Apache Trail (1942)

hyped garbage

Beautiful, moving film.

A Major Disappointment

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Directed by Richard Thorpe, this Western features Lloyd Nolan as the man in black, William Lundigan as his incorruptible brother, Donna Reed, Anne Ayars, Connie Gilchrist, and Chill Wills as supporting players in the cast of this Ernest Haycox (story) and Maurice Geraghty treatment.The film begins with hanging Judge Keeley (George Watts) literally riding through town on the stagecoach to pass sentence on whomever the Marshal happens to have in the jail. It turns out the only man is Tom Folliard (Lundigan) who, after briefly hearing the charges and circumstances, the Judge releases for time served. Tom wasn't really involved in the stagecoach robbery his brother Trigger (Nolan) committed, but Trigger has yet to be caught. Not able to get his old job riding shotgun on the stagecoach, even though he's the fastest draw in these parts, Tom settles for a job as "the law" in a remote outpost that's constantly under attack from the Indians. Emory Parnell appears uncredited as Mr. Walters, the man who gives Tom the second chance.Tom arrives to find that former friends, SeZora Martinez (Gilchrist) and her almost 18 year old daughter Rosalia (Reed), are leaving the dangerous town, but convinces them to stay. He is assisted by other deputies (Grant Withers, Ray Teal, Fuzzy Knight, Trevor Bardette?) and also hires a local Mexican Cochee (Tito Renaldo) as a helper. Tom rides out to meet the stagecoach, which then arrives with several passengers who unload to rest their feet, and eat the Martinez's food, before they plan to continue on.The widow Constance Seldon (Ayars) turns everyone's head with her beauty, even Tom's who is watched by the jealous Rosalia and her mother, who love to make a match for her daughter. A sickly artist James Thorne (Miles Mander) and his wife (Gloria Holden) are also passengers. Just then, a cavalry officer Major Lowden (Frank Thomas) arrives to inform Tom of an Indian uprising; he's on his way to the fort to get help. Shortly thereafter, Trigger comes to the gate and is allowed by his brother Tom to enter as long as he gives up his guns, given the stagecoach's lock box. Tom stores Trigger's guns in the "safe" with the lock box.Tom then decides to go and see if he can figure out the cause of the Indian's agitation. While he's away, there are various discussions between Trigger, whom everyone distrusts, and the others including Ms. Seldon. Based upon a conversation between Constance and the Major at dinner, Trigger correctly surmises that Seldon's husband was not killed in action, but committed suicide. He then uses the artist's guns and suitcase tray to capture the other men and their guns.Meanwhile, Tom is rescuing 'Pike' Skelton (Wills) from the Indians. Trigger gets the lockbox and plans to take Constance as his hostage, willing or otherwise, before Tom arrives to foil his plan. The injured Skelton provides enough information for the men to determine that the stolen peace pipe Trigger had been flaunting is the reason for the Indians being on the warpath.Will the Major make it through to the fort in time for reinforcements, or will the Indians' subsequent raid on the small outpost prove fatal for all of its occupants? A great battle will determine the outcome, but not before there's a crucial vote to determine Trigger's fate.

Apache Trail is directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted to screenplay by Maurice Geraghty from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Lloyd Nolan, Donna Reed, William Lundigan, Ann Ayars, Connie Gilchrist and Chill Wills. Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Sidney Wagner.Ernest Haycox's "Stage Station" was put together as Apache Trail and ended up being a better than average "B" Western. Set essentially at the Tonto Valley Station, story finds Nolan and Lundigan as polar opposite brothers caught in the middle of the Apache's ire on account of Nolan's dastardly ways. Also at the station are a roll call of familiar 1940s Western characters, gruff men of honour, some lovely women causing sexual friction and a token Indian guy working for the whites.This small group of people will have to defend the Station (come Fort) against what seems like 300 Apache's; that is unless they agree to give up Nolan, who of course has "not" exactly endeared himself to the group during the siege. While there's naturally the "brother" angle hanging heavy in the air, something which almost detracts from the love triangle sub-plot as the "honest as apple pie" Reed (playing a Latino!) and "smoking hot but questionable in morals" Ayars conspire to put hero in waiting Lundigan in a choice situation.The production is a mixture of poor rear projection and stage work with gorgeous exterior location work (Tucson, Arizona), while the acting is exactly what it is, a group of actors either contracted to the studio, working for food or hopefully taking the first steps on the ladder to better opportunities. The photography is very nice, but the poor racist bravado of the era is not, while Thorpe's staging of action is indicative of his career in how he makes a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Accept it for the time it was made and this is a decent and enjoyable film. It was loosely remade in 1952 as Apache War Smoke, suffice to say that even then, ten years later, the material still didn't advance to anything out of the ordinary. 6/10

