ESCORT WEST

US, 1959, 76 minutes, Black and white.
Victor Mature, Elaine Stewart, Faith Domergue.
Directed by Francis D. Lyon.

Escort West is one of many similar westerns made during the '40s and 1950s. While the material is familiar, it is presented with liveliness and excitement. It is above average of its kind.

Filmed in Cinemascope, it is nevertheless in black and white. The film seems to have had a small budget although Victor Mature is a competent star. Starlets Elaine Stewart and Faith Domergue portray two sisters, one sympathetic and one racist and unsympathetic. The supporting cast is very good and includes Rex Ingram (the genie from The Thief of Baghdad), Harry Carey Jnr. and Slim Pickens, The film has a post-Civil War setting, a long trek, dangers from Indians, double dealing from the military. It is a brief entertainment highlighting part of the American heritage of the West.

1. An interesting and satisfying western?

2. Cinernascope photography, black and white, locations? The West, the outposts, the terrain? Action sequences? Musical score?

3. The conventions of the post-Civil War western? The clash between soldiers from North and South? Prejudices? Indian attacks? The military? Robberies? Antagonisms and self-sacrifice? The father with the motherless daughter? Romance? Heroism? How well used? Better than average?

4. The sense of authenticity about the plot? The situation of Ben Lasseter and his daughter? Their hopes after the Civil War? The two sisters and promises and hopes? The military and their role in the West? The Indian attacks? The old-timers in the West - at the cafe, in the West?

5. Victor Mature as hero? His serving in the Confederate Army? People's hostility towards him? People uniting after the Civil War? His love for his daughter? Their arrival at the cafe and their being looked after? The pathos when the owner and his wife were killed? The reaction to Martha and Beth? The father and daughter riding by themselves? The encounter with the wagon train? Saving the sisters? The importance of Nelson and his help, his sacrificing himself for the group? Lasseter's devices to get them free? The dangers in the West -Indians, snakes etc.? The aggravation from Martha - and then her death? Beth and her support? The soldiers and their betrayal? Shooting each other? Eventually arriving at the destination? The happy ending?

6. Abby and her vivacity, love for her father, support, survival in the West, dangers? Reaction to the two sisters? To the situations? Happy ending?

7. The contrast between Beth and Martha? Their fiances? Their hopes? Moving from the East to the West? Martha and her antagonism, her harsh words, being trapped in the cellar, being liberated? Going to her death and saving the others? Beth and her gentility, support? Attraction towards Lasseter?

8. Nelson and his place in the train, helping, injury, sacrificing himself?

9. The military and the patrolling of the West? The attacks of the Indians? Fear? Betrayal?

10. The themes of the American heritage, the opening up of the West, the unification after the Civil War? Honesty and dishonesty? Strategies and heroism? Relationships with the Indians? The nobler aspects of the American West?