MissSimonetta Unconquered (1947) is a miracle of bad filmmaking. This is Cecil B. DeMille overindulging himself for two and a half hours, offering us a healthy heaping of camp, costumes, sexual titillation, and over the top action.Where does one even begin? The characters are all idiots who wander from scene to scene, somehow surviving an onslaught of ridiculous events ranging from plunging from a waterfall to surviving an attack courtesy of offensive Native American stereotypes. Poor Paulette Goddard finds herself spending 75 percent of the movie trussed up, leered at, threatened with phallic objects, and in her undergarments, usually several of those things at once. I'm surprised the Code was okay with such sadomasochistic elements in the picture, but maybe they just laughed it off because it was so silly.The cast is made up of a talented bunch, but their performances are largely uneven. Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, and Boris Karloff seem embarrassed to be there and alternate between being wooden and cartoon-y. Only Howard Da Silva as the lecherous villain comes off with his dignity intact, knowing that when you're in schlock, you have to go gloriously all out with the camp.The whole look of the film is studio-bound and garish, so it's not visually appealing either. If you are a connoisseur of kitsch or have a group of like-minded friends, then this turkey is a fun one.

Neil Doyle UNCONQUERED is eye candy with its glorious Technicolor scenery and elaborate sets (a mixture of real location photography and painted backgrounds) and, as is typical of any Cecil B. DeMille epic, it's got a splendid cast and a lengthy running time to tell its frontier story of early America--the colonists vs. the Indians.PAULETTE GODDARD is sold into indentured slavery and two men fight over her--GARY COOPER and HOWARD DA SILVA. That's the basic nub of the story, all events leading up to who will win the girl as Goddard and Cooper go through a series of wild adventures with Indians on their track as Cooper attempts to rescue her from Da Silva's attempt to keep her as his own property. There's even a thrilling escape from the Indians across the rapids and a wildly implausible stunt over the falls pulled by Cooper that is impressive despite being incredibly over-the-top.There are several well-staged battle scenes with various forts being attacked by the redskins and each segment has a "cast of thousands" look that makes it clear no expense was spared to bring all the excitement to the screen.Paulette's character undergoes a "Perils of Pauline" type of narrow escapes, each more implausible than the one before, but who cares when it's all served up by DeMille with sufficient amount of tension and daring.Both stars are in fine form and deliver good performances, ably supported by a fine supporting cast of players including HENRY WILCOXON, C. AUBREY SMITH, KATHERINE DeMILLE, WARD BOND and CECIL KELLAWAY.One of DeMille's better epics, well worth viewing for fun and adventure with lavish attention to detailed costumes and settings.

Steffi_P Cecil B. DeMille undoubtedly believed in Manifest Destiny, and not just of the old-fashioned, land-grabbing, Injun-fighting variety depicted here. He also believed in a modern equivalent of his own, whereby he took his share, made his mark and crowned himself a king of the movie industry he had helped to create. This legendary arrogance carried itself over into every aspect of the pictures he produced and directed. belief Part of this arrogance involved an conviction in his own abilities to carry a movie. He would hire writers who were able to assemble a story with a decent balance of action and romance, rather than those capable of depth or elegance. Likewise he tended to cast people according to their physicality rather than their talent. Not that he always took on bad actors, but he gave them little coaching or try to fit person to persona. Paulette Godard for example falls well below her usual standard here. She looks right because she is both attractive and upstanding, but the character is far too bland for her usual feistiness. It didn't always work out badly though. DeMille's male leads could often be dull lumps grunting their way through the adventure, but Gary Cooper was really made for these more modest roles. He underplays it beautifully, and puts plenty of character into the tiniest of gestures. Then there were professional, naturalist types like Victor Varconi, who was always able to portray a credible human being no matter how leaden the script.And if DeMille's flair couldn't quite carry a movie, it could at least prod it along a little. Remembered largely as a showman, he was more than that a wonderful visual director, with an excellent command of crowd scenes. Take the second scene on board the ship. We dolly in through the bustle of sailors going about their business, but in the middle of the frame, mostly obscured at first, Porter Hall sits tapping his cane on a case. This draws our attention to him as a character rather than an extra, even though he begins the shot as no more than a face in the crowd. This is typical DeMille – the creation of a realistic looking environment, but with the ability to bend it towards the needs of story and scene. Later in the same scene we get some great examples of extras cutting through the line of action as Godard and Cooper talk, punctuating the scene and giving it a kind of awkward feel. Again, this is both realistic and effective.Contemporary reviewer Bosley Crowther described Unconquered as being "as viciously anti-redskin as The Birth of a Nation was anti-Negro long years back". He's not far wrong, although Unconquered is more tacitly patronising than Birth's explicit hostility. Still, you can get an impression of the tone from the fact that British horror legend Boris Karloff was cast as the Indian chief. It's not just that Karloff looks vaguely Amerindian if you squint and add a large dollop of imagination, it's the fact that in DeMille's eyes the natives are creepy boogiemen, and he casts Karloff as their leader for the same reason as someone might cast him to play a monster or a mad doctor. The fact that even critics of the day could castigate DeMille for his racism shows just how out of touch he was becoming.Then again, there is another strand to Unconquered that we cannot see in previous DeMille efforts – one that is almost certainly due to the impact of the recent war. The picture is incredibly frank and merciless about death and bloodshed. Cooper's buddies are picked off instantly without even a "say goodbye to my wife". One of DeMille's most elaborate and evocative shot compositions is of a mass of brutally slain soldiers. And when Cooper discovers the Salters, it is surely the most poignant moment in any DeMille picture. Perhaps the pompous old conqueror had a heart after all.

