By Lee Pfeiffer

The year 2014 has proven to be one of the cruelest in terms of depriving us of notable people in the arts. The year's morbid streak has continued  to the bitter end with the announcement of the death of noted character actor Edward Herrmann. The 71 year-old actor has passed away after a months-long battle with brain cancer. Herrmann, who was both an Emmy and Tony award winner, had worked steadily in films, TV and on stage since he first made his mark in the early 1970s. His feature film credits include "The Paper Chase", "Brass Target", "The Lost Boys", "The Great Gatsby", "The Purple Rose of Cairo", "Nixon" and "The Aviator". His TV credits include "Eleanor and Franklin", "The Practice" (for which he won an Emmy in a recurring role), "The Gilmore Girls", "The Good Wife", "How I Met Your Mother" and "M*A*S*H". For more on his life and career, click here.   

BY DOUG OSWALD

A rookie cop or soldier arrives at his first assignment and quickly finds they’re in the middle of some serious trouble. This basic plot has been used more times than any movie buff can count and crosses genres like westerns, war movies and cop thrillers. “Pony Soldier” is an odd western in that the action takes place in Canada and involves the Northwest Mounted Police.

It’s 1876 and Canadian Cree Indians cross the border into Montana to hunt buffalo, but are mistaken for Sioux by the U.S. Cavalry and a battle ensues. Known as long knives by the Cree because of their sabers, the Cavalry forces the Cree to retreat. The leader of the Cree kidnaps two white settlers in order to trade them for buffalo and safe passage to Canada.

Constable Duncan MacDonald, played by the ever-youthful Tyrone Power, is briefed on the problem and takes up the challenge to negotiate the freedom of the white captives. He is joined by his half-native scout and side-kick Natayo Smith, played by Thomas Gomez, in an effort to preserve the peace between the Cree, the settlers, the Mounties and the U.S. Cavalry.

MacDonald plays the diplomat cop very well and gains a reluctant friendship with the Cree chief Standing Bear, played by Stuart Randall, while clashing with the Cree soldier Konah (Cameron Mitchell), who seeks a confrontation with the U.S. Cavalry across the border in Montana.

When a mirage appears across the valley showing the ocean and a large ship, MacDonald convinces the Cree of the futility of their efforts and they reluctantly decide to consider his offer to free the white captives. It turns out one of the captives is an outlaw, Jess Calhoun (Robert Horton), who is wanted for murder by the Mounties. The woman captive is pretty Emerald Neeley (Penny Edwards), who has been chosen by Konah to be his bride.

The Northwest Mounted Police seek to maintain the peace by returning their wards, the Cree, back to their home in Canada. Power’s MacDonald is the perfect mix of level-headed constable and diplomat. He even manages to befriend a Cree orphan who wants to be his adopted son. While ever the diplomat, MacDonald is no pushover and asserts himself with the Cree and in a final confrontation with the outlaw Jess.

“Pony Soldier” looks like a typical western of the era with a Cavalry battle, horse riding stunts, shootouts and lush vistas while also presenting the native characters as more than caricatures. Many, if not all, of the native supporting cast appear to be Native Americans with Anthony Numkena, a Hopi Indian, a standout as MacDonald’s adopted son, Comes Running.

The movie is based on a Saturday Evening Post story by Garnett Weston and was directed by Joseph M. Newman. Newman helmed the sci-fi classic “This Island Earth,” the noir cult film “Dangerous Crossing,”  Tarzan, the Ape Man” and several episodes of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.”

While this movie isn’t shot in the gritty adult western style made popular by John Ford, Anthony Mann, George Stevens, John Sturges and Fred Zinnemann in the 1950s; it still manages to be entertaining as a sort of transition between the standard western formula of old Hollywood and the modern westerns being made by independent directors.

According to IMDb, this movie is the film debut of Earl Holliman and features an uncredited performance by Richard Boone. It also features narration at the end of the movie by an uncredited Michael Rennie. The movie ends with MacDonald completing his assignment followed by a contemporary tribute of the Royale Canadian Mounted Police with Rennie extolling the virtues of their continuing mission as peacekeepers.

The movie looks terrific and was filmed in Technicolor on location in the Coconino National Forrest near Sedona, Arizona, and in California’s Red Rock Canyon. The 20th Century Fox production was released in December 1952 on the eve of CinemaScope and it’s a shame this movie was not able to make use of the wide screen process.

The Twilight Time Blu-ray release, which  looks and sounds wonderful, is limited to 3,000 copies and can by ordered via Screen Archives. The score by Alex North is offered as an isolated track on the disc and is the only extra. The release also includes the usual booklet of images spread throughout an informative and entertaining essay by Julie Kirgo. Fans of Tyrone Power and “north” westerns will want to give this movie a view and possibly add a copy to their collection.

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