Fort Vengeance (1953)

A pair of brothers named Ross who are probably no better than they ought to be flee the USA and cross into Canada. As brother James Craig points out to brother Keith Larsen they left in rather a hurry and haven't got all that much liquid capital and at least Craig would prefer to make an honest living. When the opportunity presents itself to join the Northwest Mounted Police they join with Larsen a bit reluctant.Their presence is welcome especially since they confirm that Sitting Bull has crossed into Canada after the Little Big Horn and is making for the Cree camp and Chief Morris Ankrum. He's looking for allies and the Cree are far more numerous than Mounties. But in Canada because there were so many fewer white settlers the Mounties become protectors of the Indians.As for the brothers Craig gets into the Mountie spirit and starts taking up with the trading post owner's daughter Rita Moreno. But Larsen reverts to his old ways and the Cree are ready to join the Sioux because of it.Fort Vengeance is nicely photographed with the players settling into familiar type roles for them. Before Rita Moreno won her Oscar playing someone of her heritage in West Side Story she was cast in a ton of films as exotic native types wherever the location of the film story was. Her she played a mixed race person known in Canada as a Meti.Lesley Selander directed Fort Vengeance and he has a couple of hundred films and television shows under his belt. The man did know what to do with his players on a western set, albeit this one being a Northwestern.Western and northwestern fans should be pleased.

Fort Vengeance is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Dan Ullman. It stars James Craig, Rita Moreno, Keith Larsen, Reginald Denny, Charles Irwin and Morris Ankrum. Music is by Paul Dunlap and cinematography by Harry Neumann.As written there's a whole bunch of interest in this otherwise routinely staged Oater. On the surface it's a good brother versus bad brother theme, as Dick (Craig) and Carey Ross (Larsen) flee problems in the States by crossing the border into Canada and join the famed North West Mounted Police. Carey Ross is the tempestuous young brother, Dick Ross the wise and reasonable one. There's trouble afoot with the Indians, Sitting Bull (Michael Granger) is on the warpath and wants to unite with the Canadian Blackfoots to wipe out ole whitey.Running at just 75 minutes, Selander crams as much action in as he can, unfortunately this is at a cost to narrative promise. The story is set just after Custer's folly, and thus the Canadian Red Coats are dealing with the aftermath of the Blue Coats' ventures down across the border. On the Native American front, Sitting Bull is using devious tactics to stir up his wrath, but Blackfoot leader Crowfoot (Ankrum) still believes peace is possible. But with Carey Ross now a loose cannon on the Red Coat side of the fence, this part of Canada is turning into a powder-keg.There's a lot of fascinating historical ideas ticking away here, but the nature of this sort of production means nothing is ever expanded upon. The action scenes are competent, though the fisticuffs choreography is poor, and I'm still not exactly sure what Rita Moreno's character has to do with things? She seems to exist just to tease the men, unflatteringly so! The Cinecolor looks washed out, meaning the potential airy vistas lack vibrancy, while you will search far and wide for an acting performance of note. The various narrative strands jostling with each other for notice in the picture keeps things watchable, while the finale does pack an emotional punch, but ultimately it winds up as a time filling second string feature that is quickly forgotten once the credits do roll. A shame that. 6/10

FORT VENGEANCE – 1953Allied Artists hits a real low with this stinker of a western production. Two brothers, James Craig and Keith Larsen, are on the run with the law in pursuit. They head up into Canada to escape. They have a minor dust up with some Sioux warriors who are likewise heading for Canada. The Sioux under Sitting Bull have hot footed it north after doing in Custer at Little Big Horn. The brothers end up joining the North West Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) It seems like a good place to hide out. The Sioux try to stir up the local native tribe to join them in a return invasion of the Dakotas. Craig takes to being a lawman and quickly becomes popular among the Police as well as the local natives. Larsen on the other hand cannot give up his outlaw ways and is soon involved in murder and robbery. Stirring the pot is Sitting Bull, Michael Granger, who has his warrior's burn down several settler cabins as well as attack a wagon train. He hopes to force the local Indians to join in his cause. Chief Crowfoot, Morris Ankrum, does not buy it for an instant and tells Sitting Bull to behave or there will be war. War between the tribes is what he means. Needless to say Craig has to confront his brother, Larsen, about his evil ways. Duty turns out to be stronger than blood with Larsen eating more lead than is healthy. All the action takes place in the rocky hills and valleys of Saskatchewan. Of course the film producers overlook the fact there are no mountains etc in Saskatchewan. The place is so flat, that the standing joke is that one can watch ones dog run away for days. The director, Lesley Selander, normally a steady hand with low budget films, is defeated by the extremely poor story. One of the few bright moments is seeing a young Rita Moreno in an early role.

This is pretty much a routine 50s Oater, set in the Northwest. The story concerns two brothers working for the RCMP, one good, one bad. It gets a boost from a better than average cast, nice color cinematography, and a fine score by Sawtell.