Search - The Indian Fighter on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1955 DVD Release: 05/20/2003 Format: DVD - Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 28 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Western, Indian Western

The Indian Fighter is trail guide Kirk Douglas, who agrees to shepherd a wagon train through Sioux territory. Douglas tries to convince the Sioux to leave his charges alone, but such hotheads as drunken white trader Walter Matthau and embittered Indian brave Harry Landers escalate the tensions. Douglas is forced to go "mano y mano" with Landers; Douglas wins, but refuses to kill Landers, having lost his taste for killing. But when Matthau and his partner Lon Chaney Jr. contrive to rob the Indians of their gold, Sioux chief Eduard Franz prepares to wipe out the settlers. Only when Douglas risks life and limb to bring Matthau and Chaney Jr. to justice does Franz relent. Somehow, Kirk Douglas manages to link up with two leading ladies in The Indian Fighter: his Italian "discovery" Elsa Martinelli and his own ex-wife Diana Douglas (wouldn't you liked to have been a fly on the wall at that casting call?) The first film assembled by Douglas' own Bryna Productions, The Indian Fighter is a particular treat when seen in color; incredibly, its first network telecast in 1962 was in black and white. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Kirk Douglas - Johnny Hawks
Elsa Martinelli - Onahti
Walter Abel - Capt. Trask
Walter Matthau - Wes Todd
Diana Douglas - Susan Rogers

André De Toth's The Indian Fighter (1956) comes to DVD as a double-sided disc, letterboxed (2.35-to-1) on one side and full-frame, pan-and-scan on the other. It's probably been at least 45 years since the widescreen film elements on this movie were utilized for any reason, and the source print looks excellent, with a bright, sharp image, in day or night shots. De Toth makes use of expansive location exteriors (shot in Oregon) throughout that can only really be appreciated on the widescreen side of this disc -- one dance sequence in particular, at 31 minutes in, is extraordinary in its combination of camera movement and CinemaScope lensing. The sound is mastered at a very healthy volume level that brings out not only all of the dialogue and the sound effects but Franz Waxman's score. The full-frame version of the movie is bright enough but misses the care that De Toth took in his framing of the shots -- seen full-screen, everything is in medium shot or close-up of some kind or other, and it is overall but a shadow of the movie's original image, and the full-screen transfer also doesn't look remotely as good as the letterboxed image, in terms of clarity or color. Both the full-frame and letterboxed sides contain the same 16 chapters which, in an 88 minute movie, is a generous breakdown of the plot. Those chapters are easy enough to access through a three-layer menu, with English captions and French and Spanish subtitles also available. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide