The Charge at Feather River

Absolutely superior 3D photography, possibly the best from that short-lived gimmick (saw it slack-jawed at a recent 3D Festival here in Los Angeles). Very clever and simple effects from yoeman director Gordon Douglas, who handily uses his B-movie angles to great effect in this little saga, with a flawless Guy Madison and Frank Lovejoy very, very good in their parts as rogue officers leading a ragtag band (a'la THE DIRTY DOZEN) to find (a'la THE SEARCHERS)a woman kidnapped (not exactly against her will) by Indians (the added twist: an incredibly evil performance by a likewise kidnapped sister, Vera Miles, looking like she just graduated from high school, who stops at nothing to halt the progress of Our Guys. Two stand-out scenes, even in 2D, is Lovejoy spitting INTO the camera to rid himself of a deadly snake (sounding a lot like Mel Blanc hawking up), and the first use of the infamous "Wilhelm Scream" - since used in literally hundreds of films (and actully re-mastered by Ben Buritt for LucasFilms' use - you can hear it much like that strange "oh-oh" titter in old situation comedy tracks - in all Warner Bros. films from this movie on, as well as RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Listen for it (in CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER it comes right after the inevitable "You OK, Wilhelm?" before he's ZAPPED by an arrow in the chest - one of many thrown at the audience in the film's compact running time).

After two white women are abducted and taken hostage by the Cheyenne, a frontiersman by the name of "Miles Archer" (Guy Madison) is recruited by the commander of a nearby fort to retrieve them. Accompanying him are several soldiers who have recently gotten into trouble and have been placed under his authority in order to have their punishment reduced. To complicate matters even further, a railroad is being built through Cheyenne territory and this has stirred up the local tribes as well. Now rather than going any further I will just say that this was a decent Western which had a couple of unique innovations in its favor. For starters, it was filmed in a basic version of 3D which is evidenced by the number of shots that feature arrows and spears appearing to come directly at the camera. Likewise, it also incorporated a special audio effect known as the "Wilhelm scream" which was used in a specific incident involving a soldier named "Private Wilhelm" (Ralph Brooks) being shot in the leg with an arrow and this unique sound has since been used in hundreds of other movies afterward. Additionally, having a beautiful actress like Vera Miles (as "Jennie McKeever") dressed in buckskin didn't hurt the film in any way either. Be that as it may, I found this film to be entertaining for the most part and have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Charge At Feather River finds Guy Madison in charge of a group of misfit soldiers called the Guardhouse Brigade because that's where most of them were recruited for this mission from. The mission is to rescue two white women, Helen Westcott and Vera Miles, who were taken years ago during a raid and are now confirmed alive and now living with the Arapahoe.

The worst of his recruits is Neville Brand, but the rest of the crew that Madison has are no prizes with the exception of Lane Chandler who was a former Confederate officer who captured Madison during the Civil War. Along for comic relief are Dick Wesson and Henry Kulky who provide some levity in what is a serious film.

Vera Miles got her first real notice here. She's never been to Sweden, but she suffers from Stockholm syndrome as she now totally identifies with her captors. In fact she's going to be the bride of the chief, making him quite the envy of his tribe since none of them are married to any blonds. She acquits herself well in the part.

The film is loosely based on a real cavalry engagement in the Indian Wars, the battle of Beecher's Island. It combines elements of The Dirty Dozen and with John Ford's classic Two Rode Together.

And of course there's the 3-D which elicited a lot of excitement back in the Fifties. Even today seeing the various spears, tomahawks, and even some tobacco juice, courtesy of Frank Lovejoy, coming right at you on the small screen is impressive.

The Charge At Feather River still holds up well today, but should really be seen at a movie theater.

Slightly above average western drama with the emphasis on action. A cavalry commander (Madison) is forced to recruit from the guard house and set out on a mission to bring back white hostages the Indians have captured. All the expected sterotypes are present, and of course one of the hostages is a beautiful female. Since this one was originaly shot in 3D, be prepared to 'suffer those slings and arrows!'

The Charge at Feather River is directed by Gordon Douglas and written by James R. Webb. It stars Guy Madison, Frank Lovejoy, Helen Westcott, Vera Miles, Dick Wesson, Onslow Stevens, Steve Brodie, Neville Brand and James Brown. Filmed in Natural Vision-3-Dimension and WarnerColor, music is by Max Steiner and cinematography by J. Peverell Marley.

The Guardhouse Brigade.

Wonderful. It's the sort of Western you watched as a kid and it made you fall in love with the genre. It has it all, the standard Cowboys versus Indians action to keep the youngsters amused, and quality characterisations for the knowing adults to acknowledge. Plot would become very familiar over the years, where a bunch of reprobates, here they are the bad boys of the army guardhouse, are trained up and sent on a suicide mission. The mission here is to rescue two white sisters who were captured by the Cheyenne years ago.

The group dynamic positively bubbles with tension as men who fought on opposite sides of the Civil War are tasked with performing as one force. There's also a heated rivalry between two men because of a woman, and naturally there's some loose cannons in the group. Things further pick up when the two ladies are rescued and the group has to try and make it back to the fort with the whole Cheyenne tribe on their tail. The elder sister is grateful to be rescued, the younger one not so much since she has converted to the Cheyenne way and is set to marry Chief Thunder Hawk.

Thus the group dynamic goes up a couple of more notches on the stove as the younger sister does all she can to sabotage the mission, while the elder frets about how society will treat her once her past comes to light, and of course there's an attraction between her and the alpha male. Yet the romantic thread is superbly written, really mature and never cloying. There's some requisite humour that works very well, the action is very well staged by the wily Douglas and Madison makes for a good leader of men. While having Brand and Brodie in support playing ornery dudes is perfect casting.

It's a very satisfying Oater, it's not hard to see why it was a big hit at the box office. Oh for sure the 3-D gimmick would have been a big draw, especially since there's plenty of scenes made for 3-D nirvana in the picture. However, this is strong enough to stand on its own 2-D feet, a throwback to a great decade of Westerns. It also has a Steiner musical score and Marley's super photography around the California locations. Think what would happen if you mixed The Searchers and Major Dundee together, added in some Dirty Dozen like conflicts, and then sprinkled on some seasoning of Audie Murphy like Westerns, and you then get an idea of the type of film on offer here. Recommended to Western buffs. 8/10