Walk the Proud Land ** (1956, Audie Murphy, Anne Bancroft, Pat Crowley, Jay Silverheels, Charles Drake, Tommy Rall) – Classic Movie Review 9168

Director Jesse Hibbs’s modest 1956 biographical Western film Walk the Proud Land stars Audie Murphy as noble Apache agent John Philip Clum, who attempts to resolve conflicts between warring factions and get Geronimo (Jay Silverheels) to give himself up. It is supposedly the true story of the real-life Indian Agent John Philip Clum.

This liberal-minded Western is given credence by the sturdy playing of the decent cast and by Gil Doud and Jack Sher’s intelligent screenplay (based on the biography book Apache Agent by Woodworth Clum), Plotwise, it is a familiar trail it is treading, and director Hibbs does not build much of a head of steam. But Murphy gives a stalwart turn and Harold Lipstein’s Technicolor and CinemaScope cinematography gives the movie quite a big significant boost.

There is a soapy subplot about Mrs Clum (Pat Crowley) objecting to her husband getting close to Native American widow Tianay, played by the Italian-extracted Anne Bancroft, aka Anna Maria Louise Italiano, in the very kind of frustrating role that sent her reeling back to work in the theatre for years.

Also in the cast are Pat Crowley, Robert Warwick, Charles Drake, Tommy Rall, Victor Millan, Morris Ankrum, Addison Richards, Maurice Jara, Frank Chase, Eugene Mazzola, Ainslie Pryor, Eugene Iglesias, Marty Carrizosa, Jean Andren and Ed Hinton.

Walk the Proud Land is directed by Jesse Hibbs, runs 88 minutes is made by Universal International Pictures, is released Universal Pictures (1956) (US) and General Film Distributors (1956) (UK), is written by Gil Doud and Jack Sher, based on the biography book Apache Agent by Woodworth Clum, is shot in Technicolor and CinemaScope by Harold Lipstein, is produced by Aaron Rosenberg, is scored by William Lava, Hans J Salter and Joseph Gershenson (music supervisor), and is designed by Alexander Golitzen and Bill Newberry.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9168

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