Last of the Comanches *** (1953, Broderick Crawford, Barbara Hale, Lloyd Bridges, Johnny Stewart) – Classic Movie Review 6,690

The 1953 Western film Last of the Comanches stars Broderick Crawford as Sgt Major Matt Trainor, who tries to trek across 100 miles of hostile Indian land to safety with a handful of soldiers and members of a stagecoach.

Director André De Toth brings adroit, way more than merely just adequate handling to a standard, unsurprising US Cavalry versus the Indians tale about a group of stranded soldiers facing a remorseless Native American raid at a ruined desert mission, where they hole up for survival. The Comanches, led by Black Cloud (John War Eagle), are on the warpath. It is 1876 and all the other Indians are at peace with the white man.

André De Toth’s 1953 Western film Last of the Comanches stars Broderick Crawford as Sergeant Major Matt Trainor, who is running out of water as he treks across 100 miles of hostile Indian land hoping to reach the safety of Fort Macklin, with a tiny band of troops, the remains of a massacred cavalry troop (just six soldiers are left) and some stagecoach passengers. We’re talking ‘ten against ten thousand’ here.

The strong leads, the solid cast, the Technicolor cinematography, and De Toth’s tense direction come to the rescue of a slightly plodding, regulation story in Last of the Comanches, which is a Western version of the 1943 World War Two film Sahara (starring Humphrey Bogart) and The Lost Patrol (1934). In fact, it is a remake of Sahara, with Lloyd Bridges in both films.

There is an explosive finish as the group use the stagecoach’s handy consignment of dynamite  to lay a trap for the marauding Comanches.

It also features Barbara Hale, Lloyd Bridges, Martin Milner, Johnny Stewart as an abandoned Comanche boy called Little Knife, Mickey Shaughnessy, George Mathews, Hugh Sanders, Ric Roman, Chubby Johnson, Milton Parsons and Jack Woody.

Release date: January 28, 1953 (Los Angeles premiere).

Last of the Comanches, also known as The Sabre and the Arrow (in the UK), runs 85 minutes, is made and released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Kenneth Gamet, is shot in Technicolor by Charles Lawton Jr and Ray Cory, is produced by Buddy Adler, and is scored by George Duning and Moris Stoloff (musical director).

The cast

The cast are Broderick Crawford as Sergeant Major Matt Trainor, Barbara Hale as Julia Lanning, Johnny Stewart as Little Knife, Steve Forrest as Lt. Floyd, Lloyd Bridges as Jim Starbuck, Mickey Shaughnessy as Private Rusty Potter, George Mathews as Romany O’Rattigan, Hugh Sanders as Denver Kinnaird, Chubby Johnson as Henry Ruppert, Martin Milner as Private Billy Creel, Milton Parsons as Satterlee the Prophet, Carleton Young as Major Lanning, Jack Woody as Corporal Floyd, Ric Roman as Private Martinez John War Eagle as Black Cloud.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6,690

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