Pony Soldier

Pony Soldier

Original film poster
Directed by Joseph M. Newman
Produced by Samuel G. Engel
Written by Garnett Weston (story Mounted Patrol)
John C. Higgins
Starring Tyrone Power
Robert Horton
Penny Edwards
Thomas Gomez
Cameron Mitchell
Narrated by Michael Rennie
Tyrone Power
Music by Alex North
Cinematography Harry Jackson
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • December 19, 1952
Running time
 82 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $1.65 million (US rentals)[1]

Pony Soldier is a 1952 Technicolor Northern Western set in Canada but filmed in Sedona, Arizona. It is based on a 1951 Saturday Evening Post story "Mounted Patrol" by Garnett Weston. It was retitled MacDonald of the Canadian Mounties in England and The Last Arrow in France and Spain.

Plot

In 1876, the North-West Mounted Police send Constable Duncan MacDonald (Tyrone Power) and a blackmailed Blackfoot scout (Thomas Gomez) to get the Cree to sign Treaty 6 with The Crown. Initially hostile, the Cree are influenced by a Fata Morgana type mirage that they mistake for the power of Queen Victoria.

In addition to negotiating with the Cree, MacDonald of the Mounted rescues white hostages (Robert Horton and Penny Edwards) arrests a murderer, and adopts a Cree son (Anthony Earl Numkena).

Production

Director Newman originally scouted locations in Montana but finding nothing he thought suitable, the film was made in Sedona, Arizona.[2] During development of the project, technical advisor on Native American issues, Nipo T. Strongheart, wrote a critical review of the proposed screenplay, even though other departments of the studio had begun work on it. This led to a meeting with studio executives which, though he described it as feeling like he was called to the principal's office, led to a major reconstruction of the whole project.[3][4] Strongheart worked with the Cree people and their language, and couched non-Indian and Indian actors throughout the movie. During the filming at Sedona, production was interrupted by snowstorms and the flash of a nuclear weapon tested 300 miles away in Nevada.[5] The producers recruited 450 Navajo to play Cree when large numbers were needed. Strongheart, who also plays a Medicine Man in the film) also toured to promote the movie.[3][6] Strongheart had appeared in the film Braveheart with Tyrone Power Sr.[3][6]

Included in the cast were Richard Boone, Frank deKova, and in his film debut, Anthony Earl Numkena.

References

  1. ↑ 'Top Box-Office Hits of 1952', Variety, January 7, 1953
  2. ↑ http://www.sedonamonthly.com/gonehollywood/soldier.html
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Strongheart, Nipo T. (Autumn 1954). "History in Hollywood". The Wisconsin Magazine of History 38 (1): 10–16, 41–46. JSTOR 4632754.
  4. ↑ Joanna Hearne (25 January 2013). Native Recognition: Indigenous Cinema and the Western. SUNY Press. pp. 78, 107. ISBN 978-1-4384-4399-7.
  5. ↑ p.99 Heidinger, Lisa, Trevillyan, Janeen, Sedona Historical Society Sedona 2007 Arcadia Publishing
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Film Actor works with Ty Jr, now". The Deseret News (Salt Lake City, Utah). Aug 31, 1952. p. 4. Retrieved August 25, 2014.

External links