounted in Technicolor and grouped with a dramatic eye; the use of the singular being appropriate since the director himself famously had only the one eye.

This is an old fashioned cowboys and Indians story with the cavalry literally saving the heroic band of Indian fighters at the last minute. It has some very good old fashioned character actors with the likes of Broderick Crawford, Martin Milner, Mickey Shaughnessy and a much younger Della Street in the guise of Barbara Hale. In this age of extreme anxiety, with bands of terrorists threatening we know not where or what, it was very nice to escape back in time to this kind of well produced, well acted 50's western. Though it is, perhaps, a movie for those of a certain generation.

A solid directorial effort by Andre De Toth (check out the scene in silhouette with Broderick Crawford & Lloyd Bridges), good story and acting plus decent dialogue make this a must see for any western or "drama classics" fan.

I saw this movie at a children's Saturday afternoon matinee performance in Belfast under its then-British title THE SABRE AND THE ARROW. Only a young child, I remember being extremely moved by the juxtapositioning of the Brodrick Crawford seen-it-all Cavalry Sergeant's pragmatism with Johnny Stewart's vulnerablity as Little Knife, the abandoned Comanche boy in the desert. Normally at a children's matinee kids fidget and talk throughout, only cheering or boohing the action sequences. Thus we mostly came away from a western with an impression rather than a comprehension because the noise built to a point where dialogue went unheard. Not so in THE SABRE AND THE ARROW, the children's attention being a tribute to this western's emotional pull in the days when just seeing movies in colour was regarded as a treat. Cinema-only viewing added to the lustre. The dryness of that sun-blanched desert still haunts my senses fifty years on.

Last of the Comanches (AKA: The Sabre and the Arrow) is directed by Andre De Toth and adapted to the screen by Kenneth Gamet. It stars Broderick Crawford, Barbara Hale, Lloyd Bridges, Mickey Shaughnessy, Johnny Stewart, George Matthews and Hugh Sanders. A Technicolor production with cinematography by Charles Lawton Junior and Ray Cory and music by George Duning.

Safe as a bomb shelter Western. A remake of Zoltan Korda/Humphrey Bogart's war movie "Sahara" from 1943, Last of the Comanches finds Broderick Crawford as the leader of what remains of a massacred cavalry troop. As they make their way across the desert they pick up ragtag group of stagecoach passengers and as water runs low, they must fight for survival against fierce Comanches led by Black Cloud.

In essence it's a survivalist story with some Indian War action dotted around the outskirts of plotting. It's nice and airy, pleasingly performed, easy on the eye with its Technicolor photography, and De Toth once again shows himself to be a good marshall of action scenes. Crawford carries the movie of course, imbuing Sergeant Trainor with fearless bluster that holds the dysfunctional group together. The narrative strength comes from the lack of water, both for the whiteys and the Comanche, where the often forgotten weapons of war, that of food or drink, firmly keeps the story engrossing.

Not as good as "Sahara" but still a safe recommendation to Western and Brod Crawford fans. 7/10