ma-cortes Mediocre and unexceptional western dealing with a tale of the early days of Canadian Mounted Police and their relationships with the Indians . Average Western has Tyrone power as the Mountie on an assignment to the US to stop rebel Indians led by Stuart Randall as Standing Bear and Cameron Mitchell as Konah and their Cree tribes from launching an all out attack . As Tyrone , accompanied by Natayo: Thomas Gómez, has to keep rescuing hostages throughout the movie , as well as battling Cameron Mitchell and help harassed settlers fight Indians .There are White captives to be rescued : Robert Horten , Penny Edwards , too , and building a thrilling final confrontation . Spectacular , though medium budget western , with thrills , fights , go riding , and being mostly shot at an Indian location .Cast is pretty good , it stars Tyrone Power , a fine actor who performed some classic swashbucklers, until his early death in Spain when he was shooting Salomon and Queen of Sheba by King Vidor ; However , he is miscast in a very minor stuff for his usual standards . Costars Penny Edwards as the heroíne in distress who is kidnapped by Indians , she spent several years languishing in Roy Rogers Westerns . Support cast is frankly well ,such as : Cameron Mitchell , and Stuart Randall as two Indian chiefs who are raiding Montana from their Canadian reservation , Robert Horton as a nasty hostage , Thomas Gomez as a fatty scout and uncredited Richard Boone , Earl Holliman and Michael Rennie as narrator . Colorfully and attractively cinematographed in pale but brilliant Technicolor by the professional cameraman Harry Jackson , Universal's ordinary . The movie belongs to Canadian Mountie sub-genre including important titles as 1947 Unconquered by Cecil B DeMille , 1954 Saskatchewan by Raoul Walsh and 1961 Canadians by Burt Kennedy motion picture was regularly directed by Joseph M Newman. He was a prolific assistant director , writer and producer . As a filmmaker he realized a lot of films with no much success , and directing all kinds of genres with penchant for Western , Noir and Gangster movies such as The George Raft story , A Thunder of drums , The lawbreakers, The story of Arnold Rothstein , Tarzan the ape man , The big circus , Fort massacre , Flight to Hong Kong , Kiss of fire , Red skies of Montana , 711 Ocean drive, Vendetta , Outcasts of poker flat , Abandoned , Northwest Rangers , Don't Talk , Women in hiding, among others .

jpdoherty 20th. Century Fox's 1952 production PONY SOLDIER (aka. "MacDonald Of the Canadian Mounties") is a somewhat disappointing and quite action-less adventure and even more so when one considers that it is one of the few westerns the estimable Tyrone Power appeared in. Produced for the studio by Samuel G.Engel it did however have a few saving graces and not least the stunning colour cinematography of Coconimon National Forest by Harry Jackson and a driving ethnic score by composer Alex North. Thinly written for the screen by John C.Higgins it was however ably directed by Joseph M.Newman.It is 1876 and constable Duncun MacDonald (Tyrone Power) of the Royal Canadian Mounted police is given an assignment to investigate the reason why the Cree Indians are massing along the Canadian/US border and attacking wagons crossing into Canada. With a half-caste guide (Thomas Gomez) he makes the long trek to the Indian camp to speak to the chief (Sturt Randall) and discovers the tribe have taken two white captives - a woman (Penny Edwards) and an unscrupulous ex-convict (Robert Horton). Now, besides trying to persuade the Crees to return to the reservation he must also endeavour to negotiate the release of the two hostages. However, the hatred of one of the chiefs (Cameron Mitchell) for all whites makes it impossible for the young constable to achieve anything culminating in a hand to hand fight to the death in the final reel.Although it's a beautiful looking movie (Ty Power's red tunic is luminous) and the scenes in the Indian camp are quite colourful the picture can often be dull and boring. Particularly tedious and tiresome is the relationship that develops between Power and an Indian boy who befriends him. There is much too much screen time wasted here and is simply just padding to fill in the running time. There is very little action throughout the movie which really only occurs in the film's first fifteen minutes and comes from stock footage culled from the studio's earlier "Buffalo Bill" (1944). Anthony Quinn who played chief Yellow Hand in that picture remember - can clearly be identified here as he runs and leaps onto his pinto pony to lead his warriors from the camp to engage with the US cavalry in William Wellman's classic battle scene from that earlier movie.On the plus side are reasonably good performances. Power is his usual polished self and Cameron Mitchell is very authentic and striking looking as the militant and vengeful warrior. The female lead is taken by pretty Penny Edwards as one of the captives but has little to do and isn't in it very much. The "B" picture actress has hardly more than a dozen words of dialogue to say in what must be her only A list movie and playing opposite one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Also of note is the sparkling score by Alex North. There's a savage atmospheric Indian theme heard in its broadest rendition under the titles with baying horns against wild woodwind figures. It perfectly conjures up the will and determination of the Canadian Cree nation. And discerned here in the great composer's music are little hints of the masterwork he would conceive ten years later for one of the finest scores ever written for the screen - "Spartacus".PONY SOLDIER is no earth shattering viewing experience at all but with its few saving graces and the presence of its appealing star it is just about worth a look.