theowinthrop Cecil B. DeMille had been doing a series of films about American History from 1937 (THE PLAINSMAN) to 1940 (THE NORTHWEST MOUNTED POLICE - although actually it was a film regarding Canadian history instead). His two film in World War II were THE STORY OF DR. WASSELL, which is a war picture set in the far east - but dealing with an American war hero, and REAP THE WILD WIND (set in the Caribbean, but dealing with pirates attacking our merchant marine in the 1840s). UNCONQUERED dealt with a period that he had not covered - the pre American Revolutionary period. It would turn out to be his last historic film about America (unless one looks at THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH as a view of part of our theatrical and cultural history in 1950). His choice was curious - he might have done a film on the fall of Quebec and deaths of Generals Wolfe and Montcalm, or a film on the American Revolution. Instead he chose events in 1763, just as the split between England and the colonies began to develop. But the events deal with the situation that led to what is called the "Conspiracy of Pontiac", where an intelligent Indian chief united many of the tribes in the Ohio Valley to revolt against American settlers and British troops, to preserve it for the Indians. The result was that many settlers and Indians were killed before the fighting ended, and Pontiac was killed. That is the story, but most is jettisoned for a fictional account of events in the Ohio Valley. The villain is Howard De Silva, intent on keeping out the colonists by arming the Indians, so that he could have a monopoly of the fur trade. He is also responsible for illegally bringing Paulette Goddard into the colony of Virginia as an indentured servant. Gary Cooper is the man opposing De Silva in his plans regarding the Indians and his plans regarding Goddard. The film is not DeMille's best, but it's Technicolor, De Silva's performance, the appearance of Boris Karloff as a villainous Indian (he would play an Indian again a few years later in TAP ROOTS), and the two leads make it entertaining enough. But my interest in it deals with two supporting roles. Porter Hall is Mr. Leech, who is bribed (although he is aware it is a hanging offense) to send the pardoned Goddard to the colonies as an indentured servant. He's not in much of the film, but it is a nice performance. But better is Mike Mazurki. The ex-wrestler was not an actor but occasionally turned in first rate performances such as his love-struck thug in MURDER MY SWEET, and Joan Blondell's boy-friend (and moral superior to Tyrone Power) in NIGHTMARE ALLEY. Here he is a minor villain - a thug for De Silva. For most of the film he is doing De Silva's dirty work without a thought. But at the film's conclusion he is faced with a moment of truth. De Silva, Cooper, Goddard, and Mazurki are trapped in a cabin, but have weapons to protect themselves. Cooper knows that troops will be arriving soon to rescue them. But De Silva is deluded into thinking he (and Mazurki) are safe because they have been arming the Indians - he's ignoring that as a white, Englishman/colonial he's as hated as the others. He tells Mazurki to open the door and signal the Indians to let them go. Mazurki, showing a commendable intelligence, refuses. De Silva orders him again, and then he decides to do it himself. He opens the door and an arrow hits him in the center of the chest. Mazurki gets up and closes the door from the back. He then tells Cooper they'll all wait until the troops arrive. The film soon ends, but to me that moment was one to treasure. Rarely has a subordinate have such a satisfactory way of being proved correct over his boss.