Sterling Hayden (James Bowie), Anna Maria Alberghetti (Consuela), Richard Carlson (William Travis), Arthur Hunnicutt (Davy Crockett), Ernest Borgnine (Mike Radin), J. Carrol Naish (Santa Anna), Ben Cooper (Jeb Lacey), John Russell (Lieutenant Dickinson), Virginia Grey (Mrs Dickinson), Jim Davis (Evans), Eduard Franz (Lorenzo de Quesada), Otto Kruger (Stephen Austin), Russell Simpson (the parson), Roy Roberts (Dr Sutherland), Slim Pickens (Abe), Hugh Sanders (Sam Houston).
Director: FRANK LLOYD. Screenplay: Warren Duff. Story: Sy Bartlett. Photographed in Trucolor by Jack Marta. Film editor: Tony Martinelli. Music: Max Steiner. Art director: Frank Arrigo. Set decorators: John McCarthy Jr, George Milo. Costumes: Adele Palmer. Make-up: Bob Mark. Title credits song, "A Man Six Feet Tall" by Sidney Clare (lyrics) and Max Steiner (music), sung by Gordon MacRae (a Capitol Recording Artist). Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Trucolor processing and optical effects: Consolidated Film Industries. Technical adviser: Captain John S. Peters. Assistant director: Herb Mendelson. Sound recording: Dick Tyler Sr, Howard Wilson. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Frank Lloyd. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates. Location scenes filmed in Texas.
Copyright 1955 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 3 August 1955. U.K. release: September 1955. Australian release through 20th Century-Fox: 22 June 1956. 110 minutes. (Cut to 106 minutes in the U.K.).
NOTES: Other versions include Man of Conquest (1939), The Alamo (1960).
COMMENT: After an extremely dull and talkative start, enlivened only by a knife fight between hero Bowie and heavy-but-soon-to-be-friend Borgnine, "The Last Command" settles down to an extremely dull and talkative middle, relieved only by a spot of action between Bowie's irregulars and a small detachment of Mexican cavalry.
While we're waiting for the expected slap-up climax, we've got plenty of time to listen to patriotic speeches and much cornball philosophy about liberty and justice. Unfortunately, all this talk seems even less interesting in the mouths of surly and/or dull players. You can always tell a Republic production by the lack of quality in the support cast. In this one, that lack extends to the principals as well. Borgnine is the only player who manages a bit of charisma — and his role is small. We are left with bores like Richard Carlson, Arthur Hunnicutt, J. Carroll Naish and Eduard Franz. Plus Ben Cooper, one of the dullest juveniles of all time.
Plus Miss Alberghetti. It's embarrassing to watch a nice girl trying to make something of the most dreadful dialogue tosh she's handed here. Wait for the scene in which Ben Cooper starts to share some romantic footage with Miss A. and you'll see at least a quarter of the audience leave their seats and walk out. Yes, with players like these, the true critic just knows he's going to be in for a pretty tedious time before the film even starts.
Despite the comparatively large-scale budget with lots of uniformed soldiers and location lensing south of the border, Republic's largess didn't extend to decent color. Trucolor with its mismatched grading and unnatural skin colors that vary from deep sun-burnt to the whitest paleface, plus its awful propensity to flood the screen with red and orange, is the least attractive of all non-Technicolor systems.
One of the best features of the movie is Max Steiner's music score, though one feels the composer is operating at only half-steam here. Melodic but mild. And as for that atrocious under-the-credits song delivered by Gordon MacRae of all people...
As usual, director Lloyd is at his best with the action material. Elsewhere the script lets him down. Badly.
OTHER VIEWS: Republic originally wanted John Wayne to star, but Duke wanted to do his own version of the Alamo. All the same, "The Last Command" does have some comparative interest as a scaled-down spectacle. With astute trimming — at least 30 minutes could go — it might even make a halfway passable picture. — G.A.
Director: FRANK LLOYD. Screenplay: Warren Duff. Story: Sy Bartlett. Photographed in Trucolor by Jack Marta. Film editor: Tony Martinelli. Music: Max Steiner. Art director: Frank Arrigo. Set decorators: John McCarthy Jr, George Milo. Costumes: Adele Palmer. Make-up: Bob Mark. Title credits song, "A Man Six Feet Tall" by Sidney Clare (lyrics) and Max Steiner (music), sung by Gordon MacRae (a Capitol Recording Artist). Special effects: Howard Lydecker, Theodore Lydecker. Trucolor processing and optical effects: Consolidated Film Industries. Technical adviser: Captain John S. Peters. Assistant director: Herb Mendelson. Sound recording: Dick Tyler Sr, Howard Wilson. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Frank Lloyd. Executive producer: Herbert J. Yates. Location scenes filmed in Texas.
Copyright 1955 by Republic Pictures Corp. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: 3 August 1955. U.K. release: September 1955. Australian release through 20th Century-Fox: 22 June 1956. 110 minutes. (Cut to 106 minutes in the U.K.).
NOTES: Other versions include Man of Conquest (1939), The Alamo (1960).
COMMENT: After an extremely dull and talkative start, enlivened only by a knife fight between hero Bowie and heavy-but-soon-to-be-friend Borgnine, "The Last Command" settles down to an extremely dull and talkative middle, relieved only by a spot of action between Bowie's irregulars and a small detachment of Mexican cavalry.
While we're waiting for the expected slap-up climax, we've got plenty of time to listen to patriotic speeches and much cornball philosophy about liberty and justice. Unfortunately, all this talk seems even less interesting in the mouths of surly and/or dull players. You can always tell a Republic production by the lack of quality in the support cast. In this one, that lack extends to the principals as well. Borgnine is the only player who manages a bit of charisma — and his role is small. We are left with bores like Richard Carlson, Arthur Hunnicutt, J. Carroll Naish and Eduard Franz. Plus Ben Cooper, one of the dullest juveniles of all time.
Plus Miss Alberghetti. It's embarrassing to watch a nice girl trying to make something of the most dreadful dialogue tosh she's handed here. Wait for the scene in which Ben Cooper starts to share some romantic footage with Miss A. and you'll see at least a quarter of the audience leave their seats and walk out. Yes, with players like these, the true critic just knows he's going to be in for a pretty tedious time before the film even starts.
Despite the comparatively large-scale budget with lots of uniformed soldiers and location lensing south of the border, Republic's largess didn't extend to decent color. Trucolor with its mismatched grading and unnatural skin colors that vary from deep sun-burnt to the whitest paleface, plus its awful propensity to flood the screen with red and orange, is the least attractive of all non-Technicolor systems.
One of the best features of the movie is Max Steiner's music score, though one feels the composer is operating at only half-steam here. Melodic but mild. And as for that atrocious under-the-credits song delivered by Gordon MacRae of all people...
As usual, director Lloyd is at his best with the action material. Elsewhere the script lets him down. Badly.
OTHER VIEWS: Republic originally wanted John Wayne to star, but Duke wanted to do his own version of the Alamo. All the same, "The Last Command" does have some comparative interest as a scaled-down spectacle. With astute trimming — at least 30 minutes could go — it might even make a halfway passable picture. — G.A.