penitential viewing

Nothing against the actors, the _main_ plot and the scenery... BUT:

As soon as the truly central, exciting, emotionally-tinged (are we betraying these innocent natives)"Apache" element begins to surface, the story recoils and plunges the viewer back into endless scenes of "fort life"... over and over again. Normally I don't dismiss films I have not watched all the way through, but this film's story was so plodding that I simply could not finish it. How many scenes does it take to convey a frustrated Temple-Agar love interest, Fonda's unbendingness, and the not-very-amusing "Irish hijinks" in the regiment?

Sweet Jesus, this film is interminable. And crushing. It clips its own wings, hangs a millstone around its own neck. I sat down expecting to watch a great Ford/Wayne/Fonda classic and instead felt that I was being pressed to death... slowly ... one ... stone ... at ... a ... time.

As already mentioned, the performances were fine. However, the production values were only average for 1948. Worse, the musical scoring was inept, harking back to the corny scoring styles of the late '30s rather than the more experimental and realistic scoring of the late '40s. I mean, when Ward Bond/Agar reunite, the score is playing "Home Sweet Home"??? Not to mention that - even when not borrowing public domain folk tunes - the score itself is only mediocre.

This film could have been - ought to have been - trimmed by one-third, tightened up, and surgingly propelled along - like the "action-adventure" Western it was meant to be, with all other elements, including the romancing, kept modestly in the background.