TWO FLAGS WEST

US, 1950, 92 minutes, Black and white.
Joseph Cotten, Linda Darnell, Jeff Chandler, Cornel Wilde, Dale Robertson, Jay C. Flippen, Noah Beery Jnr, Arthur Hunnicutt.
Directed by Robert Wise.

Two Flags West is a very interesting western. It is set in the civil war in the south with a strong performance by Jeff Chandler as the major in charge of a fort with minimum forces. He is forced to accept prisoners from the south whom he dislikes intensely, almost as much as the Indians. When he is involved in the killing of the local chief’s son, the Indians run rampant and attack the fort.

The film is a strong western, vivid civil war drama, taking up the issues of racism as well as the hostilities between the north and the south. While it seems an ordinary 20th Century- Fox programmer of the period, it boasts a strong cast with Joseph Cotten m Cornel Wilde, Dale Robertson and Linda Darnell as the wife of the major.

In the same year, Jeff Chandler appeared as Cochise in one of the groundbreaking westerns which highlighted the humanity of the Indians, Broken Arrow.

The film was directed by Robert Wise who had been an editor in the 1940s, began making small-budget films including The Set- Up, gradually moved to bigger-budget films at 20th Century- Fox and then to more colourful spectaculars in the era of Cinemascope including Helen of Troy. He was to win an Oscar as best director for West Side Story in 1961 and The Sound of Music in 1965.

The story is by Frank S. Nugent who supplied story and screenplay for many of John Ford’s westerns including Fort Apache, Three Godfathers, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, Wagon Master, The Quiet Man, Mister Roberts, The Searchers, The Rising of the Moon and The Last Hurrah.

1. A successful and enjoyable western? The use of conventions of cavalry, the Civil War, Indians? Did the filri transcend Its conventions in any Nay?

2. A western of the fifties, black and white photography, the use of locations, the importance of the stars of the time, appropriate musical score?

3. The title and the Indication of themes, the flags of the Civil War parties, the Civil War theme? The caption at the opening, the presentation of the prison, the clashes of North and South, the songs and the patriotism? Themes of escape? The uniting of the United States of America at the end?

4. The western as an exploration of America and Its history, Its clashes? The Civil War western and American patriotism?

5. How sympathetic was the presentation of the rebels: their plight In prison, Tucket and his leadership, the question of the offer to become members of the Army of the North? Their task, the seeming betrayal? Bradford and his presentation of the issues and their response? Their clashes with the soldiers from the North? The ironies of a disunited America? Their wanting to escape, the irony of the first return to save face the plans for the escape and their almost getting there, the decision to return and save the fort?

6. The character of Bradford, the just man, his attitude towards Kenniston, love for Elena, respect for Tucker, his death in the siege? A conventional western hero?

7. Elena as the leading lady, heroine, her wilfulness, a widow, Renniston and his infatuation and her lack of response? Her lack of response to Bradford? Her desire to gyn back to California, her heritage and background, Tucker's returning her to the fort, her continual fascination with him, the possibility of a future?

8. The contrast of Tucker and Kenniston? Kenniston and his harshness, his resentment about his injury and his appointment in the West? His attitude towards his men, the infatuation with Elena as a driving force? His goading Tucker into escaping? His harsh attitude towards Bradford? The ruthlessness of his decision about the Indian boy’s death? His responsibility for the Indian siege and the slaughter? Audience response to his decision to give himself up to death for the sake of the others? A credible militaristic man?

9. The presentation of Pickens and the other Southerners? The presentation of Southern agents in that part of the West and their goals for the winning of the war?

10. The importance of the Indian theme, the siege and the massacre?

11. The Civil War themes, and the issues of human nature and clashes?

12. How valuable is this kind of visualising of American history? Through the genre of the western?