Allegheny Uprising (1939)

Director:

William A. Seiter

Writers:

Neil H. Swanson (novel)
P.J. Wolfson (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 November 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | History | Western

Tagline:

The Thrill-Romance Giant Of The Year! (1957 reissue poster)

Plot:

In British colonial America, Captain Swanson's adherence to the rules results in Trader Callendar's...

Plot Keywords:

Trader | Colonial America | British | Father Daughter Relationship | Murder

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Claire Trevor	...	Janie MacDougall
John Wayne	...	James Smith
George Sanders	...	Captain Swanson
Brian Donlevy	...	Trader Ralph Callendar
Wilfrid Lawson	...	'Mac' MacDougall
Robert Barrat	...	Magistrate Duncan
John F. Hamilton	...	The Professor
Moroni Olsen	...	Tom Calhoon
Eddie Quillan	...	Will Anderson
Chill Wills	...	John M'Cammon
Ian Wolfe	...	Mr. Poole
Wallis Clark	...	Sergeant McGlashan
Monte Montague	...	Magistrate Morris
Olaf Hytten	...	General Gage
Eddy Waller	...	Jailer in Carlisle

Also Known As:

Allegheny Frontier (USA) (working title)
The First Rebel (UK)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:S | Iceland:L | Sweden:Btl | USA:Approved (PCA #5538)

Filming Locations:

Lake Sherwood, California, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Quotes:

Trader Ralph Callendar: They're real friendly like, the injuns.
'Mac' MacDougall: The only friendly Indians are dead Indians, I say.

Soundtrack:

Yankee Doodle

Has Some Amusement Value

John Wayne had been making low budget movies for almost 15 years when he starred with Claire Trevor in the William Seiter directed "Allegheny Uprising". He must have felt his career was going backwards as the production values here are second rate even by the marginal standards of his earlier films. Cast before the release of "Stagecoach", he and Trevor were given a more central role in "Allegheny Uprising" as it is not an ensemble piece like "Stagecoach".

The new popularity of the two B-Movie actors required P. J. Wolfson to alter his adaptation of Neil Swanson's novel "The First Rebel". In place of his straight historical fiction action- adventure tale (based on the Smith's Rebellion and Fort Loudoun in southern Pennsylvania) Wolfson was forced to add a romance and pad Trevor's role. Unfortunately adapting a novel to the screen is difficult enough without having to insert a character utterly irrelevant to a story already too expansive for easy adaptation. Contemporary viewers will find the forced insertion of Trevor into most of the scenes rather puzzling, at least in part because she has little going for herself as an actress or a screen presence. The younger John Wayne was much better when paired with talented leading ladies like Ella Raines and Cecilia Parker.

Set in Pennsylvania's Conococheague Valley in 1759, Wayne plays title character James Smith who returns to the valley with a friend called The Professor (John Frank Hamilton). They find the local British commander (George Sanders) a martinet and a local civilian (Brian Donley) trading contraband goods (whiskey and weapons) with the Indians, in league with some corrupt soldiers.

Trevor plays Janie MacDougall, a loud tomboy who loves Smith and manages to insert herself into his affairs at every turn.

1939 was not a good time for a movie which portrayed our soon to be allies (insert the British here) as stupid and corrupt. And southern California was not a good location for shooting a film about colonial America. There are far too many shots of grassy, almost treeless, California valleys to maintain the necessary geographical illusion. Also jarring is the contemporary dialogue which leaves you expecting Mickey Rooney and Lewis Stone to pull up outside the fort in the family sedan.

When not painful, the inattention to period detail is unintentionally amusing. My favorite scene involves the British soldiers laughing at the idea of the settlers taking over the fort. It will remind you of the "Robin Huck" episode of "Huckleberry Hound" where he exhorts his merry men to "yuk it up a bit" and they respond by going "yuk, yuk, yuk".

All in all, a weak example of the B-movie product.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.