L'invasore bianco

After Captain Gregg Barton has been killed before dying he placed his troop of cavalry in the hands of the only officer left, army doctor Guy Madison. Madison is bringing them back to their fort when they meet up with a company of infantry and the wagon train they're escorting through Indian country. The short tempered Colonel Don Shelton, commandeers that same cavalry to help with the escort without knowing that Madison has no military training. The rest of the cavalrymen keep Madison's real army specialty a secret lest they spread some panic among the settlers.

Of course The Command that Madison is stuck with is no milk run. He's got to learn some real military tactics and has to learn them fast. Among the settlers there is an outbreak of what could be smallpox and Madison is hamstrung in giving aid in the profession he is trained in. Out of necessity he has to tell Joan Weldon who is traveling with the wagon train in the wagon where the sickness is starting.

The Command was one of the first film's done in the wide screen process with some 3D thrown in for good measure. With films on the big screen competing with the free small screen, gimmicks were thought to be needed to get the public out of their living rooms. A good solid cavalry western which The Command is was not enough at times.

James Whitmore as the sergeant who by rights should have been in charge and wisecracking Harvey Lembeck stand out in this cast. With a doctor hero and a cavalry setting, I'm surprised John Ford wasn't brought in for The Command. It seems like just his kind of material.

David Butler was the Warner Bros handyman director, as Robert Z Leonard was for Metro Goldwyn Mayer, or even Sidney Landfield for Twentieth Century Fox, directors more known for musicals, comedies, light hearted dramas, forgettable and lousy stuff, but once in a while a good, solid war drama, thriller or western. Leonard gave us THE BRIBE, starring Robert Taylor, Landfield HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLE, whilst David Butler made this excellent powerful western, plus KING RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS, JUMP INTO HELL and SAN ANTONIO. Please forget the rest. Strange that in this western, you have a B movie cast, such as Guy Madison or Jim Withmore. The first Cinemascope western which looks like a blown up B picture. As also was CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, from thiis time a western specialist: Gordon Douglas. But taut and excellent.

Although I have never seen this movie, I am studying widescreen movies of the fifties and their influence on an audience beginning to be sated with the small screen, i.e. hypnotized by the cathode ray, i.e. tainted by TV!....This one has to be one of the first westerns to use this photographic process, later to be called Panavision. According to the Widescreenmuseum website, ''Broken Lance'' was made in '54, along with the "western" "& Brides for 7 Brothers"; ''Chief Crazy Horse'' was filmed in in '55, along with ''The Kentuckian'' and ''The Man from Laramie'' .... So I am gonna call it like I see it for now - All hail Sam Fuller!

The good thing about this movie is the sympathy toward Native Americans. The Native Americans had no immunity to smallpox or chicken pox and no medicine to treat diseases. The main character played by Guy Madison constantly showed concern toward the Native Americans although he had to fight them. Although this movie had this social issue,it still had all the rousing entertainment of most calvary movies. The movie had a lot of saluting, which sometimes became a distraction. James Whitmore was great as the seasoned veteran just as he was in "Battleground". This movie had me wanting both sides to win.

The Command is directed by David Butler and adapted by Samuel Fuller and Russell Hughes from the novel "Rear Guard" written by James Warner Bellah. It stars Guy Madison, James Whitmore, Joan Weldon, Carl Benton Reid and Harvey Lembeck. A CinemaScope production in Warnercolor, music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Wilfred M. Cline.

When the commanding officer of his Cavalry patrol is killed, the army doctor is tasked with taking the reins and leading the men.

It deserves to be better known. Warner Brother's first CinemaScope release and the first Western to be filmed in that widescreen format, The Command is far better than what the routine synopsis suggests it is. For sure the Cavalry versus Indians theme is the steady heartbeat ticking away in the piece, but the writers have inserted other points of worth to expand the level of interest throughout the hour and half running time.

Madison is Captain MacClaw, the Cavalry doctor who is entrusted with command of the troop by his dying superior. The men aren't happy with this, more so when they find themselves involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the Indian hordes. Not only that but they are charged with escorting a civilian wagon train to safety, the residents of which may be transporting smallpox! When the troop are joined by an infantry regiment, this only complicates matters because there's no love lost between the two army forces. Where the Indians have a united front, the various tribes fighting as one force, the American military are at odds with each other on tactics and manoeuvres.

Tactics are a big issue in The Command, the story tosses up the argument about doing things by the book or breaking free of code restrictions and throwing caution to the wind. There's also opposing issues on the medical front, two doctors at odds with diagnoses which quite literally could be the end of them all if they can't get it right. Some critics have said Butler's direction is ponderous, but I'd argue strongly that that is not the case. It's true that the first hour involves a lot of talking, squabbling and sarcasm, but the director is juggling many thematic balls in readiness for the grand last third of the piece. Besides, he does insert action scenes along the way, including one blood and thunder sequence that is capped off by a surprising turn of events.

Then that last half hour comes, and it is superb. The tactics issue comes to a head, and everyone wonders if this is going to be another General Custer piece of history. Pic then explodes into all out action, with weaponry combat supplemented by hand to hand sequences. Chases are electrifying, the fires do rage and the wagons do hurtle and fall, the stunt work here is excellent, as is Butler's fluid camera work. We even have time for some fun in the mix, as one of the "special" tactics involves drag artistry. Tiomkin layers a boisterous score over proceedings, mixing marching beats with thunderclap percussion, and Cline in the Scope format brings the various California locations (pic is mostly set outdoors) bursting out of the screen. Cast are just dandy, with Whitmore the class act on show, but both Madison and Weldon make for a colourful and appealingly interesting pair.

It's guilty of being rooted in those Westerns of the era who just put the Indians up as a savage force whooping, hollering, firing arrows and flinging axes. Even though Whitmore's Sergeant Elliot is given some lines that recognise the Indians as not being dumb Howitzer fodder. So this obviously isn't in the league of those great psychological Westerns that afforded the Indians great respect. This is firmly in the realm of action for entertainments sake, with some other delicate thematics that garnish the spectacle on the cinematic plate. 8/10