Reviews

I have commented on this film before. Since IMDB would only allow me 380 words, I am adding this note.

Factual error: The state company that operated arround Lordsburg, NM was the Butterfield Line not the Overland Line.

Music Score: The scene in Lordsburg where Ringo meets the Plummer brothers on the street uses a few bars of music lifted directly from the score of the movie "Alexander Nevsky" composed by Prokoviev. Watch the scene in Nevsky when the Teutonic Knights appear. Same few bars as when the Plummer boys start walking down the street in the dark. Alexander Nevsky was produced in 1938. Stagecoach was produced in 1939.

I have seen this movie at least two dozen times since I was a youth. This includes viewing as part of college curriculum. Clearly, this movie is a national institution, helped establish a film genre, became a pictograph of part of our history, and made the careers of more than one actor. However, it was watching it again this morning that I came to realise how some scenes are masterfully composed. I am not talking about Monument Valley, Utah, the scenes most associated with John Ford. The compositions I was impressed by took place early in the story at Chris' stagecoach stop. Chris was the Mexican proprietor with the Apache wife ("They don't bother me..., I think...). Recall the moment at night with the Vaqueors sitting around a small fire. Each of them is wearing a broad brimmed hat (not quite a sombrero) and a serape'. One man has his foot up and is holding a guitar. The scene appears to be lit solely by the fire (a skillfull illusion in the days of "slow" black and white film!). The camera remains still on thise scene for a moment. It almost looks like a painting by El Greco or Velasquez.

In most US made submarine action movies the process of torpedoing the enemy appears fairly straightforward and painless. Clark Gable, Cary Grant and Tyrone Power never seem to miss. In this movie one gets the sense that it is not so easy to sink an enemy ship at range. In this movie during the battle scene the Coxswain can't seem to keep the boat level in the water, the first officer forgets to read the bearing, someone else seems to be asleep at the switch at a vital moment. This little bit of realisim was appreciated by this viewer.

The best line in the movie is when the cook bites into a dinner sausage prepared for the crew grimmaces and comments "No wonder they stopped dog racing" or words to that effect.

With lines like that what can one say? This film comes to life solely on the strength of the supporting cast: Sir Lawrence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Burgess Meredith, Neal McCarthy (Calibos). Harry Hamlin and the very pretty English girl who plays Andromeda may not be great actors but they do look the parts they play. The special effects of Mr. H., while passe' in this digital age, are pretty good. I have seen this film a few times and always enjoy it.

This film is fascinating because much of it was filmed on location in India during the early 1960s. The film is worth watching just for the exterior background scenes. If one thinks of this film as a dramatic travelogue it may be more palatable. The acting is mediocre all around. Horst is almost convincing as the tormented alcoholic assassin. How much better this film could have been with an Indian cast, one can only wonder. Since the Indians produce more movies than any other country it is a shame that no Indian actors were involved in this production. Dianne Baker looks very lovely in her dark makeup and braided hair.

This series did for the California Highway Patrol what "Dragnet" did for the LAPD; i.e. established a mythology and a standard of professional conduct. I knew two retired CHP officers (both retired in the late 1960s) who loved this series. It is no small joke that in the Dan Aykroyd movie comedy Dragnet, Harry Morgan is watching "Highway Patrol" on TV when Aykroyd's character calls him on the phone. I, too, wish the old tapes had been saved for posterity.

There is no doubt that this tale was well written, wonderfully cast and well acted. The problem is that if one places this many British actors in a room together they start sounding and acting like a group of company directors. The humor, the mannerisims, the expressions both verbal and facial all seemed out of a Merchant Ivory or Python picture. There is even a lawyer joke! Clearly, trying to impersonate Germans in hollywood style would have made for a disater. Perhaps, this why this movie is so unsettling. The characters portrayed seemed so ordinary, not like a coven of warlocks. One character struggles with his conscience, another is sickened by the methods employed. For most of them, it is business as usual, just another organizational problem to be solved in the restructuring of Europe. If the General Heydrich character had not made the comment about working for the supremacy of German culture, I am not sure I would have remembered where this film took place.

Everyone, almost everyone, knows that the U.S. Marines never adopted the Springfield made Krag rifle of 1898 as depicted in this movie. The U.S. Marines adopted the 6mm Lee rifle, instead and carried it until the Model 1903 Springfield was made available around 1910 or so. Details, details...

A movie this dumb deserves no better comments than the one above. I cringe at the blatant arrogance contained in this movie. A much better picture about the U.S. in China in the early 20th Century is "The Sand Pebbles".

I disagree with the user who commented that these two fine characters are a couple of "English Dolts". English they most certainly are and that is the point. Dolts they are most certainly not. The writer uses them as comic relief and to parody the British Middle and Upper Class mentality that ignored Facisim in Europe for so long. Their preoccupation with cricket, tennis and golf is but a tool. Mistaking "Mein Kampf" for a marital aid is both a joke and a jab at English ignorance of matters concerning the Continent. One can almost here them make that classic comment attributed to another Englishman; "the Wogs begin at Calais." Their bumbling actions are an example of English self deprecating humor. I have enjoyed these two characters in a number of films and only wish they had appeared in more.