Unconquered (1947)

A female english convict is sentenced to slavery in america but is freed by a militiaman. However she is returned to slavery & becomes a pawn in a conflict involving indians & the colonists. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 05/22/2007 Starring: Gary Cooper Howard Da Silva Run time: 147 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Cecil B. Demille Product Description

Unconquered

Unconquered is set in colonial America several years before the American Revolution. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille, it's one of his many epic, spectacular films. DeMille had a knack of creating films that felt grandiose & were major events. Unconquered still stands as one of the best photographed movies in Hollywood history.

The film opens with Abigail Hale (Paulette Goddard in her third DeMille film) on trial in England. She's sentenced to death for murder but is given a choice of accepting 14 years servitude in America. She accepts (duh) the offer. While crossing the Atlantic the other two main characters are introduced: Capt. Chris Holden (Gary Cooper in his fourth DeMille film) & Martin Garth (Howard Da Silva). The conflict is set early as Holden & Garth get in a bidding war over Abigail. Every time Garth makes a bid Holden says, "... And sixpence." Holden wins out & sets Abigail free but Garth destroys her papers & buys her, keeping her in slavery.

Garth is friendly with many Indians west of the Appalachians. It's not so much friendship as it is the weapons that he's selling to them. He has secretly created an alliance with them to carve out a territory for himself.

There's a bit of name dropping for historical buffs. There's much that centers on the village/fort of Pittsburgh. There's debate on whether Pittsburgh belongs to Virginia or to Pennsylvania. In order to resolve this dispute we get two surveyors: Mason & Dixon, though their roles are limited to one scene. Another name dropped is that of a young Colonel George Washington (Richard Gaines).

John Fraser (Ward Bond) is Holden's good friend &, once again, Bond gives an excellent performance. Hannah (Katherine DeMille) is the Indian wife of Garth & daughter of Guyasuta (Boris Karloff). Guyasuta is the chief of the Senecas, one of the principal tribes involved in Garth's plot. Pontiac is the main chief in this plot though there's no screen appearance.
Note: Katherine DeMille was the daughter of Cecil DeMille & at the time was Mrs. Anthony Quinn.

There's a lot of action in the film with the inevitable confrontation between Holden & Garth. The Indians are treacherous & want to eliminate the white man from their lands. Part of this film is near ludicrous & yet enjoyable. Karloff is credible as Guyasuta yet is hard to take in this role.

There are a lot of actors in this movie that were young & had futures of varying degrees. There are Lloyd Bridges (Lt. Hutchins), Lex Barker, Jay Silverheels (Tonto from the Lone Ranger) & Jeff York. There are some others that were reasonably established: Mike Mazurki (Dave Bone), Garth's main henchman, Cecil Kellaway (Jeremy Love), Alan Napier (Sir William Johnson) & C. Aubrey Smith (Lord Chief Justice). There are many Native Americans with roles in this film also that include Iron Eyes Cody in a non-speaking role ( also was responsible for the Native American dialog in the film), Chief Thundercloud along with Silverheels.

Another interesting tidbit is the film has Noble Johnson in a small part. Noble was, perhaps, most famous for his portrayal of a zombie in The Ghost Breakers (Bob Hope & Paulette Goddard).

The only bonus feature is an introduction by Robert Osborne. There are subtitles in English & French; & the movie is presented in the full screen format (1:33 to 1). Unconquered is a highly enjoyable & entertaining movie that just misses being an essential film. December 7, 2008

Unconquered DVD

An excellent movie with Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard. Funny seeing Boris Karloff as the Seneca chief. After several years trying to find this movie on DVD, it was fantastic to finally find it in this format. A definite must-buy for lovers of American history. July 4, 2008

Where has this been hiding?

Being a fan of the "Oldies", my wife and I enjoyed viewing Cooper in a roll that one does not see him in all that often, in colonial times. The plot is fairly standard for the studios of that time. The pace is good, very little of the movie is wasted with unneccesary dialog. As a costumer, this one will delight "Oldie" fans and keep Cooper fans happy. May 22, 2008

Enjoyed Every Bit As Much As I Did 50 Years Ago

I am guessing that the reviewer that didn't like this movie is pretty young or doesn't enjoy films from this golden era of Hollywood ( no offense intended ). Peronally, I love movies, especially the ones from the 30's and 40's when the studio system was in full swing. This movie has one of the great directors of all time C.B. De Mille and and some of the Great screen personalities of all time. Action, adventure, patriotism, a great story, a great director, Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard AND Boris Karloff as the indian villan .... a great movie..... what more could you ask for ? January 28, 2008

Ready when you are Cecil B...

I love these big, improbable, schmaltzy Cecil B DeMille spectaculars. He made them in BW or in color for almost every imaginable historical period from Biblical times through era of the emerging USA...with plotlines and characters that were almost interchangable, nothwithstanding the era...and everyone of them is about as entertaing a 2-3 hours as you could ask for.

Unconquered is a particularly entertaining entry in his oeuvre. It covers a period not often visited by Hollywood, pre-Revolutionary War America, and is loaded with a colorful cast of characters played by actors famous (Gary Cooper, Boris Karloff) and familiar but not so famous (Cecil Kellaway, Henry Wilcoxon, Mike Mazurki and the ever oily and improbable main villain, Howard de Silva). Best of all, Paulette Goddard, one of the most beautiful women ever to walk onto a movie set, and she is never lovelier than here.

You get all these great and near great actors, DeMille's always breathtaking color photography and an interesting and exciting story.

The characters are, of course, complretely stereotyped and the ending never in doubt, but with DeMille, that's never the point...it's the journey, not the arrival.

Ready when you are CB!!! January 17, 2008

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