 |
Two Flags West
1950 |
|
|
Wise and his crew set out to make this film about "Confederate prisoners of War gaining their freedom by joining the Union's Army to defend the frontier West against the Indians" (in actual opening credits) under contract for Twentieth Century Fox. Working with Darryl Zanuck , Fox production head, proved to Wise to be a supportive situation compared to RKO's often immediate request to change and cut films:
Locations were shot at the Pueblo of San Idefonso, a community of Tewa Indians, 22 miles from Santa Fe, NM. Wise and his crew took special care not to go near the tribal kiva (the underground council room), the graveyard or sacred shrines. Although it was windy and hot at the Pueblo, young actor Jeff Chandler stuck around even on his days off to be mesmerized by the acting of Joseph Cotten.* |
At a prison camp at Rock Island,
Illinois, in the autumn of 1864,
Captain Mark Bradford, who became the camp commander after injuries
ended his
fighting career, offers Confederate prisoners the chance to
be paroled. In
order to be freed, the prisoners must agree to serve as Union
soldiers and
protect frontier forts against Indians. The Confederates'
leader, Colonel
Clay Tucker of Georgia, knows that there will be no further
exchanges of
prisoners and so considers the offer. After seeing one of his
 men die in the
prison, Clay gets Mark's word that the men will not be asked
to fight against
their own, then breaks a tie vote among the prisoners in favor
of going.
Clay is demoted to 2nd lieutenant, and the unit joins the 3rd
Cavalry of the
Army of the Republic at Fort Thorn, New Mexico. Fort Thorn
is commanded by
the stern, rebel-hating Major Henry Kenniston, who is frustrated
that an
injury suffered during his first battle has kept him from the
war. At
dinner, the major's sister-in-law Elena, a Mexican-American
from Monterey,
breaks down in tears when Clay relates that he fought at Chancellorsville,
where her husband, the major's brother, lost his life. Mark,
who fell in love
with Elena on the day of her wedding, is surprised to find her
there, and she
states that Kenniston wrote her that she could reach the fort
with an Army
supply train, then travel to Monterey with an escorted wagon.
She has now
been at the fort for six months, and in addition to becoming
frustrated with
Kenniston's excuse that he cannot spare a wagon escort, she
is tired of his
over-protective attitude and romantic aspirations. When the
Southerners chase
some Indians into a mountain pass, Kenniston orders "retreat"
sounded, then
reprimands Clay in the presence of his men for almost riding
into a trap.
After the Southerners, obeying Kenniston's orders, execute two
men for
running whiskey and guns to the Indians, they find out that
the men were
agents of the Confederate government. Feeling that Kenniston
has broken their
agreement, Clay joins his disgruntled men in planning to desert.
Kenniston
then sends the Southern troops to escort a wagon train West,
hoping that if
they desert, they will do it then, while he is expecting it.
Although
Kenniston takes Elena's name off the lists of passengers, she
hides in the
parson's wagon and when Mark spots her hiding, he says nothing.
Along the
way, Clay learns that Elena has come along, and after he allows
her to stay,
they grow fond of each other during the trip. The night before
the troops
plan to bolt for Texas, Ephraim Strong, a Confederate agent
who has
masqueraded as a merchant, tells Clay of his plan to link Confederate
Texas
with the Pacific Ocean. Strong hopes to defeat the blockade
that is
strangling the South and make Californian gold available to
the Confederacy.
Strong urges Clay not to desert, but to return and gain Kenniston's
confidence, as Fort Thorn is the only block between Texas and
Tucson, and
also bring Elena back, so as not to antagonize Kenniston.
After their
return, Kenniston still does not trust Clay even though he brought
Elena
back, and when suspicious wagon tracks are spotted in the vicinity,
Clay is
not chosen for the patrol. When the son of the feared
Kiowa chief Satank is
captured, the chief and his warriors approach the fort to demand
the boy's
return. Kenniston, calling the son a "rebel," orders him
shot, whereupon
Satank issues a threat and leaves. Meanwhile, Clay has received
orders to
take his troops to rendezvous with a wagon train and proceed
with it to
California. Clay takes over command of the patrol from
Mark, who had come to
regard him as a friend, but when he learns that the fort is
surrounded by
Satank and his braves, Clay and his men decide to go back, as
they know that
women and children will die if they desert. During the
fight with the
Indians, Mark is wounded, and Clay rescues him when an Indian
tries to kill
him. After fighting has temporarily ceased for the night,
Clay apologizes to
Elena, who is helping to nurse the wounded, for bringing her
back, and she
sadly relates that before he died, Mark confessed he loved her.
A note
attached to a flaming arrow arrives with a message that the
Indians demand
the lives of the officers in revenge for the murder of Satank's
son, but that
they will spare the others. Kenniston then decides to go alone
to his death
and turns over command to Clay, who is now respectful of Kenniston's
integrity. When he leaves the fort and the gates close, Kenniston
issues an
agonizing scream, and his body is recovered the following day
after the
Indians leave. A rider then arrives with the news that
General Sherman has
completed his march to the sea and that Savannah is surrounded,
leaving the
Confederacy cut in half. As the Union soldiers whoop at
the news and sing
"The Battle Hymn of the Republic," the rebels proudly sing "Dixie."
With the
news that the war will soon be over, Elena comforts Clay, who
despairs that
there is now nothing left to go home to. She asks for help to
rebuild her
home at the fort, and in Spanish, tells him it will all seem
better tomorrow.
From the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
|
 |
 92 min. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.;
Distributed by: Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.;
Directed by: Robert Wise;
Produced by: Casey Robinson;
Screenplay by: Casey Robinson;
Edited by: Louis Loeffler;
Director of Photography: Leon Shamroy;
Music by: Hugo Friedhofer;
Production Design by: Lyle
Wheeler;
Sound by: Alfred Bruzlin;
Costumes by: Edward Stevenson;
Make-up by: Ben Nye;
Hair by: Lillian Hokom.
|
Joseph Cotten (Col. Clay Tucker), Linda Darnell
(Elena Kenniston), Jeff Chandler (Maj. Henry Kenniston),
Cornel Wilde
(Capt. Mark Bradford), Dale Robertson (Lem),
Jay C. Flippen
(Sgt. Terrance Duffy), Noah Beery (Cy Davis),
Harry Von Zell
(Ephraim Strong), John Sands (Lt. Adams),
Arthur Hunnicutt
(Sgt. Pickins), Jack Lee (Courier), Harry
Carter (Lt. Reynolds), Ferris Taylor (Dr. Magowan), Sally
Corner (Mrs. Magowan), Everett Glass (Reverend Simpkins),
Marjorie Bennett
(Mrs. Simpkins), Roy Gordon (Capt. Stanley),
Aurora Castillo
(Maria), Stanley Andrews (Col. Hoffman), Don
Garner (Ash Cooper), Jimmy Spencer (Indian), Robert Adler
(Hank), Lee
MacGregor (Cal), Hilliard Crown, George K. Hundley,
Fabian Chevez
Jr., Donald Curtis, Brinton Turkles, William McCarter,
Donald Cox,
Jose Baca, Fred Holm, Joseph Droege, Charity Holt, Bill
Burch, Don
Nevitt, Hank Potts, Allen B. Church, Ed Pulliam, Ferguson
Pollycutt,
Sam Tafoya, William H. Doyle Jr., and Bertha Brennan
|
 PHOTO GALLERY |
 MOVIE CLIP |
 MORE INFO |
|
