Cavalry (1936) User Reviews

Bob Steele walks the line .........

[revdrcac · 5/10 · 3 August 2006]

Admittedly, 1930's westerns are not everyone's "cup of tea". However, when viewed in context, they offer fine entertainment in a short amount of running time. This 1936 oater by Bob Steele is no exception. In this film, written and directed by his Dad, Steele demonstrates the scrappy likabilty that made him a star for several decades.

In this film, Steele is a Captain trying to protect a much-needed telegraph line from the shady Leeds. While many of the co-stars are unknown to today's audiences, the great Earl Dwire makes a notable appearance. Dwire and Steele make this one a must see for fans of early western talkies.

Enjoy this one pardners, Bob Steele was one of the best !

The South Shall Rise Again In The West

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 July 2010]

I have to give credit to Republic Pictures for the villainy in this Bob Steele film Cavalry. Rarely have I seen a villain like Karl Hackett have such an immense scheme as this one. Such villainy on a grand scale deserved a much bigger budget than Herbert J. Yates could ever have given a film.

Hackett is a disgruntled former Confederate who doesn't believe in surrendering. He's got nothing less on his mind than the establishment of another country in the west, separated by a buffer Indian nation between the Mississippi and his new Confederacy. This means arming the Indians and also preventing the construction of a telegraph.

Which is what Captain Bob Steele of the Union Army is sent out west to do, protect the telegraph and find out who and what's behind the sabotaging of it. Along the way there's time for a little romance with Frances Grant another disgruntled southerner.

Cavalry is not too bad a B western from Republic, their product was usually a cut above Monogram and various fly by night outfits.

nice

[Cristi_Ciopron · 7/10 · 22 September 2016]

A honorable movie set in the aftermath of a fratricide war, an enjoyable B movie with a budget probably bigger than usually, scoring even a mild attempt at looking epic, it uses the same device of the conspiracy and spying, here dealing with the malcontents' attempt to declare an independent state in the West. All characters are cardboard, the plot seems trite, but some craft went into the movie-making. And I liked the wind in the evening scenes, its suggestion of refreshment.

In terms of the humble fun, the movie is as accomplished as could be expected; it seems a pastiche of A westerns.

Steele was a likable player: usually and not only at his best; here, he's a Northern cavalry officer, and it has been the effort of the player's father to establish him as a good guy, while his look would of indicated another type of roles.

There are black people, to whom belongs the 1st of the couple of songs, and Natives in a village, grateful to the administration and loyal if bribed.

The legendary President is a silhouette on a wall; which is simultaneously awkward and charming.

Some takes on these '30s kids' movies omit the fact that many of the plots relied on typical pulp tropes: conspiracies, disguises, treated in a childish and careless way. Many B westerns from the '30s were silly not because of their tropes, but because they used them clumsily, awkwardly, because they underused them though they thronged them. With the advent of the sound movies, new opportunities seem to have appeared for shameless hacks, who made countless graceless movies. But also some who had distinguished themselves during the silent era devolved in the '30s, and suddenly seemed outworn and sloppy, almost unworthy of the prestige they previously gained; in the '30s, the western almost abjured his nobleness, because of the tempting new market opened by the sound movie.

Not all the genre cinema regressed during the '30s; but the westerns did, and were devitalized, and nowadays knowledgeable buffs remark that directors and players seemed to become lackluster and clumsy.

An "8" on the Matinee Scale

[dougdoepke · 10 February 2018]

Lively oater with a storyline fit for an A-production. In fact, budget-minded Republic went all out hiring extras and riding them around Kernville locations. Plot-wise, the Civil War has ended and folks are moving west for a new life. Trouble is some southern anti-Unionists are conspiring for a separate new country in the West, and are colluding with Indians to establish it. Union army's Capt. Thorne (Steele) is assigned to thwart the separatist plans.

Steele plays it fairly straight, no steely glares he was later so good at. Also, he gets one really acrobatic fight scene, along with a winsome leading lady, Grant, as diversion from all the ugly guys. I don't know how much action is from stock shots, but the many story threads are woven smoothly together, quite a feat especially for director Bradbury who's also Steele's real life dad.

In passing-- note how respectfully both Civil War sides, North and South, are treated; plus, how happy the ex-slaves appear to stay on the plantation. I doubt this thread would pass today's muster.

Anyway, it's a superior oater, sure to entertain all front-row kids, past and present.

