Review of Only the Valiant

Greg Peck is perfectly suited to the role of straight arrow Cavalry Officer. The Indians are on the warpath and Peck captures their leader. Rather than kill him outright he brings him back to stand trial, only the fort is under manned and won't be able to hold him when the Indians come to try and free him. Peck plans to try and take the Chief on to another fort, thus removing the danger, but the colonel is sick and needs him to hold the fort, so poor old Gig Young draws the short straw. Gig had been trying to make a move on Greg's girl and everyone thinks Greg has arranged for Gig to be sent on this suicide mission out of spite. (As if!) Gig duly gets massacred and Greg's name is mud, particularly with the girlfriend. The Indians are massing for an attack and the Cavalry don't have the numbers to hold them at the main fort, however Greg has a cunning plan... There is another small stone fort at the mouth of a narrow pass which the Indians must use, so Greg will lead a small band of men to try and hold the pass until the reinforcements arrive. Greg proceeds to select all the men in the fort who hate his guts for various reasons, as his detail for this suicide mission. Neville Brand is the bully sergeant who has been passed over for promotion (by Greg). Ward Bond is the drunken Irish corporal who Greg tries to keep from his grog. Then there is a guy who reminded me of Sterling Hayden who flunked out of West Point and blames Greg, another guy who looks a bit like John Payne who is a confederate and a deserter, a cowardly bugle boy, a bronchial lieutenant and, most bizarre of all, a giant Armenian "Arab" strongman who survived Gigs fatal mission. After they arrive at the stone fort much character development and plot twisting ensues, in between action clashes with the faceless Indian horde. I think there may be one brief mention as to why the Indians are on the warpath, but essentially they are in this movie purely as a plot device for immanent danger. Despite some outdoor distance shots most of the film feels very stagey, the main sets at the stone fort and the narrow rocky pass are cramped and claustrophobic and there is something about the reverb sound quality... It's probably done on purpose but I don't think it quite achieves the effect intended. The ending is pure Hollywood, Greg had intended to over come the odds with explosives, but one of his treacherous colleagues sabotages that, so it's left to the Cavalry (well who else) to ride in and save him with a gattling gun, although not before Greg gets to face off mano-e-mano with the Indian Chief, then it's back to the fort, where Greg finds he has inherited command from the sick Colonel and his girlfriend has come to her senses. Roll credits