Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers ("Isn't that a contradiction in terms?", another character asks him) travels to Canada in the 1880s in search of Jacques Corbeau, who is wanted for murder. He wanders into the midst of the Riel Rebellion, in which Métis (people of French and Native heritage) and Natives want a separate nation. Dusty falls for nurse April Logan, who is also loved by Mountie Jim Brett. April's brother is involved with Courbeau's daughter Louvette, which leads to trouble during the battles between the rebels and the Mounties. Through it all Dusty is determined to bring Corbeau back to Texas (and April, too, if he can manage it.) In 1885, a Texas Ranger travels to Canada to arrest a trapper who's wanted for murder and who's stirring up the Natives in a rebellion against the Canadian government. I happened to see this last Sunday afternoon on the T.V. At first the film looked dated but the costumes and general appearance of the people in it convincingly portrayed people of that era (something that doesn't happen as often as it should in "Westerns"); it soon became apparent that things were being done rather well and by the time the credits came along and I saw the name of Cecil B DeMille I knew why.<br/><br/>This is an entertaining, undemanding film. There is a great deal to enjoy if one puts aside ones modern sophistication. I particularly enjoyed the way the mounties were portrayed as a dedicated and disciplined police force, loyal to the Crown and doing a worthwhile job in very difficult circumstances. Gary Cooper's Texas Ranger helped to highlight the qualities of the Mounties and provided interest and excitement.<br/><br/>Crowd scenes and action scenes are well done. The stunt towards the end involving Gary Cooper's character tumbling from his falling horse is breathtaking and the quick cut to a back projection immediately after is very effective; it is a scene that can match anything in today's films. Characters have interesting scenes and the humour is dealt with a sure touch. The film has all the signs of a good director.<br/><br/>I didn't expect to enjoy this film, but I did and I look forward to finding more from the same period. You don't expect subtlety or underacting in a movie made by Cecil B. DeMille, and you don't get it here. There are several stories blended together around the idea of Cooper, a Texas Ranger, come to the Canadian north woods to capture a miscreant murderer, the half breed Corbeau.<br/><br/>This Corbeau is a nasty guy. He and the other half breeds are trying to stir up the Blackfeet and the Cree against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, intending to declare independence and kill everybody who doesn't like their new country. Cooper is swept up in the intrigues. Robert Preston is a Mountie who falls for the devoted but treacherous half breed woman, Louvette, played by Paulette Goddard in the go-anywhere accent she used when she played foreign spitfires. She was such an attractive and sexy young woman, it's a shame she didn't get better parts.<br/><br/>There is a dull romantic triangle involving Sergeant Preston Foster and another woman he worships, Madeleine Carroll, and there are several shoot outs between half breeds and the RCMP. The half breeds have got their hands on a Gatling gun, which gives them a kind of edge. I didn't like the fact that there were two actors in supporting roles whose names I always mix up – Robert Preston and Preston Foster. But I was on the side of the Northwest Mounted Police at every moment. One scene – an aborted patrol – shows us some skilled extras in formation that make John Ford's cavalrymen look like amateurs. I also was enthralled by the titles – Inspector, Constable, Chief of Inspectors, Chief of Constables, Constable Inspector-in-Chief, and Queen of England.<br/><br/>Gary Cooper is young and handsome and looks like he belongs on a horse. He may have had the longest limbs of any major Hollywood actor. And he adopts the rural speech and hick-like characteristics he used in "Sergeant York." "I was just a-passin' this way." "A feller has to take what he's a-got a-comin' to him." "I ain't a-got a-nothing' hyeah but maters, braid, and a-hoppin' john." (Well – not that.) <br/><br/>Sure, it's dumb. All the usual cinematic conventions are followed. There's no real mistaking the evil doers because they're all ugly or comic or both. The Francis Ford role is taken by Lynne Overman as Todd McDuff, a supposed Scotsman who lays it on a little thick. But he's one of the more likable sidekicks in the genre, so let McDuff lay on.<br/><br/>It IS colorful, especially considering that that is no outdoor scene in it. It's all shot on a sound stage. Still, you have never seen so many crimson tunics. I think by this time they had stopped using dried scaled insects to produce the color.
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