Comanche (1956)

Director:

George Sherman

Writer:

Carl Krueger (written by)

Release Date:

March 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The Never-Before-Told Epic of the Last Great Indian Battle...Filmed in the All-The-Earth-Spanning Power of CinemaScope

Plot Keywords:

Dead Children | Native American | Child Murder | Comanche Indian

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Jim Read
Kent Smith	...	Quanah Parker
Nestor Paiva	...	Puffer
Henry Brandon	...	Black Cloud
Stacy Harris	...	Downey (as Stacey Harris)
John Litel	...	Gen. Nelson A. Miles
Lowell Gilmore	...	Commissioner Ward
Mike Mazurki	...	Flat Mouth
Tony Carbajal	...	Little Snake
Linda Cristal	...	Margarita (as Miss Linda Cristal)
Reed Sherman	...	Lt. French

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Carl Krueger Productions

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When the Comanches ride down the main street of the Mexican village, a crewmember wearing a white shirt, dark pants, and a hat can be seen at the lower-right-hand side of the screen turning around and walking off to screen right.

Quotes:

Jim Read: Let's head for Medicine Mound. You can see it for miles. The Comanche don't go there except to die.

Soundtrack:

A Man Is As Good As His Word

Nifty theme song, otherwise completely routine...

Blasé outdoor yarn set in 1875 is based loosely on real events, with peaceful villagers near Durango, Mexico pitted against the Comanches. Linda Cristal plays the daughter of a Spanish aristocrat who's been kidnapped; frontier scout Dana Andrews (looking weary) is working with the Calvary to bring peace between the white man and the Indians until he and his partner are also captured. There's an amusingly upbeat theme song by The Lancers ("A man is as good as his word/as good as his word is he/and if he is as good as his word/he's good enough for me"), and the outdoor cinematography is inspiring, but this plot is so old it creaks. John Ford's "The Searchers", also from 1956, covered similar territory; "Comanche" isn't as pumped up with machismo as "The Searchers" is--but neither is it especially memorable. ** from ****