Die Unbesiegten

I am no fan of Cecil B. DeMille, but I actually quite liked 'Unconquered'. Other DeMilles (especially those set in antiquity) are mealstroms of poor writing and worse pacing, with often genuinely talented actors being forced to utter painfully bombastic lines of dialogue. In 'Unconquered', the pacing is rather uneven, too, but there is a bit of real suspense and the dialogues are not as bad. The plot is of course totally over the top, with lots of implausible turns and twists (beginning with the character played by Paulette Goddard travelling to exactly the same place in the American interior as the one played by Gary Cooper). Cooper is a convincing hero, Goddard is far less convincing as - well, what is she? Not quite a damsel in permanent distress, but no heroine either. Anyway, Howard Da Silva is a suitably nasty villain and Boris Karloff a relatively dignified chief of the Seneca. All in all, this makes for a quite satisfying mix.