A strikingly resplendent Milland opens the film in full Union garb, but all his brass and stripes are immediately removed as he is dishonorably discharged from military service - why, the film fails to explain, setting the tone of incomplete and poorly presented information that pervades it to the end, with a Milland-Carter-Marlowe love entanglement, General Custer and Little Big Horn thrown in for spice. Sadly, dialogue suffers from inanities and more than once did I wrestle with a desire to just stop it after some 40 minutes.
BUT!... 40 minutes is a massive investment so at that point I upped from the sofa and raided the fridge, felt better and made a massive effort to see it to the end. Which I did. I wish I had a bugle to sound for every idiotic scene, line and facial expression, and I would have put any military parade to shame. I even thought of Peter Sellers blowing his horn at the start of THE PARTY (1967) in a send-up on GUNGA DIN (1939).
When Captain Garnett (Marlowe) decides to take a shot at Milland in the middle of an Indian attack, apparently to avoid blame while removing the Milland side to the abovementioned love triangle, I had enough.
What a waste of talent, and of my time! Carter and some competent landscape photography earn this dud 5 stars - and I am being generous.
BUT!... 40 minutes is a massive investment so at that point I upped from the sofa and raided the fridge, felt better and made a massive effort to see it to the end. Which I did. I wish I had a bugle to sound for every idiotic scene, line and facial expression, and I would have put any military parade to shame. I even thought of Peter Sellers blowing his horn at the start of THE PARTY (1967) in a send-up on GUNGA DIN (1939).
When Captain Garnett (Marlowe) decides to take a shot at Milland in the middle of an Indian attack, apparently to avoid blame while removing the Milland side to the abovementioned love triangle, I had enough.
What a waste of talent, and of my time! Carter and some competent landscape photography earn this dud 5 stars - and I am being generous.