Search - Unconquered (Universal Cinema Classics) on DVD

One of my Favorite De Mille Movies is still Unconquered

gobirds2 | New England | 06/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was a mammoth production from director Cecil B. De Mille set in colonial America. The colonists confront Indians with a lot of gimmickry and daring-do. It is all based on the novel "The Judas Tree" by Neil H. Swanson and scripted by Charles Bennett, Fredric M. Frank and Jesse Lasky Jr. Gary Cooper as Capt. Christopher Holden once again gives a solid performance as the stoic yet homespun hero. Boris Karloff is over-the-top as the Indian Guyasuta. The amiable Paulette Goddard is good as Abigail Martha "Abby" Hale. Great action fight scenes punctuate this film. The moody woodland color images are the product of Technicolor pioneer Cinematographer Ray Rennahan. Composer Victor Young composed a rousing yet lyrical score. This film is pure entertainment and good old-fashioned moviemaking. It also starred Howard da Silva, Ward Bond, Cecil Kellaway, Henry Wilcoxon, Alan Napier, Marc Lawrence, Lloyd Bridges, Lex Barker, and Jeff Corey. The first-rate special effects were nominated for an Oscar."

Colonial America: Colonist vs. Indians

Seen Them All | SoCal Desert | 02/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of Gary Cooper's better movies. Also stars Ward Bond, Paulette Goddard, and Boris Karloff. Cooper meets an indentured servant (Goddard) on the boat returning to America from England. Also on the boat is a gunrunner (Howard da Silva) who is selling guns to the Indians. Goddard is owned by da Silva and Cooper buys her freedom. De Silva reneges on the sale and takes Goddard westward with him as he delivers the guns to the Indians. Cooper finds out about Goddard and the guns and goes off to find the guns and Goddard. On the way he deals with hostile Indians, da Silvas henchmen and survival on the frontier. He eventually saves the day, gets the girl and the bad guys and defeats the Indians. One of Coopers best with lots of action and romance. Based somewhat on actual events in and around Fort Venango, Fort Ligonier, and Fort Pitt and the Battle of Bushy Run in Penna. Good story and well acted. Don't miss!!"

PAULETTE AND GARY

scotsladdie | 11/19/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Abby Hale (Paulette Goddard), a pretty English convict girl, is ordered deported as a potential slave to the American Colonies. Captain Holden (Gary Cooper) saves her from being auctioned off into slavery, and when she's captured by Indians and subjected to a slow and tortuous death, Holden appears in a flash of gunpowder smoke convincing the Indians that he's a god, so they relinquish Abby to him................THE UNCONQUERED was DeMille's 5 million dollar Technicolored celebration of Cooper's virility and Goddard's femininity and the American Frontier Spirit. Spectacularly stirring and full of fine action scenes, DeMille again screen-vitalised a chapter out of American history. One may say that he supplied both a boistrous and sensational delineation of the frontiersman's era with the full complement of DeMille devices, even to the famed bath sequence, a dip into the serial thrillers when the hero and heroine shoot the rapids to the the edge of a waterfall, and the staging of the battle of Fort Pitt that far outdoes any conflict that was ever dreamt up for a World's Fair carnival!"

"Colonial Warfare In America"

Highlander | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States | 10/25/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent film!This takes place at Fort Pitt(when Pittsburgh was a frontier town)in 1763 during Pontiac's War(a by-product of The French & Indian War).With a budget of 5 million dollars,DeMille puts a very good story together that is based on Neil Swanson's book "The Judas Tree".It is also the first time that I've seen the subject of indentured servitude addressed on film.The viewer also gets to see an appearance of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment(BlackWatch)and how they saved Fort Pitt.I would have liked to have seen more action,but the fighting scenes are adequate enough."