AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Brenda
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
LeonLouisRicci
Disappointing and Rather Flat Historical Costume Adventure that has John Wayne (the year He became a real Movie Star, after Stagecoach) as a Salt of the Earth Pennsylvanian and His band of "Merry Men" having to put up with Marauding Indians and those Uppity Brits.Claire Trevor is Top Billed and has many a Scenes where She Tries to be "One of the Boys" and Tags Along with Long Rifle in hand. She is Thwarted at every turn by the Macho Men. One of the many "Comedy" Scenes has Her almost Succeeding until She is told to take off Her Shirt (she is in disguise as a painted up Indian). Ha Ha.This is a Movie where a lot of Guns are Fired but very few Hit their Target. Some of the time On Purpose. It has a Short Running Time and things move along briskly but not without some Clunk and Awkwardness. Trevor is Borderline Over the Top and Her Father's Happy Drunk anticipates John Ford's Fascination with the Type.Overall, George Sanders Steals the Show as a British Officer and His Contempt and Surprise at just how Defiant these Ruffians are is again, Comical, at times and it isn't meant to be. Wayne says at one point, and this is the whole purpose of This Thing, something like, "I guess you Brits will never understand our ways."Overall, Worth a Watch for Wayne's Breakout Year, but the Film Feels all Wrong. Average or a Tad Below for its Kind, Time, and Place.
SanteeFats
Claire Trevor actually gets top billing in this one. She is the very fiery daughter of the local inn keeper. She is in love with Wayne who just fobs her off. He doesn't want to be reined in by any female. This is prior to the Revolution and the English are their typical a**holes. There is the crooked rum running arms trader to the Indians. He gets the frontiersmen in trouble with the Redcoats. The locals not only stand up to the Brits but take up arms, capture the fort and things get interesting from there. The nasty bad Indians attack some farms and capture a young girl. This gets the locals up in arms again. They mark up like the Indians and go after them. Claire Trevor wants to go as she can shoot as well as any of them. Wayne doesn't want her to go so says everyone must go shirtless so she has to stay. Every thing ends well for the good guys and the traders get their comeuppance.
dbdumonteil
I have not seen the colorized version but it does not matter for the characters themselves are very colorful;particularly George Sanders as the "aristocratic" straight-faced phoney military man who treats the +Yankees as if they were ripe for exploitation;particularly Claire +Trevor who teamed up with Wayne in "stagecoach" and later would in ,notably ,"the high and the mighty" ,as the tomboy who wants to fight with the men who were still very macho in those troubled times. The story is routine ,and although it takes place in North America ,has a Robin Hood side ,but the actors make it a winner . The first scene when the men are asked to take off their hat is almost comedy.
MartinHafer
The idea of placing John Wayne in the Colonies during the final years of the French-Indian War (called the "Seven Years' War" in Europe) was an inspired idea. Few films have focused on this era and it was nice to see something different. The problem was that although it was a change of locale, the film itself seemed all too much like a typical cowboy and Indian film. So much of the dialog was actually identical to stuff you'd see in films set a hundred years later--only the tribes' names were changed. As a result, the film just tended to blend into the huge pile of John Wayne westerns--and not with the great ones like the Cavalry Trilogy or THE SEARCHERS but instead the mediocre ones made in the 30s and early 40s. Claire Trevor as Wayne's main squeeze was in some ways very good (it was nice to see a less passive style of woman) but in other ways she was a 1930s gal transported to 1758! Women in that era simply did NOT run around in men's clothes, out-shoot men and insist on being treated like "one of the guys". Since I am a history teacher, I found the film frustrating and completely anachronistic. For a much better film made around the same time about Colonial America, try watching the usually overlooked HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA--a Cary Grant film better in just about every way.