APACHE TRAIL (1942) was Donna Reed's ninth role under her M.G.M. contract. As someone new at Culver City, Ms. Reed was put through her paces in a variety of roles, too learn the ropes. Here Donna is 'Rosalia Martinez' a immigrant with her Mother, recent from Spain and somehow stuck in the middle of the Arizona desert. Looking a bit too Middle-Western and with a unconvincing accent.The story has all the makings of the 'B' Westerns churned out over at REPUBLIC. Brothers at odds with each other, the good, William Lundigan, the bad, Lloyd Nolan, renegade and all around creep. Usual cast of supporting Actors including Chill Wills, Grant Withers and Connie Gilchrist, etc. Also thrown in, some 'dudes' from the East with a 'femme fa-tales', plus a attack by the Apaches on their lone outpost. Competently directed by Richard Thorpe too the level or the limits of his talents, that were perfectly suited for this effort. At 66" it will not tax the viewer.This was another of those thankless roles a rookie had to suffer through before making the grade and Stardom. I am sure that Ms. Reed's private thoughts were not that charitable when she first was given this assignment and the script. Though back then if you wanted to make it in the 'Studio System' you did what you were told. Ms. Reed proved not only a apt pupil but was good enough to play M.G.M. politics and soon would be getting more challenging roles. Her skills would finally be rewarded with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) COLUMBIA.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** This is a film which utilises the 'passengers in peril' scenario, familiar from more prestigious productions like Ford's 'Stagecoach' (1939, also originally written by Haycox). The difference here is that those threatened are stationary, having already travelled to the Way Station and their destiny.Although there is some proficient external photography (Tom's rescue of Pike being a prime example), most of the dialogue here takes place on a sound stage, amidst a fairly extravagant set. Unfortunately being enclosed, sound conditions are distracting. There's an artificial echo to some of the talk, hard to reconcile with the impression so carefully sought of being 'outside'. It makes one wonder why the decision to film so much inside was made, considering the trouble and expense that has been taken. This is particularly puzzling when the climactic fight with the raiding indians is shot on a similar - but exterior lot. Having said that, the studio work is excellent and looks convincing. This is one of those Westerns where one can relish the attention to detail: the horses, the weaponry, the decor - everything in fact that adds up to a satisfying mise-en-scene.At the centre of this drama is 'Trigger' Bill and his relationship to his brother. Lloyd Nolan steals the show with his swaggering credo, endowing Bill with a genuine sense of cruel bravado and low cunning which makes him a much more interesting character than his brother. As Tom, William Lundigan is suitably upright and looks the part, but after the first few scenes one feels that his part is somewhat underwritten. A scene continuing the antagonism between the two brothers would have been welcome as the stress within the station grows. Instead they only converse to any depth at the very start and then again at the end of the film, which means interest in their troubled relationship loses tension. Bill sees Tom as weak because he is 'gutless'. Eventually this view is modified and, as Bill grudgingly admits to Tom: "the trouble is that you have a heart". It is this belated recognition that Tom has something of worth, a humanity which his brother cannot aspire to, which inspires the villain's final sacrifice.Such is the pull of 'Trigger' Bill upon the viewer that Tom's two romances somewhat pale in comparison. The excellent Donna Reed (Rosalia) has little to do but simper and wax jealously as she sees Tom drift away from her. Reed made relatively few films ('Its a Wonderful Life' (1946) being a cult favourite) and could have a dramatic luminescence which is largely wasted here.Tom's brief dalliance with Constance is of interest not least because she is a 'bridge' between the two warring brothers. 'You and Me. We're the same breed' declares Trigger Bill in one telling encounter between them, and we sense that her haughty denials mask a recognition of this fact. But she has none of Bill's viciousness or romantic crudity. She is just a woman who wants a safe haven of her own. Her love for Tom, although sudden, appears genuine. We sense though that life at the station is ultimately not for her, even without a consideration of Rosalia's prior claim.There is a pleasing symmetry to 'Apache Trail'. At the beginning Tom is released from jail and redeems his reputation to take up a new job. At the end, Bill dies to ensure the safety of the others, to an extent redeeming his. The religious imagery of his punctured hands is underlined by Tom's sober reference to a thief's presence at the crucifixion, a remark apposite if heavy handed.Thorpe (a generally nondescript director) manages fairly well, although some of his camera set ups are unimaginative. The dominos scene, in particular, cries out for effective editing to bring up the drama. Instead the direction is relatively restrained, more naturalistic, and makes less of this key scene than it should. By far the most atmospheric moments are contained in the first few minutes as Tom meets the judge in the coach.But this is an enjoyable film, better than the remake which followed a few years later. A must-see for Lloyd Nolan fans, others will also want to follow this 'Trail' to its end...