User Reviews

Seeing the film today gave me an interesting perspective on our country's history, as the events took place one year before the Declaration of Independence. With the Revolutionary War in full swing, an entirely different battle was being waged on the near Western frontier of 'Kain-Tu-Kee', the Indian name for a 'dark and bloody ground'. It was here the legend of Daniel Boone was born, and the film states it tries to remain true to the core of the frontiersman's legacy.

I was intrigued by a number of the portrayals in the film that had nothing to do with the main characters. Women in particular were shown chopping wood, spading hard ground and fording rivers on horseback carrying babies in the cause of civilization. The film also depicted blacks respectfully, though in typically subservient roles; it was the black character Pompey (Clarence Muse) who offered the suggestion for the name of Boonesborough.

There's an interesting scene where Pompey and Black Eagle (George Regas) have a conversation about the similarities of 'black' and 'red' men. Pompey's take on it is that both were baked by the sun, but the Indian was 'underdone'!

Boone is ruggedly portrayed by George O'Brien in a characterization that reminded me of George Reeves' Superman, to me he looked like two different people with and without his coonskin cap on. His first encounter with the renegade white Simon Girty (John Carradine) offered a comedic touch with the knife swallowing gimmick. Later on, his shirtless physique takes center stage when captured by hostiles and relegated to a burning stake, most assuredly one of film's early recognitions of the beefcake factor in heroic movies.

My prior introduction to Heather Angel involved her role as Miss Phyllis Clavering in the 'Bulldog Drummond' franchise, a series of detective mysteries of the same era. Here she balances her affections between British royal Stephen Marlowe and the adventurer Boone until Marlowe realizes he's second string. Her young brother Jerry is played by Dickie Jones, who in the 1950's became Range Rider's sidekick and later starred as Buffalo Bill Jr. in a couple of early TV Westerns.

For an early talkie "Daniel Boone" seems to handle it's subject fairly well with a nice blend of action, adventure and insight into early frontier life. It does seem to leave a question mark for an ending though, as the pioneers are shown heading out once again in search of new territory. One must assume that the governor in Richmond fully intended to deny squatters rights to the settlers, on land annexed to Virginia for the glory of the Crown.

If we consider this was made in1936, it is actually quite well done. Not once did I get the impression the characters were "acting". It is set in 1775 just before the revolutionary war breaks out. This had several plots going in it, Daniel Boone took on the responsibility for relocating a group of settlers moving from North Carolina which was fairly well settled into the wilderness of Kentuckee.

Ironically there is a white man who has come to live with the native people and he prophetically tells them they have to stop the white settlers or they will steadily push them further and further west,

There is another man competing with Daniel for the affection of the heroine. After being embarrassed by Daniel for not doing a job that resulted in the deaths of others and jilted by the fair maiden he makes his way back to North Carolina and derives a plan to claim all the land the settlers have worked so hard to settle on. For two years they worked exceedingly hard to build a secure community in the wilderness and he plans to take it from them by legal trickery.

The white renegade is played exceptionally well by John Carradine. His voice, his posture ooze evil most convincingly. He repeatedly inspires the native people to attack and he almost does our hero in once his men manage to capture Daniel. I won't tell how he is rescued because I don't want to ruin the surprise. I actually got well into the movie about half way through when the characters began to develop and we got a good depiction of what life might have been like back then.

I actually enjoyed this movie and I think you will too if you finish it. I fear a great many people who need special effects and computerized images will be bored with it. Hopefully those people will turn it off after a few minutes and not bother to comment.

If you appreciate the early cinemas I'm certain you will enjoy this one. It is one of the better early movies I have seen.

This 1936 Daniel Boone movie starts badly—with a Plains Indian shooting a flaming arrow—even though Boone never encountered any of these Indians since he lived in the Appalachians—many, many, many miles away. In the 1700s when Boone lived, no contact had yet been made between Americans and these tribes. However, natives in the course of the film appeared to be the correct type and the film turned out to be pretty good.

The film stars George O'Brien as Boone. He was pretty famous during the late silent era with the leads in such films as "Sunrise". He also later made a name for himself in westerns. He was pretty good as the believably rugged title character. His job in the film is to lead a group of colonists to new land in the west (probably around what is Tennessee or Kentucky—just before the American Revolution. However, there are a couple different baddies who are out to stop them. The most obvious of these is a guy played by John Carradine—a white man who has rejected his people and stirs up the Indians to attack. It seemed quite appropriate that he wore a skunk-skin cap! The other, less obvious, is a prissy Englishman who is in love with a girl who Boone secretly adores. See the film to see how it all ends, though I will say the end was a bit of a surprise, as good didn't necessarily triumph over all evil in this tale.

This film is from RKO---and I am a bit surprised it was allowed to lapse into the public domain. It's rather entertaining and offers a look at the early settlement of the country. But, sadly, the sound is a bit uneven, though the print otherwise looks fine.

Usually I make a lot of comments about the historical inaccuracies of the film. However, the spirit of the film is reasonably close to real life—and Boone's mythic status makes it difficult to determine what he REALLY did do!