Bugles in the Afternoon ** (1952, Ray Milland, Hugh Marlowe, Helena Carter, Forrest Tucker, Barton MacLane, George Reeves) – Classic Movie Review 13,655

Ray Milland plays Captain Kern Shafter, who is cashiered from the US Army, but seeks to redeem his reputation by joining the 7th Cavalry, in the 1952 colour Western film Bugles in the Afternoon.

Director Roy Rowland’s 1952 colour Western film Bugles in the Afternoon is written by Geoffrey Homes and Harry Brown, with their screenplay taken from Ernest Haycox’s 1943 novel, and stars Ray Milland, Hugh Marlowe, Helena Carter, Forrest Tucker, Barton MacLane, and George Reeves. This earnest Civil War actioner climaxes at Little Big Horn.

Ray Milland plays a US Cavalryman, Captain Kern Shafter, framed as a coward after battling army colleague Captain Edward Garnett (Hugh Marlowe) both professionally and romantically (for the hand of Josephine Russell [Helena Carter]). He is court-martialled and he is cashiered from the US Army, but later seeks to redeem his reputation by joining the 7th Cavalry and General Custer (Sheb Wooley).

Bugles in the Afternoon is an un-special Western with a routine story but balanced by well-handled action highlights, while the hard-working cast and an engaged director keep a decent production lively, sparky and professional.

The middling, unsurprising story, the miscast star and the sometimes set-bound production are the main problems, though even so Milland battles his miscasting (the actor is a city slicker) in a stalwart performance, and there’s a tremendous number of Western luminaries to relish. Plus there a good score by reliable Dimitri Tiomkin and Technicolor Utah location photography by Wilfrid M Cline to admire.

Filming took place in Utah for four weeks in June 1951, shooting in Johnson Canyon, Long Canyon, Asay Creek, Kanab Canyon, Aspen Mirror Lake, and Strawberry Valley, as well as at the Kanab Movie Ranch. There was also shooting at the Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California, and Sedona, Arizona.

It is produced by William Cagney, intended for his brother James Cagney, for William Cagney Productions, and released by Warner Bros. James Cagney passed on it in the lase Forties, and later Warners hoped it would star Errol Flynn, so it’s a hard ride for Ray Milland to take over as star.

It runs only 85 minutes.

Geoffrey Homes is a pseudonym for Daniel Mainwaring, whose 1946 novel Build My Gallows became the 1947 film noir classic Out of the Past.

Helena Carter (born Helen Jean Ruckert; August 24, 1923 – January 11, 2000) appeared in 13 films, and is fondly remembered  as Dr Patricia Blake in the the last one, Invaders from Mars (1953). Then she married and retired. She previously made Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950) for William Cagney Productions 

Cast: stars Ray Milland, Hugh Marlowe, Helena Carter, Forrest Tucker, Barton MacLane, George Reeves, James Millican, Gertrude Michael, Sheb Wooley, Stuart Randall, William Phillips, Dick Rich, John Pickard, Charles Evans, Ray Montgomery, Virginia Brissac, John Doucette, Hugh Beaumont, Harry Lauter, and Bob Steele.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,655

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