No wonder 1939 is widely regarded as Hollywood's best year of all time! With all the sparkling jewels produced that year, such as Gone With The Wind, Goodbye, Mr. Chipps, The Private Lives Of Elizabeth And Essex, Union Pacific, Stagecoach, The Roaring Twenties, and Dodge City, RKO's relatively unambitious production Allegheney Uprising was just a pearl on the necklace. But this unpretentious yet stunningly beautiful picture of colonial life on the frontier and events setting the stage for the American Revolution is one of the best movies ever made.
This movie is an absolutely thrilling from the beginning to the end, one knockout scene after another, directed with precision and panache by William Seiter, almost non-stop action and drama. So breathtakingly fast paced yet so smoothly edited, it seems as if two hours worth of movie has been crammed into 80 minutes of running time. All is swept along by an rousing, grand operatic score by British composer Anthony Collins. Producer P. J. Wolfson's script is intelligent with sharp, colorful dialog consistent with Eighteenth Century speech patterns. Allegheney Uprising is beautifully photographed in the luminous, sensuous black and white common to pictures of this Golden Era. The sets and costumes are superb, painting an authentic picture of colonial frontier life. Those who say it should have been in color or that the colorized version is better need to wash out their mouths with a bar of colonial lye soap. The entire tone of the picture would have been changed, and it is virtually perfect as is.
Allegheney Uprising is beautifully acted by a cast led by John Wayne and Claire Trevor. Both fresh from their triumph in Stagecoach, Wayne and Trevor must have been anxious to prove it wasn't a fluke, that they were in fact top star potential. Both do so in style. Wayne, as the leader of the Allegheney mountain region's "lawful rebellion" against British misrule, is much more relaxed, mature, and confident than in Stagecoach. While Stagecoach raised him to the ranks of stardom, Allegheney Uprising proved he was there to stay. Ms Trevor, as the leather-clad tomboy in love with Wayne, gives one of her liveliest and most charming performances, refreshingly unlike the hard-bitten moll which was her typical roll both previously and later. She was quoted as saying that an actress should never fall in love with her leading man, but that she always did. It is obvious here that in this their second picture together she and the young he-man Wayne have a "simpatico". In support George Sanders plays to perfection the stern, dutiful, aristocratic British Army officer antagonistic to the surly colonists, while Brian Donlevy provides his usual sneering villain as the rum and gun runner to the menacing heathen savages. But it is Wilfrid Lawson who virtually dominates the picture with his colorful, exuberant portrayal of Trevor's riotous, boozy, seldom-home father. Some will find his acting over-the-top, but his character as portrayed represents one of the messy but likable hard case types who were common on the early frontier and necessary for its settlement. Moroni Olsen, Robert Barrat, and Chill Wills add their always reliable support.
Allegheney Uprising is a thrilling and beautifully realized picture of early America and the birth of our traditions of freedom and independence. It is a prime example of the craft of Old Hollywood movie making at its peak. Exhillirating, thoroughly enjoyable entertainment from the Golden Era. Highly recommended!
