Os Inconquistáveis

Cecil B. DeMille was one of the pioneers of the American film industry, and you have to give him credit for that. He was also one of the first to pack his films with gratuitous sex and violence, and you have to give him credit for that. He got away with it by inserting preachy moral "messages" that proved the "evil" of everything he had just shoved in your face, and you have to give him credit for that. His films were enjoyable in a goofy sort of way, but that doesn't apply to this one.

There's one thing that DeMille could never be accused of, and that's cutting corners. His movies were expensive, and they looked it. They were usually also packed with well-known stars such as Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston. The one thing that few of his movies had, though, was a coherent script, and this movie is a prime example. Stars, production values, spectacle...whatever advantages this film has are sunk by the absolutely idiotic dialogue the actors are forced to spew out. You have to wonder what the actors were thinking as they were reciting this drivel. You also have to wonder what the writers were thinking as they were whipping this junk up; didn't they realize that people don't even _remotely_ talk or act like they do in this movie? Everything in this film is overblown, overheated and overdone. The only other one of DeMille's films I can think of offhand that goes even further over the edge is "Northwest Mounted Police," which is so jaw-droppingly awful it should be classified as a comedy.

As long as you realize what you're getting into, the movie is fun in a goofball, campy sort of way. If you're looking for anything else, forget it.

If you hate political correctness, you may love, "Unconquered." This film, from 1947, doesn't have the contemporarily familiar themes of evil settlers, or land thieves. In fact, the Indians are the bad guys in this one. The Indians, aided by a corrupt Englishman, have decided to wipe out white settlers in a race war. Gary Cooper is quick to the rescue. All the while he attempts to regain his bond slave, escape the gallows for treason, and fight his nemesis who happens to be the Indians' best friend. This is a strong film.

Unconquered is a milestone in the career of Gary Cooper. It was the last of four films he did for Cecil B. DeMille and his last featured role during his stay with the Paramount studio. I'd have to say that Coop went out with an expensive bang.

The film illustrates both the strengths and weaknesses of a DeMille project. The color photography by Ray Rennahan is first rate, the eye for historical detail about the colonial period in terms of costumes and sets superb. The spectacle is only as DeMille could create it. Yet he could make such an elementary mistake by having the Seneca Indians pursue Gary Cooper on horseback. It was only the plains Indian tribes west of the Mississippi that used horses. But the public wanted to see Indians on horses, they were used to seeing Indians on horses. So DeMille gave them what they wanted.

DeMille himself in his autobiography confessed that he was not satisfied with the showdown of hero Gary Cooper and chief villain Howard DaSilva. He felt it was anti-climatic. I wish he had done it a bit better myself.

The film is based on a historical novel The Judas Tree by Neil Swanson who also wrote Allegany Uprising about the same colonial period. The story takes place with the background of the uprising by Pontiac who was trying to unite all the Indian tribes and keep the whites on the east side of the Appalachian mountains.

Paulette Goddard is a woman condemned to the gallows in London and is given a choice to go to the colonies as a bond servant. Of course she takes it and catches the eye of both Cooper and DaSilva. That's a common DeMille characteristic in his films, two men in heat over the leading lady.

DaSilva is a trader with the Indians and his reasons for wanting to keep whites out of the western territories is so he can keep a monopoly of the fur trade. He's quite ruthless in his methods, even marrying the daughter of Chief Boris Karloff of the Senecas played by Katherine DeMille. Karloff's Senecas are allied with the Pontiac Confederation and their job is to attack Fort Pitt and the town it shields, the little village of Pittsburgh.

Such events as the siege of Fort Pitt and the massacre at Venango are interwoven in the lives of Cooper and Goddard. He leaves Fort Pitt to rescue her and they both have quite a time escaping from the Senecas. The scene that is most talked about here is our hero and heroine going over Niagara Falls in a canoe chased in canoes by pursuing Senecas. What's most interesting about it is that it isn't done on location. Living up here for the past 10 years and seeing it as a kid, I can tell you the Falls doesn't look as primeval in real life as DeMille shows you how it looked in 1763. Yet even today it's quite a breathtaking site to see our intrepid two take the plunge.

Back in 1947 we certainly weren't terribly concerned about presenting the Indian point of view on screen and DeMille is a man of his times. There was a good film done about a decade ago about Chief Tecumseh and his attempt at an Indian confederation. Maybe we will get one about Pontiac and his movement.

Until then we have to watch items like Unconquered, enjoy the spectacle and fill in the blanks.

I am no fan of Cecil B. DeMille, but I actually quite liked 'Unconquered'. Other DeMilles (especially those set in antiquity) are mealstroms of poor writing and worse pacing, with often genuinely talented actors being forced to utter painfully bombastic lines of dialogue. In 'Unconquered', the pacing is rather uneven, too, but there is a bit of real suspense and the dialogues are not as bad. The plot is of course totally over the top, with lots of implausible turns and twists (beginning with the character played by Paulette Goddard travelling to exactly the same place in the American interior as the one played by Gary Cooper). Cooper is a convincing hero, Goddard is far less convincing as - well, what is she? Not quite a damsel in permanent distress, but no heroine either. Anyway, Howard Da Silva is a suitably nasty villain and Boris Karloff a relatively dignified chief of the Seneca. All in all, this makes for a quite satisfying mix.

It's Saturday Afternoon at the Bijou time, courtesy of the over-the-top presentation of Cecil B. DeMille. The film is rich in atmosphere and with an eye for detail in capturing colonial America, no matter how ludicrous the situations may be at times. Yes, the casting of Boris Karloff as an Indian chief is a camp enthusiast's delight but, if taken in the right spirit, only adds to the fun.

The film is highlighted by an action set piece involving an escape from the Indians and a plunge over a waterfall. No credibility whatsoever as far as the real world is concerned. But who says this is the real world? It's the movies where the impossible can happen and we are along for the ride which includes the wonderful Technicolor enhancing of its many visual pleasures.

I can't recommend Unconquered enough for those adventure seekers fully prepared to suspend their sense of disbelief in advance, and it may be the only film ever made about Pontiac's Rebellion, although, Pontiac is never mentioned.