I liked this film which was shown a few days ago on one of the many TV Film Channels.
Well, it starred Victor Mature who, as readers of this Blog will have come to realise is a favourite of mine – as he was of my father – and he gives another good performance
Victor Mature’s diverse career included starring in a number of historical epics – Samson and Delilah (1949), The Robe (1953), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954), and The Egyptian (1954).
These big-budget films were interspersed with lighter fare such as Wabash Avenue (1950) with Betty Grable and Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) with Esther Williams.
He also starred in numerous Westerns, including Fury at Furnace Creek (1948), Chief Crazy Horse (1955), and this one – The Last Frontier (1955).
This is an enjoyable Western. The scenery Is fantastic. The soundtrack Is in stereo- which is quite something for a Western In 1955
Most of the scenes are Inside a military fort or shot on location.
Victor Mature plays a trapper turned military scout trying to prevent a glory-mad Colonel from attacking the Indians as It would mean a massacre of the whole fort.
Robert Preston plays the colonel who Is constantly at loggerheads with Victor Mature.
The final battle with the Indians is very well staged and goes on for quite a while – the action taking place in a forest – beautifully filmed
The film fared pretty well at the Box Office – as most Victor Mature films did
Although only five British Front of House stills for THE LAST FRONTIER are shown here, I’m lucky to have a complete set of eight of them in my collection. At that time, nearly 70 years ago, Columbia Front of House stills for colour films were rather badly colour tinted by hand, making some choices of colour look ridiculous. For instance, what idiot in the publicity department decided to paint Victor Mature’s buckskin jacket blue? It was obviously someone who’d never seen the film.
Thanks David. You are indeed lucky to have a full set of Front of House Stills for this excellent film. One thing that I think we forget now is the attraction for us Cinemagoers who were very young at the time, of the huge screen, the Colour and the beautiful locations which we had never seen. Television couldn’t compete with this – still can’t. These sprawling Westerns and Epics were and are just so impressive. Thanks