Apache War Smoke ** (1952, Gilbert Roland, Glenda Farrell, Robert Horton, Robert Blake, Barbara Ruick, Gene Lockhart, Harry Morgan) – Classic Movie Review 13,775

MGM remakes its 1942 film Apache Trail as the 1952 Western Apache War Smoke, starring Gilbert Roland, Glenda Farrell, Robert Horton, Barbara Ruick, Gene Lockhart and Robert Blake.

MGM throws in a rock-solid B-movie cast for director Harold Kress’s 1952 American black and white Western film Apache War Smoke, its remake of the increasingly familiar Ernest (Stagecoach) Haycox yarn about a stagecoach robbery and an attack by the Apache on a stagecoach way station, previously used in MGM’s 1942 film Apache Trail.

It stars Gilbert Roland, Glenda Farrell, Robert Horton, Robert Blake, Barbara Ruick, Gene Lockhart, and Harry Morgan.

Robert Horton gives a stalwart, sincere turn as Tom Herrera, the stagecoach station manager who, even to save the other stage passengers, won’t give up bandit Peso Herrera (Gilbert Roland) to the Apache who believe that he is an Indian killer. The story’s subtleties, such as they are, vanish in this flat re-telling with plain direction. However, the acting by a good cast and John Alton’s black and white camerawork are distinguished.

It is based on the 1939 story Stage Station in Collier’s by Ernest Haycox, similar to his 1937 story Stage to Lordsburg, which was made into the movie Stagecoach (1939).

Some scenes from Apache Trail are re-used in the movie by cost-aware MGM.

Exteriors were shot in Soledad Canyon near Santa Clarita, California.

It was a nice little earner, costing $382,000 and taking $797,000 at the box office, with MGM declaring a profit of $121,000.

The cast are Gilbert Roland as Peso Herrera, Glenda Farrell as Fanny Webson, Robert Horton as Tom Herrera, Robert Blake as Luis Herrera, Barbara Ruick as Nancy Dekker, Gene Lockhart as Cyril R. Snowden, Harry Morgan as Ed Cotten, Patricia Tiernan as Lorraine Sayburn, Hank Worden as Amber, Douglass Dumbrille as Major Dekker, Iron Eyes Cody as Apache, Emmett Lynn, and Myron Healey.

Apache War Smoke is directed by Harold Kress, runs 67 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Jerry Davis, based on the 1939 story Stage Station in Collier’s by Ernest Haycox, is shot in black and white by John Alton, is produced by Hayes Goetz, and is scored by Alberto Colombo.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,775

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com