bkoganbing I'm not sure, but has there ever been a film made with a less than sympathetic treatment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? The Mounties have done very well cinema wise and Pony Soldier is not setting any new patterns.It doesn't have to because it's a very entertaining film. The plot has a lot of similarities to Broken Arrow which 20th Century Fox also produced. Tyrone Power is playing Constable Duncan MacDonald, newly arrived at Fort Walsh and sent out on a mission to negotiate a peace with Cree Indians who've left their reserve and tangled with U.S. Cavalry south of the border. On the way back they've taken two white prisoners in a raid and Power is looking to get them back. One is Penny Edwards who catches the eye of Cameron Mitchell and he decides she'd make a good squaw for his little brother. The other is Robert Horton who's an escaped outlaw.So intrepid Mountie Power along with his Indian guide Thomas Gomez go to the camp of the Crees. Gomez is a most reluctant guide, in fact he's kind of blackmailed into making the journey. Thomas Gomez is an underrated and capable actor who deadpans some very funny lines.Two others in the cast really make this work. Little Anthony Numkena plays the Cree Indian boy who Power adopts and that turns out to be a great negotiating technique. But their affection is genuine and the scenes between Power and Numkena are some of the best in the film.Stuart Randall plays the Cree Chief Standing Bear. His portrayal is very similar to Jeff Chandler's more heralded portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow. In fact the Indians are not stereotyped, they are three dimensional characters here. Randall does a fine job as Standing Bear, negotiating with Power and having to contend with militants in his own camp led by Cameron Mitchell. Since Jeff Chandler had already broken the same ground with Cochise, Randall's performance has been overlooked, unfortunately so for him.Tyrone Power is a whole cloth hero here and does a fine job. One of the things that Americans don't appreciate is that the Mounties were there in large measure to protect the native Indians from white depredation. Canadians have always loved contrasting that to how the U.S. Cavalry treated the native population. Our cavalry was there on the settler's behalf. The contrast is certainly a matter of historical record, but I wonder if Canada had seen the immigration westward that America did, would their Mounties have been more like our blue coats.

NewEnglandPat Tyrone Power is the title character in this good western whose mission is to effect the return of the Cree tribe from the United States back to Canada in the name of the Queen. Of course, the Indians just want to hunt and return to their old way of life and to lift a few scalps along the way. Power is aided by a trail-savvy, talkative half-breed scout who provides droll comic relief along the way. The film has more dialogue than action, although white hostages held by the Indians lead to some tense moments for the Mountie. The officer's peace efforts are threatened by a band of hostile Indians, with most of the skirmishes coming at the end of the picture. The movie has a great cast of western character actors and the camera work is also very good.