It's from Cecil B. De Mille so of course it's long - but for the most part, this frontiersman western flows OK, with a good cast delivering a well paced and written, action-packed historical adventure with plenty of good old cowboys and indians battles. Paulette Goddard is sentenced to deportation and indenture from the UK to her American colonies and finds herself the property of "Capt. Holden" (Gary Cooper) but the object of the desires of the sleazy "Garth" (Howard da Silva). Her emancipation (or not) is closely aligned with the survival of the British troops stationed in the Ohio wilderness against both the opposing French troops, and the sly, cunning Sececa indians - led by a rather oddly cast, but still decent Boris Karloff ("Guyasuta") - who just want shot of their interlopers so they can have their ancient hunting grounds back. It's got plenty going on, a bit of humour, some double-dealing and enough (but not too much) romance - actually Goddard proves to be feisty (not quite Maureen O'Hara, but you get my drift) and quite capable of looking after herself. Plenty of decent actors help the stars along - Ward Bond and Cecil Kellaway inject some character and there are also a few cameos from Sir C. Aubrey Smith and a young Lloyd Bridges to keep an eye out for too. Great photography and a decent - though not exactly memorable - score from Victor Young give it some scale and grandeur and all in all, make the entire thing well worth watching.