Of Its Time, No More

[nigel_hawkes · 4/10 · 24 December 2022]

I was surprised that so many reviewers here wax lyrical over this-maybe I'm missing something! Anyway:

Robert N. Bradbury-directed oater with his wooden son-in-law Bob Steele; infantile script but thankfully the proceedings are brisk; hoary tale set just post-Civil War: evil renegade raiders escape West and join up with a nutter trying to establish an independent state (presumably Texas); Bob sorts it all out and even turns the Indians against the rogues; there is the obligatory saloon fistfight with windmill-like arms flaying, painfully slow speech (reading boards?), and the goodie eavesdropping on the baddies from 3 open paces! There is also obvious stock footage. The usual mistaken identities are all resolved in the end, and the gal's supposed dead Pa turns up courtesy of Bob.

I found this on a specialist Western site-just as well as I doubt that any mainline channel would now show this-even with a warning-as there is quite an extended sequence near the beginning where the Southern gal and her uncle tell their slaves that they are free-this inspires a sorrowful musical "Gospel Spiritual" lament with much eye rolling and hand wringing as the "Massers" depart! Quite cringey even allowing for the era in which it was made.

Ticked off in my master encyclopedia, never to be seen again...

Bob Steele Moves Uneasily Into Better Budgets

[boblipton · 6/10 · 29 June 2018]

: In the aftermath of the Civil War, Bob Steele is promoted to Captain and sent by President Lincoln on a secret mission out west: there are rumors that a telegraph line is to be sabotaged and a group of Southerners is planning to start an independent nation, inciting te Indians to fight the US as a buffer. Investigate and stop them!

Steele's first movie for Republic makes clear use of the larger budgets and better facilities that Herbert Yates had for his B westerns. The sets are better, allowing cameraman Bert Longenecker to move his camera back for a better field of vision; there are more extras to fill out the crowds and action scenes (even though only Earl Dwire seems too have come over from the old stock company that Bob and his father, writer-director Robert Bradbury had). For his earlier pictures, Steele might have a crowd of a dozen people in one bar scene, and perhaps thirty men on horseback for the big final scene. Here, we have a couple of dozen people in a wagon train, a town scene with fifteen or twenty, and the big final scene.

It's not all gravy, though. The opening sequence has Bob leading a blinded Confederate general back to his plantation where the loyal ex-slaves have just seen his brother off; they wept and sang sad songs at his departure, like he would be coming back to lynch them all if they did not. Neither, despite a pretty good script, do we get to see Bob Steele do much in the way of personal action. It's well into the movie before he gets into a fist fight, and otherwise, he spends a lot of time talking .... not what one looks at a B movie for.

Still, it's a good story and it's good to see Bob get a good budget, despite a few tropes that have aged disgracefully.

Perpetuating an ugly myth...

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 28 April 2011]

This is an ugly film and I am very surprised the other reviews let this pass without comment. The film begins during the Civil War. In some god-awful scenes, you see a plantation where the happiest slaves in film history live. They LIKE being in bondage and when the war ends, they are beside themselves and want the Master to stay. But, in a ridiculously teary and melancholy scene, the Master leaves, as Yankee raiders have destroyed his home. While such was often the fate of plantation owners during the war, the well-fed, non-beaten, non-sexually exploited and happy slaves were just too much--and I could imagine viewers today tossing a show at the TV when this sort of idyllic view of slavery is portrayed!! It's historically inaccurate and rather gross. Why not a film about happy folks in concentration camps, then?

The war is now over and Bob Steele has been sent west to ensure that the telegraph lines are put in to connection the nation. In addition, some dirt-bags (the same Yankee raiders but now living in the west) are trying to start their own nation and it's up to Bob to kick butt and restore peace. But how does Steele's story relate to the good folks at the plantation? After all, he's a dang Yankee (though a nice one) and they were good children of the Confederacy?

Overall, the acting is good and the story is pretty good--but the prologue is just grotesque. Watch it if you like but if you aren't offended by the start of the film you might want to read up on this period in history, as it was nothing like this...at least on this planet!

