The Command (1954)
6/10
Standard and conventional Cavalry Western including thrills , action , emotion and a lot of Indian attacks
30 May 2019
When the unit's commanding officer dies , an unexperienced officer doctor (Guy Madison) takes the command a regiment and to lead a wagon train through hostile Indian country . But the Privates believe that experienced Sgt. Elliott (James Withmore) should have been put in temporary command until they reach the Fort . Then , they are ordered by the Colonel in command of a group of infantry to escort a wagon train of settlers (Joan Weldon , among them) moving west . Along the way they must fight off illness , smallpox and rampaging Comanches who are also after them . The Story of the Unconquerable!

Moving and action-packed Western with a simple , standard story that engages the viewer until the last scene , dealing with a cavalry troop escorting a wagon train . An ordinary Cavalry Western in which a officer doctor is saddled with the risked assignment of steering a wagon train through hostile Indian territory . The film packs thrills , noisy action , crossfire , and being enough entertaining . It's a medium budget film with comfortable actors , technicians , functional production values and pleasing results . This was the first Cinemascope Western and the first Scope movie of any kind from Warner Brothers , a studio formerly committed to the 3D process , and not forgetting the Panoramic shots that showed the new process off to its best effect , using Zeiss anamorphic lenses . Decent and pleasant traditional Western with professional direction and flawlessly acted by Guy Madison as Capt. Robert MacClaw , Joan Weldon as Martha Cutting and James Whitmore as Sgt. Elliott . Guy Madison was one of the most popular Western stars at the time , he also performed in the first 3D Western : The charge of Feather River . Guy played leads in a series of programmers before being cast as legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok in the TV series Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951). Madison had his first major role in "Until the End of Time" a drama directed by Edward Dmytryk, 1946 to then changed in action roles , mainly series B westerns , get some successes with the series . He played Hickok on TV and radio for much of the 1950s, and many of the TV episodes were strung together and released as feature films. Madison managed to squeeze in some more adult-oriented roles during his off-time from the series, but much of this work was also in westerns. After the Hickok series ended Madison found work scarce in the U.S. and traveled to Europe, where he became a popular star of Italian westerns and German adventure films , such as : ¨Duel at Rio Bravo¨ , ¨7 Winchester for a massacre¨ , ¨Bang bang Kid¨, ¨Five for revenge¨ , ¨Il figlio di Django¨ and ¨Reverend Colt¨ . Support cast is pretty well, giving splendidly fortright acting , such as : Carl Benton Reid , Gregg Barton , Harvey Lembeck , Denver Pyle and usual Ray Teal , among others .

It contains an atmospheric and adequate musical score by the classic composer Dimitri Tiomkin . Faded and tarnished cinematography Wilfrid M. Cline with a very bad print , being utterly necessary a perfect remasterizing . Being shot on location in Russell Ranch - Triunfo Canyon Road , Janss Conejo Ranch, Thousand Oaks, Agoura, California, and Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California. This breeze-fresh movie filled with get-up-and-go was professionally directed by David Butler, though drags at times , balancing in ups and downs . Butler was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres with special penchant for comedy , musical and drama . As he directed : April in Paris , Tea for two , Playmates , Doubting Thomas , Caught in the draft , The story of Seabiscuit , Lullaby in Broadway , The princess and the pirate , Captain January , The road to Morocco , and Westerns as : San Antonio , Calamity Jane and this The Command . Rating : 5.5/10 . Acceptable and passable .
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