L'invasore bianco

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.

This is one of those old Cowboy versus Indian westerns. As a kid growing up the cowboys were the good guys and the Indians the bad guys. Obviously as you grow up you realise that this wasn't the case. As a result the sight of Native Americans being mown down, leaves me slightly peeved. However I did watch the film in the context of the time it was made.

Although it does drag in parts towards the middle, in the main this is a very well made western with some great action scenes as the cavalry do battle with the Indians. The final battle scenes were excellently done. Guy Madison does a good job as the charismatic doctor finding himself in charge of a troop when the commanding officer is killed. There is a bit of humour thrown in now and again and of course the the obligatory romance with the love interest being played by the beautiful Joan Weldon.

Although not a truly great Western it's certainly an above average one and well worth watching for fans of this genre.

When the unit's commanding officer dies , an unexperienced officer doctor (Guy Madison) takes the command a regiment and to lead a wagon train through hostile Indian country . But the Privates believe that experienced Sgt. Elliott (James Withmore) should have been put in temporary command until they reach the Fort . Then , they are ordered by the Colonel in command of a group of infantry to escort a wagon train of settlers (Joan Weldon , among them) moving west . Along the way they must fight off illness , smallpox and rampaging Comanches who are also after them . The Story of the Unconquerable!

Moving and action-packed Western with a simple , standard story that engages the viewer until the last scene , dealing with a cavalry troop escorting a wagon train . An ordinary Cavalry Western in which a officer doctor is saddled with the risked assignment of steering a wagon train through hostile Indian territory . The film packs thrills , noisy action , crossfire , and being enough entertaining . It's a medium budget film with comfortable actors , technicians , functional production values and pleasing results . This was the first Cinemascope Western and the first Scope movie of any kind from Warner Brothers , a studio formerly committed to the 3D process , and not forgetting the Panoramic shots that showed the new process off to its best effect , using Zeiss anamorphic lenses . Decent and pleasant traditional Western with professional direction and flawlessly acted by Guy Madison as Capt. Robert MacClaw , Joan Weldon as Martha Cutting and James Whitmore as Sgt. Elliott . Guy Madison was one of the most popular Western stars at the time , he also performed in the first 3D Western : The charge of Feather River . Guy played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). Madison had his first major role in "Until the End of Time" a drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1946 to then changed in action roles , mainly series B westerns , get some successes with the series . He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films , such as : ¨Duel at Rio Bravo¨ , ¨7 Winchester for a massacre¨ , ¨Bang bang Kid¨, ¨Five for revenge¨ , ¨Il figlio di Django¨ and ¨Reverend Colt¨ . Support cast is pretty well, giving splendidly fortright acting , such as : Carl Benton Reid , Gregg Barton , Harvey Lembeck , Denver Pyle and usual Ray Teal , among others .

It contains an atmospheric and adequate musical score by the classic composer Dimitri Tiomkin . Faded and tarnished cinematography Wilfrid M. Cline with a very bad print , being utterly necessary a perfect remasterizing . Being shot on location in Russell Ranch - Triunfo Canyon Road , Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Agoura, California, and Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California. This breeze-fresh movie filled with get-up-and-go was professionally directed by David Butler, though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . Butler was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres with special penchant for comedy , musical and drama . As he directed : April in Paris , Tea for two , Playmates , Doubting Thomas , Caught in the draft , The story of Seabiscuit , Lullaby in Broadway , The princess and the pirate , Captain January , The road to Morocco , and Westerns as : San Antonio , Calamity Jane and this The Command . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .

This surprisingly fun western stars Guy Madison as a Doctor Robert MacClaw who finds himself in charge of his cavalry troup as a result of his commanding officer's dying order. Needless to say, the men aren't thrilled, but he wins them over with his unorthodox, yet effective, tactics against the bands of hostile Indians who stand between them and safety. Along the way his command grows to include a wagon train of settlers and two units of inexperienced infantry. Naturally, there's a romantic subplot involving one of the settlers, and a breakout of smallpox that calls upon his medical skills. The romance seems tepid and formulaic, but MacClaw's relationship with his senior officer, Sgt Elliott, is believable and strong. Despite a disturbingly high body count of Indians, the good doctor doesn't show much remorse about the slaughter. Ironically, he seems much more worried that they'll be decimated by smallpox contracted from the wagon train. Don't look for any kind of message here, however, it's just good clean fun (if you can overlook the dead Indians), with an exciting high-speed wagon chase at the end!

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.