L'attaque de la rivière rouge

This well unfolded tale is set at the end of the American Civil War, 1861 - 1865, it concerns the battle for one of the first Gatlin Machine Gun. As a confederate officer called Farraday, Van Johnson, posing as a Medicine Man along with his colleague, Milburn Stone , go throughout towns singing and delivering their supplies. They ride on a carriage captioning : Doc Sunderland, Muscle Builder, great scientific discovery. Meanwhile, the bad boy, Richard Boone, takes the Gatlin gun so that he can sell it to the violent Indians. Along the way captain Farraday falls in love for a beautiful nurse, Joanne Dru who formerly played a classic Western : Red River by Howard Hawks . The last and most desperate battle in the winning of the West!. And the two best soldiers in the line that day were the Giorgia captain and the Yankee spitfire!.

Decent Western in B-style with plenty of intrigue for good measure, noisy action, thrills , Indian attacks and cavalry charges . A plain, simple and nice plot deals with an undercover captain named Farraday who tries to prevent a Gatlin machine gun passes into the hands of hostile Indians . Varied cast provide adequate interpretation. But the rousing musical score by Lionel Newman, Cryl Mockridge, as well as appropriate production design by Lyle Wheeler, George Patrick and colorful cinematography in brilliant Technicolor by Edward Cronjager are the real stars of the film . Main starring, Van Johnson and Joanne Dru, who replaced Jean Peters, are pretty well. And support cast is frankly good, such as : Jeff Morrow, Milburn Stone, Craig Hill, among others. Special mention for Richard Boone who steals the show, giving a terrific acting as a strong villian.

This is an attractive western with action all the way produced by short-lived Panoramic Productions, being professionally directed by Rudolph Maté, though it has failures and some stock-shots. Maté, 1898-1964, was a good craftsman initially working in Europe, he even photographed the classic Passion of Joan of Arc by Karl Theodor Dreyer , as Nazi government rising, he then emigrated America where worked as a prestigious cameraman, and subsequently directed various films of all kinds of genres with penchant for thrillers, dramas, Adventure, Sci-Fi and westerns such as DOA, The dark past, Union Station, Branded, When worlds collide, The green glove, Second chance, The black shield of Falworth, The violent men, Three violent people, Deep six and For the first time. Rating : 6.5/10. Well worth watching.

I don't know why, but the Van Johnson's role seems to have been inspired by a Randolph Scott's character in a western from the forties, for Warner, where he played a Confederate soldier fighting for something lost in advance; of course as a Confederate officer.... Maybe I am wrong, I have not in mind all the Randolph Scott's characters, but this Confederate soldier trying to do his best to win or at best change the course of the war, I have seen this before. However this lead character can't be shown as the evil guy, only ambivalent. This is not my Rudolph Maté's western favorite. Worth watching for any western buff.

A Confederate captain (Johnson) goes undercover in the North to steal a Gatling gun with his sergeant (Milburn Stone), but a Pinkerton operative is suspicious (Jeff Morrow). As they take advantage of an unknowing Rebel-hating woman (Joanne Dru), they hook up with a mercenary (Boone) to help them get through Indian country.

The era of 1953-1954 featured great Westerns like "Shane," "Destry," "Garden of Evil," "Johnny Guitar" and "Vera Cruz," as well as formidable ones like "Arrowhead," "Escape from Fort Bravo," "Gun Fury," "Hondo," "Pony Express," "Broken Lance" and "The Raid." I bring that up because "Siege at Red River" (1954) doesn't exactly place with these Westerns as it's flawed by amusing, yet generally unfitting humor and a too-busy giddy-up score, which is seriously quaint.

This isn't helped by splicing in Indian-fighting footage at the climax from "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" from five years earlier. Another problem is the disingenuous geography in the first half that's supposed to be areas near the Ohio River, but is obviously the Southwest (of course, this was more of a 'B' Western and it would simply cost too much to transplant the cast & crew to somewhere in the East for those particular scenes).

Nevertheless, there's a lot to enjoy in this old Western. Van Johnson's non-cowboy mannerisms actual fit the role since Capt. James S. Simmons/Jim Farraday hails from Atlanta back East. Johnson had charisma to spare and Milburn Stone is entertaining as the sidekick. Meanwhile Boone was unsurpassable as the unlikable character with "toxic masculinity." Add to this winsome Dru, the beautiful scenery and the interesting Gatling gun subplot and you have an entertaining enough early 50's Western with some lame elements.

It runs 1 hour, 25 minutes, with outside shooting done in east-central Utah at Professor Valley, Colorado River, Castle Valley and Dead Horse Point; as well as in Durango, Colorado, which is 158 miles southeast of there.

GRADE: B-/C+

Jim Farady (Van Johnson)and his associate Benjy (Milburn Stone) appear to be hucksters ,travelling the West selling patent medicine (a muscle builder)but in reality they are spies for the Confederacy and are transporting a stolen Gatling Gun to the Confederate lines ,a journey that will take them through Indian Territory ,and the natives are not friendly. They attract the attention of a shrewd Pinkerton man Frank Kelso (Jeff Morrow)and are forced to smuggle the guns out concealed in a hospital wagon driven by the unsuspecting Nora Curtis (Joanne Dru)who is attracted ,somewhat against her will to Farady.they are betrayed by their ostensible escort ,Manning (Richard Boone)who has plans to sell the guns to the Indians for an attack on a nearby fort ,plans Farady sets out to foil.

The movie is immaculately shot in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager and Rudolph Mate ensures the action moves along with vigour .The acting is good and the movie never flags ,even finding time for a unique drunk scene -the inebriate in question being Nora .

The climax may appear familiar and if so this is unsurprising -the climactic battle is lifted from Buffalo Bill ,the Joel Macrae movie from an earlier decade ,and intercut with close up of the actors in this movie

Its a solid action Western and enjoyable for lovers of the genre

Two Confederate agents (Van Johnson and Milburn Stone) head west in order to bring a Gatling gun back to the South in the hopes of winning the Civil War. In order to travel with the famous gun through hostile Commanche territory they hire Indian trader Richard Boone to lead the way. Johnson and Stone hide their true identities by masquerading as sales reps for a cure all tonic and actually perform a song together in order to draw in a crowd. Amongst the crowds are various Confederate sympathizers who slip them concealed notes about where to go next. Also in the mix is Joanne Dru who plays a health care provider and who falls for Johnson's ruse as the tonic sales rep while gradually discovering his true Confederate identity. The action is mostly laughable, especially a big fight with Indians, though they (the Commanches) do get their hands on the Gatling gun and get a chance to use it. However, any film with Richard Boone in it is worth watching. He does not disappoint here as a sore tempered loser at poker and treacherous Indian trader. A few years later the film Rio Conchos portrayed a similar story of the Civil War out west, and this one also starred Boone. It's about ten times better than Siege At Red River.