The Siege at Red River *** (1954, Van Johnson, Joanne Dru, Richard Boone, Milburn Stone, Jeff Morrow) – Classic Movie Review 10,234

Director Rudolph Maté’s 1954 film The Siege at Red River is a ploddingly written but fast-paced, well-edited and beautifully shot conveyor-belt Technicolor Western with all the usual ingredients — Civil War, marauding Indians, etc — telling the story of the birth of the Gatling machine gun and its devastating effects on them as didn’t have ’em. Van Johnson stars as Cavalry Captain Jim Farraday with Joanne Dru as Nora Curtis, though more characterful is Richard Boone as Brett Manning.

In a stalwart cast, Van Johnson and Milburn Stone play confederate officers smuggling machine guns under cover of a medicine show; Joanne Dru is the nurse they pick up along the way; Jeff Morrow the detective who comes after Johnson; and Richard Boone is typecast as ever as the bad guy who makes off with the weapons.

The Siege at Red River is familiar B-movie style Western stuff, then, but done with gusto and packed with plenty of action, with the added allure of the Technicolor location shooting in Colorado and Utah.

Sydney Boehm’s screenplay is based on the story by J Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater.

Also in the cast are Craig Hill, Rico Alaniz, Robert Burton, Pilar Del Rey, Ferris Taylor, John Cliff, Charles Horvath, Robert Adler, Harry Carter, Roy Engel and Peggy Maley.

The Siege at Red River is directed by Rudolph Maté, runs 86 minutes, is made by Panoramic Productions, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Sydney Boehm, based on the story by J Robert Bren and Gladys Atwater, is shot in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager, is produced by Leonard Goldstein and is scored by Lionel Newman.

The studio work was done at RKO-Pathé Studios, 9336 Washington Blvd, Culver City, California.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,234

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