A Distant Trumpet

The more I watch this, the more I like it. Great epic scenes with a huge cast of soldiers, Indians, and horses in real American West settings. The wide screen Panavision photography (with original release prints in IB Technicolor) is excellent. CGI may be fine, but I have yet to see anything surpass the look of hundreds of REAL men on horses in stunning REAL outdoor settings.

As for the story, while I thought the book was very good, the way the characters are handled in the film is better in some ways, and the ending of the film much more to my liking.

One thing they did have to tone down from the book was the sex element. It appears WB even adjusted one sequence after prints were made up. This appears in Reel Two, where Matt Hazard (Tro Donahue) and Kitty Mainwarring (Susan Pleshette) are in thr cave together overnight. With Pleshette's back to audience line (apparently later dubbed in) says "Good night Matt" and there is an ABRUPT cut to daytime and troops coming into the fort. 35mm and 16mm prints I have seen all contain this SLICED cut. And the original 35mm trailer containing the cave sequence does not contain the "good night" line". I believe that originally there was an embrace and kiss between Troy and Suzanne and a DISSOLVE to the next scene (or fade out & in).

In any event, as Westerns go, this has a good story and looks better all the time, especially wide screen.