Oregon Passage

Googling will lead to at least two reasonable offerings of this film, though the one that I settled on had foreign subtitles and a strident musical score.

Even at the start of the film, the fort didn't appear to have a very large garrison, which was significantly depleted after a couple of unwise deployments of troops. But it did have three very attractive women, including a Native American played unconvincingly by white actress Toni Gerry. I recognised only a couple of the cast.

Towards the end there was a surprise death, an unusual strategy by the soldiers and a brutal man-to-man fight.

It's Oregon 1871. There is a truce except for one man, Chief Black Eagle. Lt. Niles Ord finds his group. Instead of following orders, Ord doesn't allow the killing women and children. He finds Little Deer who is being prepared to wed Black Eagle. Sylvia Dane is Maj. Roland Dane's daughter.

This is an old fashion western. The story dies whenever it gets stuck in the fort. I kept wondering where is that location. It must be some historical recreation venue. They try to do something comedic with Little Deer. Mostly, I felt it was a waste of time. There is some good outside action. It is a lot of fighting bad Indians. Some of those footage does look different. I'm guessing that there were other cameras being used there. The good old fashion action keeps this interesting.

John Erickson is Lt Niles Ord, a cavalry officer stationed at a fort nervously awaiting an attack from a marauding Indian chief, who also has to contend with tyrannical post commander Eric Platt in this ordinary b-movie from Allied Artists. It seems that the commander's new wife is a bit of a cougar who took advantage of Ord when he was a callow youth and now sees him as a way out of the godforsaken posting which she considers to be her husband's way of punishing her for being desirable to other men. Erickson makes a bland leading man and the rest of the cast - apart from a luminous Lola Allbright as the predatory femme fatale - is equally forgettable.

The plot is tired and the characters are never fully developed, but there is enough action to keep you interested. The original score by Dunlap is uplifting, and I have to think that the novel this one is based on(By Sheriffs)is a better read than movie. The brutal hand to hand combat between hero and Indian Chief at the picture's climax is a surprise. The rest is pretty much routine.

An usual B-western without enough attractive forces to hold in the chair, firstly having a second class casting usually on TV series, a three-side fight, between an insurgent Black Eagle against cavalry sheltered in the fort, led by a cocky careerist Major Roland who intent to get promotion to be back to east, by any means including putting all soldiers in danger against Black Eagle, in other hand a Lt. Niles a second on command has been pressure by the insane Major, among all this has a Major's wife a beauty Lola Albright a former fiancée of Niles and also including Little Deer a young Indian rescued from the Indians by Niles, this odd triangle affair is more dangerous than the angry Indians, the fabulous locations on Oregon national forest is quite sure the highlights of this average production, the spots nearby river rapids are breathtaking, l guess this picture hardly comes to light officially someday, l have it recorded from tv in low resolution, unlikely event of restoration could improve the picture a as consequence get better reputation!!!!

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First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6