Colorado (film)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Colorado |
| Original title | Across the Wide Missouri |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1951 |
| length | 75 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | William A. Wellman |
| script | Talbot Jennings |
| production | Robert Sisk |
| music | David Raksin |
| camera | William C. Mellor |
| cut | John D. Dunning |
| occupation | |
| |
Colorado is an American western written by William A. Wellman. The screenplay of the film by Frank Cavett and Talbot Jennings is based on the story Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto (1947). The film premiered on October 1, 1951. In Germany, the film was shown in cinemas for the first time on September 5, 1952.
action
Northern Rocky Mountains, 1830s: At the annual "rendezvous" of the trappers and fur traders, Flint Mitchell meets the Indian Kamiah, who lives as the chief's daughter with the Komantschen (in the American original: with the Nez Percés ). His interest in her is only aroused when he hears that she is in reality the granddaughter of an influential medicine man of the Black-footed Indians - who was stolen by the Comanches years ago - because he is planning a hunt in their area. So he beats his friend Brecan, a Scot who lives with the Black Feet and wants to buy the girl back for his grandfather, in negotiations with the Comanche chief and marries her. Then he set off north with her and several other trappers, including the Scottish Waterloo veteran Captain Humberstone, a painter who was dedicated to him and the Franco-Canadian trapper Pierre, who was valuable because of his knowledge of many Indian languages.
The first attempt to penetrate Blackfootland fails due to the resistance of a group of Blackfeet under the leadership of the sub-chief Ironshirt, who is hostile to the whites. But Kamiah remembers a path over the mountains. She leads the men through the rugged terrain and takes them to the hunting grounds of their tribe. On this difficult and dangerous path, she not only impresses her husband with her fearlessness and determination. Mitchell's relationship, for whom the marriage was purely a marriage of convenience, to his wife is turning more and more into a love affair.
A fort is built in the Schwarzfuß area and beaver hunting begins. When Black Feet, led by Ironshirt, steal a large number of the horses, an encounter with Kamiah's grandfather takes place in the village of Black Feet. He says that in his youth he too only thought of fighting, but after losing all his sons in the war, he now loves peace. To Ironshirt's annoyance, the horses are returned and the aged leader of the Black Feet is invited to the fort for a return visit.
The peaceful, even friendly relations between trappers and Indians come to an abrupt end. While setting the trap, Baptiste DuNord is murdered by a group of black feet led by the implacable Ironshirt. This causes his brother Roy DuNord to insidiously shoot the old medicine man from an ambush on his return visit to the fort, not thinking that his victim is the grandfather of Kamiah, who is also very much appreciated by him, that the peacefully minded medicine man in particular has no responsibility for the death of the brother and that the murder of the medicine man clears the way for Ironshirt to the top of the black feet. Roy DuNord is shot dead by Brecan after his crime, while Mitchell mourns a friend.
From now on, the trappers can only go about their work at great risk. Even at a Christmas party in the fort, a guard is gunned down by Ironshirt from afar. Kamiah gives birth to a boy.
In the spring the troops set out to use the harvest from the hunting season that has ended to go back to the annual meeting with the fur traders. Just when you want to take a rest at a waterhole, the black feet attack. The first victim is Kamiah, who is fatally struck by an arrow. The Indian attack can be repulsed, but the death of his granddaughter remains as the "success" of the efforts of the Black Feet to seek revenge for the murdered medicine man.
During the fighting, Kamiah's horse ran over with the child. Ironshirt and Mitchell ride behind. The final battle between the two men takes place in a forest. Mitchell wins and can save his son Chip.
He doesn't ride on with his friends, but returns to the land of the black feet alone with his son. There the boy grows up in the wild. As long as he lives, his father manages to keep peace between white and black feet. When he finally feels the obligation to send his son to school in civilization, Chip manages to delay this for a few more years.
Reviews
For the lexicon of international film , the film is a "unruly, historically, ethnically and psychologically differentiated Western with atmosphere and lyrical passages."
The magazine "Variety" particularly highlights the color photographs of "breathtaking beauty" . The plot, however, is "choppy and episodic" . The translation of the Indian dialogues is "stupid and boring" .
background
The MGM film was not a hit at the box office. With a budget of around five million, he only brought in $ 2.75 million.
The people in charge at MGM did not like the final version of the film. After heavy cuts it was decided that the now loose ends of the film should be held together by a narrator. As an adult Chip, this narrator was supposed to tell the story of his father. Howard Keel was hired as the narrator .
Oscar-winning Cedric Gibbons , Edwin B. Willis and James Basevi provided the set for the film. Douglas Shearer was responsible for the sound and Warren Newcombe for the special effects .
Timothy Carey made his feature film debut, the Mexican Maria Elena Marqués was seen for the first time in a Hollywood film. For Jack Holt, however, it was the last film. Before the premiere he died of a heart attack.
literature
- Bernard DeVoto: Across the Wide Missouri - English edition - Mariner Books, 1998 - ISBN 0-395-92497-9
Web links
- Colorado in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Colorado. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ [1] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043262/business
