Unconquered

It's from Cecil B. De Mille so of course it's long - but for the most part, this frontiersman western flows OK, with a good cast delivering a well paced and written, action-packed historical adventure with plenty of good old cowboys and indians battles. Paulette Goddard is sentenced to deportation and indenture from the UK to her American colonies and finds herself the property of "Capt. Holden" (Gary Cooper) but the object of the desires of the sleazy "Garth" (Howard da Silva). Her emancipation (or not) is closely aligned with the survival of the British troops stationed in the Ohio wilderness against both the opposing French troops, and the sly, cunning Sececa indians - led by a rather oddly cast, but still decent Boris Karloff ("Guyasuta") - who just want shot of their interlopers so they can have their ancient hunting grounds back. It's got plenty going on, a bit of humour, some double-dealing and enough (but not too much) romance - actually Goddard proves to be feisty (not quite Maureen O'Hara, but you get my drift) and quite capable of looking after herself. Plenty of decent actors help the stars along - Ward Bond and Cecil Kellaway inject some character and there are also a few cameos from Sir C. Aubrey Smith and a young Lloyd Bridges to keep an eye out for too. Great photography and a decent - though not exactly memorable - score from Victor Young give it some scale and grandeur and all in all, make the entire thing well worth watching.

**_Indian wars in Western Pennsylvania, 1763, with Gary Cooper_** A striking indentured servant from London arrives in America (Paulette Goddard) and ends up involved in the outbreak of Pontiac’s War as a colonist captain and a shady trader vie over her (Cooper and Howard da Silva). The latter is in league with Chief of the Senecas (Boris Karloff) and married to his daughter (Katherine DeMille). Helmed by Cecil B. DeMille, “Unconquered” (1947) involves the historical setting six years after the events in 1992’s “The Last of the Mohicans.” Coming out 45 years earlier, “Unconquered” is naturally quaint in some ways, think “Gone with the Wind” on the American frontier of the pre-Revolutionary War days. Yet if you can acclimate to the old-fashioned style and melodramatics, there’s enough good here to enjoy. Plus, it inspires you to look up the real history. The climatic attack on Fort Pitt was expensive with lots of dynamite, flash powder, flintlocks and fireballs. It was perhaps the most spectacular battle sequence shot up to that time with the intention of drawing people to the theater with its ‘wow’ power. Paulette, incidentally, refused to stand on the set while the fireballs were being hurled and this caused a rift between her and DeMille. He would not speak to her for years. Speaking of Goddard, she was 36 during shooting and stunning. It’s a very colorful production despite the hokey or corny elements. Unfortunately, there are too many unbelievable bits, such as the Indians not knowing what a compass was even though they had been trading with Europeans for over a century by that point. Earlier, Holden purchases an expensive bond slave and frees her, but totally disregards the all-important paperwork. Why Sure! For a more realistic account of those times and the same area (Pennsylvania), check out the obscure “Alone Yet Not Alone” from 2013, based on a true story. It runs 2 hours, 26 minutes, and was shot on Hollywood sound stages with some location shooting in Upstate New York and Western Pennsylvania, like Pittsburgh and Cook Forest State Park, as well as the river sequences done in Idaho on the Snake River or tributaries, such as Upper Mesa Falls on Henrys Fork in the east-central part of the state. GRADE: B-