In the War Between the States, some guys were blue-bellies and some wore grey coats, but 20th century Hollywood could agree on one thing: when the chips were down, white Americans put aside their differences and vanquished marauding Indians.
Whereas that theme is subtext in other Westerns, it's front and centre here.
As cheap filler in 1950 this probably played well enough. And for another 25 years or so when almost nobody owned a color TV. Grampa certainly didn't. And he almost certainly had never encountered either a black person or an Indian.
But Jeezus. Within 15 minutes Errol Flynn's character is reminiscing about his plantation back home. Were American audience such ill-read half-wits that it didn't dawn on them that meant he owned black people? One of his hillbilly sidekicks is described as ''the excitable son of a plantation owner," or something along those lines. Another guy is a budding rapist.
I mean holy smokes. Am I supposed to be cheering for these guys? That dog doesn't redeem anything. And that leading lady was no prize, despite becoming Flynn's third wife the same year.
Just the same, Flynn puts in a fine - and sympathetic - performance as always. The man was beyond reproach. For my money the greatest star of Classic Hollywood and, if anything, an under-rated actor.
Whereas that theme is subtext in other Westerns, it's front and centre here.
As cheap filler in 1950 this probably played well enough. And for another 25 years or so when almost nobody owned a color TV. Grampa certainly didn't. And he almost certainly had never encountered either a black person or an Indian.
But Jeezus. Within 15 minutes Errol Flynn's character is reminiscing about his plantation back home. Were American audience such ill-read half-wits that it didn't dawn on them that meant he owned black people? One of his hillbilly sidekicks is described as ''the excitable son of a plantation owner," or something along those lines. Another guy is a budding rapist.
I mean holy smokes. Am I supposed to be cheering for these guys? That dog doesn't redeem anything. And that leading lady was no prize, despite becoming Flynn's third wife the same year.
Just the same, Flynn puts in a fine - and sympathetic - performance as always. The man was beyond reproach. For my money the greatest star of Classic Hollywood and, if anything, an under-rated actor.