An Old Western from Back in the Day

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 2 October 2019]

This film begins at the tail end of the Civil War with a Confederate officer by the name of "Colonel Lafe Harvey" (Earle Ross) arriving at a plantation to tell his niece "Betty Lee Harvey" (Frances Grant) that her father "General John Harvey" (William Welsh) had recently been killed in action. To make matters even worse, as she is being informed of this bad news an alarm is sounded that a guerilla militia is approaching with the intention of destroying everything in their path. Although both Betty Lee and Colonel Lafe Harvey manage to escape in the nick of time, the plantation is burned and looted leaving them with little recourse than to pack what few possessions they can find and head out west to make a new start. As luck would have it, a week or so later a Union officer by the name of "Captain Ted Thorne" (Bob Steele) arrives at the old plantation and with him is none other than General John Harvey who has been temporarily blinded in combat. Recognizing that his companion is in no shape to travel any further, Captain Thorne leaves General Harvey there to be taken care of and heads back to Washington D. C. as ordered. It's then that he is given an order by President Lincoln to head out west to prevent a telegraph line from being destroyed by Rebel sympathizers who are intent on recreating the Confederacy and using the current Indian territories as a buffer between them and the Union. What Captain Thorne doesn't realize, however, is that the guerillas who burned and looted the Harvey plantation are the same people intent on destroying the telegraph line and to that end they have joined the same wagon train transporting Colonel Lafe Harvey and Betty Lee. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this is a low-budget production made only a few years after sound was introduced in American filmography and as such the overall picture quality leaves much to be desired. Additionally, the script and the acting are somewhat lacking in that regard as well. It does, however, have a unique quality about it and if given some latitude might be of some interest to viewers who enjoy old films from this particular era. That said, while it definitely has it faults, I found it to be worth the time spent to watch it and for that reason I have cut it some slack and rated it accordingly. Average.

Unusual and excellent with large cast of extras

[morrisonhimself · 9/10 · 25 April 2015]

Robert North Bradbury is due a lot from us lovers of B Westerns: stories, direction, and two sons who starred in dozens or scores of pictures.

Mr. Bradbury directed his more famous son, known as Bob Steele, in this unusual movie of the time after the War Against Southern Independence.

The beginning is marred with stock footage of battles, then erases any complaints with a heart-tugging scene complete with some beautifully harmonized soul singing. No spoiler: Please watch it.

Then some irony is added to the story. Again, no spoiler.

Probably the ultimate direction of the action will become apparent to any viewer, but never mind. It's still a great story, beautifully written (although admittedly sometimes the dialogue seems a bit stilted, other times it's clever, other times it's perfectly realistic), beautifully directed (lots of angles and attention to detail), and beautifully acted.

So many players who don't get screen credit, such as Martin Turner who plays Mose, and one who plays Mammie is not even credited here at IMDb, which is rare, give more than adequate performances.

I watched this at YouTube, compliments of Westerns on the Web (and God Bless everyone concerned), and marveled at several levels of superb B Western entertainment.

Just one example: There is a super fight scene between the hero and the action heavy (well played by the great Karl Hackett), one of the best I've seen. Again I have to wonder why Bob Steele never played in a boxing film. He sure had the moves and athleticism.

"Cavalry" is an excellent title, an excellent movie, and I highly recommend it. (Admission: I really hate it when stars I like play Yankees, but I follow the advice sung by Tom Lehrer and I sublimate, sublimate, sublimate. So I enjoyed the movie.)

By the way, watch for Bud (sometimes called Budd) Buster in a really surprising role, and enjoy how director Bradbury films it.

The Best of Steele

[hines-2000 · 10/10 · 19 April 2021]

Robert Bradbury writes and directs a wonderful movie that encompasses many elements. The initial focus is the Reconstruction and the turbulent era following the Civil War. However, there is an incredible depth involving love, redemption, sacrifice and forgiveness. At the beginning, Bob Steele is in a moving scene as a Yankee soldier with the Confederate General he saved. Another is when Frances Grant and her Uncle Lafe (Earle Ross) being burned out by guerrilla warfare. These opening scenes set the stage for the captivating drama and great acting performances to follow. Budd Buster plays a dual roll as Honest Abe and the wagon master. This is only to be matched by the most versatile actor ever, Hal Price along with henchmen Karl Hackett and Ed Cassidy. The Bob Steele scenes communicating with the Indians involves the intricacy and subtleties that should have been used more often in this period. Also, the story of the wagon train was brilliantly interwoven in Bradbury's storyline. Cavalry is a wonderful movie and I hope someday there is a remake.

Wonderful story, wonderful cast

[frank4122 · 10/10 · 7 April 2020]

Dad Bradbury writes and directs one of his best efforts. Bob Steele comes on the scene in heroic style as a Yankee soldier saving a Confederate General. Meanwhile, beautiful Frances Grant and her Uncle Lafe (Earle Ross) are burned out by guerrilla warfare. Also, one of the most versatile actors ever, Hal Price along with henchmen Karl Hackett and Ed Cassidy give the wagon train folk and telegraph people more than they bargained for. Great work also by Budd Buster who plays a dual roll as Honest Abe and the wagon master.