The Command

After Captain Gregg Barton has been killed before dying he placed his troop of cavalry in the hands of the only officer left, army doctor Guy Madison. Madison is bringing them back to their fort when they meet up with a company of infantry and the wagon train they're escorting through Indian country. The short tempered Colonel Don Shelton, commandeers that same cavalry to help with the escort without knowing that Madison has no military training. The rest of the cavalrymen keep Madison's real army specialty a secret lest they spread some panic among the settlers.

Of course The Command that Madison is stuck with is no milk run. He's got to learn some real military tactics and has to learn them fast. Among the settlers there is an outbreak of what could be smallpox and Madison is hamstrung in giving aid in the profession he is trained in. Out of necessity he has to tell Joan Weldon who is traveling with the wagon train in the wagon where the sickness is starting.

The Command was one of the first film's done in the wide screen process with some 3D thrown in for good measure. With films on the big screen competing with the free small screen, gimmicks were thought to be needed to get the public out of their living rooms. A good solid cavalry western which The Command is was not enough at times.

James Whitmore as the sergeant who by rights should have been in charge and wisecracking Harvey Lembeck stand out in this cast. With a doctor hero and a cavalry setting, I'm surprised John Ford wasn't brought in for The Command. It seems like just his kind of material.