Devil of the white mountains

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Movie
German title Devil of the white mountains
Original title Indian uprising
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1952
length 75 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Ray Nazarro
script Kenneth Gamet
Richard Schayer
production Bernard Small
music Ross Di Maggio
camera Ellis W. Carter
cut Richard Fantl
occupation

Devil of the White Mountains (Original title: Indian Uprising ) is an American western from 1952 directed by Ray Nazarro . The leading roles are next to George Montgomery and Audrey Long with Carl Benton Reid and Eugene Iglesias.

action

It looks like the Apaches broke the peace and killed whites. The ensuing battle between the army and the Indians is ended by Captain Chaise McCloud. Tubai, the son of the great chief Geronimo, is among the fighting Indians. The captain leads the young warrior to his father and wants to know why Geronimo broke the existing peace agreement and why his people left the reservation. The Spanish-speaking Sergeant Ramirez translates the conversation between the chief and McCloud. Geronimo complains that it was not his people but the white men who violated the treaty, because they had come back to the Indian territory and were there to look for gold, steal their cattle and shoot their hunters. McCloud assures Geronimo that he will ensure that all gold diggers have to leave the Indian territory for good. However, the chief insists that the Indians would not return to the reservation until the whites had kept their promise, and he also demands that his son be surrendered. Tubai is released to make a mark. In the years that followed, signs were put up everywhere strictly forbidding whites to enter the Indian territory. The gold diggers and above all Ben Alsop, for whom a large part of the men works, are looking for a way to get the gold in the Indian territory.

McCloud is to become the new squadron commander and see to it that the Indians stay within their borders. Cliff Taggert and the bar owner Dan Avery, who are working together with Ben Alsop, call on McCloud and want to bribe him with gold to let the gold diggers resume their work. In anger, the captain throws the two men out. You are threatening him. Alsop has planned all of this and is informing his middleman in Washington. Ringleader Taggert and some gold diggers return to the Indian territory and blow up a gold mine. When Indians approach, they immediately shoot, kill one of them and torture the other, who is Tubai.

For McCloud and his people, the news comes as a surprise from Washington that Maj. Nathan Stark has been appointed as the new commander with immediate effect. Its first act is that he ordered back all border patrols that have proven themselves, which Geronimo does not remain hidden. Alsop has meanwhile come up with a new mean to start a war between Indians and whites. He instigates Taggert, who is just as ruthless as himself, to kill the old gold digger Sagebrush with an arrow and then present him to the army as a victim killed by the Indians.

Norma Clemson, who lives on the reservation with her father, the Indian commissioner, and is very fond of McCloud, witnesses when the old man is thrown at his feet with an arrow in his back. The young woman tries again and again to arouse understanding for the situation of the Indians and to intervene. She wants to found a school for the Apache children on the reservation. Since Taggert and his gang open fire on the Indians, whom they brought with them as alleged perpetrators, McCloud sees no other option than to have the whites shot. The result is that he is placed under arrest. Tubai, who became an eyewitness to the incident, reports about it to his father, who soon goes on the warpath with his men.

With the attention of a young soldier and Norma, it turns out that the arrow that killed Sagebrush couldn't have come from the Apaches, and McCloud quickly realizes what the intention is. He gets Dan Avery drunk with his own whiskey, who then tells him what he hoped to hear. In Alsop's office, McCloud also finds the same arrows as the one stuck in Sagebruh's back. He forces Alsop to ride with him to the canyon of Hell, where Maj. Nathan Stark's company is surrounded by the Indians. On the way, Alsop is shot dead by Taggert who wanted to catch McCloud. In a bitter duel, McCloud defeats the crook and forces him to come with him. They reach Stark's company, which is in a hopeless situation. Taggert has to admit how everything actually was. McCloud then voluntarily goes to the Indians to negotiate with Geronimo and to explain to him how the misunderstandings came about. He manages to get Geronimo to speak to Maj. Stark. However, Stark is playing the wrong game knowing that reinforcements are coming. When this arrives at the right moment for him, he follows his order to arrest Geronimo, no matter what the cost.

McCloud, who does not want to have anything to do with such an approach, is full of shame. Stark is to be transferred and McCloud will finally be appointed squadron commander. However, he wants to submit his departure. He speaks to Geronimo again and apologizes for the dishonorable act of his superiors. However, the chief wants him to stay, he is the only white man he trusts and who has raised his saber in defense of the Indians. And there is another reason why McCloud stays after all, Norma Clemson, whom he wants to marry soon.

Production notes and background

The film recordings were made between April 13 and May 7, 1951, further recordings were made on July 20, 1951. The production company was Edward Small Productions Inc., the distribution company was Columbia Pictures Corp. The film had its premiere in the USA in Los Angeles on January 26, 1952. In the Federal Republic of Germany it opened on July 17, 1953, in Austria in October 1953.

At the beginning of the film it says: “ Washington is home to all the documents relating to the creation and development of the United States of America . They are kept there in the National Archives. These documents tell of the victories and defeats of the pioneers who created a new and strong country, of the perilous struggles for the borders of individual states, and of the American Indians who so bitterly opposed civilization advancing westward. The Apaches of Arizona were the last Indian tribe , which made the white man resistance. The last chapter of this fight is the authentic account of a man who helped make history: Captain Chase McCloud. In 1885 the dubious peace between the whites and the Indians in this area was threatened again. Geronimo , the great Apache chief, had broken out of the Indian reservation. That was the beginning of a new general uprising. A small unit of the 5th Cavalry Regiment under the command of Captain McCloud was on a patrol ride . "

Geronimo (Gokhlayeh, 1887)

The working title of the film was War Cry . Geronimo only speaks Spanish in the film, interpreted either by his son Tubai, who studied English at a mission school, or by Sergeant Ramirez. The real Geronimo (1829-1909, actually Bedonkohe Goyaałé) was the war chief and shaman of the Bedonkohe Apaches. Through his tenacious resistance and his long struggle against troops from the USA and Mexico, he became one of the most famous Indians in North America. He felt the occupation of Indian lands as a great injustice. Geronimo, to whom the US troops had given a small piece of farmland in a reservation they controlled at the end of his life, died in 1909 of pneumonia and was buried in the Fort Sill cemetery. The promise he had received in previous surrender negotiations that he would be allowed to return to the area of ​​his original homeland was never kept.

criticism

The lexicon of international films certified the film that it “speaks out in favor of understanding and also takes into account the violated rights of the Indians, without particularly emphasizing itself in terms of the staging”.

Cinema drew the conclusion: "Historically inaccurate, but well-intentioned."

In the film review by nativeamerican.co.uk they spoke of a rather sophisticated portrayal of the Apaches and the army, based on the predominantly stereotypical portrayal in other films. It was also said that Geronimo was well cast with Miguel Inclán, as well as the role of Tubai with Robert Dover.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Indian Uprising Original Print Information at TCM (English)
  2. ↑ Devil of the White Mountains. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Devil of the White Mountains cinema.de - Retrieved July 18, 2015.
  4. ^ Indian Uprising , Ray Nazarro 1952 nativeamerican.co.uk. Retrieved July 18, 2015.