Devil's Doorway
Encyclopedia
Devil's Doorway is a 1950 western film directed by Anthony Mann
and starring Robert Taylor
as an Indian who returns home from the American Civil War
a hero awarded the Medal of Honor
. However, his hopes for a peaceful life are shattered by bigotry and greed.
may be over back East, but prejudice still rules the West. A full-blooded Shoshone Indian named Lance Poole distinguished himself in the war, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor, only to return home to Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to something a far cry from a hero's welcome.
Townspeople resent the fact that Lance and his father own a large and valuable piece of land. A doctor refuses to treat Lance's father, who dies, while Lance himself is unable to even buy a drink in the local saloon.
A loophole in a law involving homesteaders is used by biased attorney Verne Coolan to strip Lance of his property. Lance turns to a female lawyer, Orrie Masters, who fails to acquire the necessary petition signatures they need to overturn the law.
Coolan organizes sheepherders and attempts to drive out Lance by force. Shoshone tribesmen fight by Lance's side, using his cabin for a fort. Orrie calls in the U.S. Cavalry to create a truce, only to have them side with Coolan and the town.
It's a lost cause. Lance is at least able to kill Coolan, but not before being already seriously wounded himself at the Shoshone barricade.
Lance Poole then turns the responsibility for the surviving women and children over to the only surviving male child, who leads them away from the barricade and presumably in the direction of the reservation.
Afterward, Lance puts on his civil war sergeants major uniform, and walks out to the cavalry commander and his former lawyer. The commander salutes Poole first, as that is the custom when greeting a medal of honor recipient. Lance then drops dead from an apparent loss of blood.
called the movie a "whopping action film". He notes "Devil's Doorway, like the Twentieth Century-Fox picture of a few months back, Broken Arrow
, is a Western with a point of view that rattles some skeletons in our family closet. Robert Taylor may strike you as a rather peculiar choice to play a full-blooded Indian, but give the man credit for a forceful performance. Indeed, his is the only role that is not a stereotype. However, the other players give good performances even though they represent characters that are as much a part of the Western film formula as horses and sagebrush."
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...
and starring Robert Taylor
Robert Taylor (actor)
Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
as an Indian who returns home from the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
a hero awarded the Medal of Honor
Medal of Honor
The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...
. However, his hopes for a peaceful life are shattered by bigotry and greed.
Plot
The Civil WarCivil war
A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
may be over back East, but prejudice still rules the West. A full-blooded Shoshone Indian named Lance Poole distinguished himself in the war, winning the Congressional Medal of Honor, only to return home to Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to something a far cry from a hero's welcome.
Townspeople resent the fact that Lance and his father own a large and valuable piece of land. A doctor refuses to treat Lance's father, who dies, while Lance himself is unable to even buy a drink in the local saloon.
A loophole in a law involving homesteaders is used by biased attorney Verne Coolan to strip Lance of his property. Lance turns to a female lawyer, Orrie Masters, who fails to acquire the necessary petition signatures they need to overturn the law.
Coolan organizes sheepherders and attempts to drive out Lance by force. Shoshone tribesmen fight by Lance's side, using his cabin for a fort. Orrie calls in the U.S. Cavalry to create a truce, only to have them side with Coolan and the town.
It's a lost cause. Lance is at least able to kill Coolan, but not before being already seriously wounded himself at the Shoshone barricade.
Lance Poole then turns the responsibility for the surviving women and children over to the only surviving male child, who leads them away from the barricade and presumably in the direction of the reservation.
Afterward, Lance puts on his civil war sergeants major uniform, and walks out to the cavalry commander and his former lawyer. The commander salutes Poole first, as that is the custom when greeting a medal of honor recipient. Lance then drops dead from an apparent loss of blood.
Cast
- Robert TaylorRobert Taylor (actor)Robert Taylor was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor...
as Lance Poole - Louis CalhernLouis CalhernLouis Calhern was an American stage and screen actor.- Early life :Louis Calhern was born Carl Henry Vogt on February 19, 1895 in Brooklyn, New York. His family left New York City while he was still a child and moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he grew up...
as Verne Coolan - Paula RaymondPaula RaymondPaula Raymond was an American model and actress.In 1950, she was put under contract by MGM, where she played opposite such leading men as Cary Grant and Dick Powell...
as Orrie Masters - Marshall ThompsonMarshall ThompsonMarshall Thompson was an American film and television actor.He was born James Marshall Thompson in Peoria, Illinois. In 1943 Thompson, known for his boy-next-door good looks, was signed by Universal Pictures...
as Rod MacDougall - James MitchellJames Mitchell (actor)James Mitchell was an American actor and dancer. Although he is best known to television audiences as Palmer Cortlandt on the soap opera All My Children , theatre and dance historians remember him as one of Agnes de Mille's leading dancers...
as Red Rock - Edgar BuchananEdgar BuchananEdgar Buchanan was an American actor with a long career in both film and television, most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the Petticoat Junction, Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies television sitcoms of the 1960s...
as Zeke Carmody - Rhys WilliamsRhys Williams (actor)Rhys Williams was a Welsh character actor in movies and television, whose career spanned several decades.He made his film debut in How Green Was My Valley . This movie takes place in rural Wales with a large cast of Welsh characters, but was actually filmed in Hollywood with Canadian, American,...
as Scotty MacDougall - Spring ByingtonSpring ByingtonSpring Byington was an American actress. Her career included a seven-year run on radio and television as the star of December Bride. She was a key MGM contract player appearing in films from the 1930s through the 1960s.-Early life:Byington was born Spring Dell Byington in Colorado Springs,...
as Mrs. Masters - James MillicanJames MillicanJames Millican was an American actor with over 200 film appearances mostly in western movies.-External links:*...
as Ike Stapleton - Bruce CowlingBruce CowlingBruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
as Lieutenant Grimes - Fritz LeiberFritz Leiber, Sr.Fritz Reuter Leiber Sr. , was an was a American actor . Highly respected as a Shakespearean actor on stage, he also had a successful career in film...
as Mr. Poole
Critical reaction
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
called the movie a "whopping action film". He notes "Devil's Doorway, like the Twentieth Century-Fox picture of a few months back, Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow (1950 film)
Broken Arrow is a western Technicolor film released in 1950. It was directed by Delmer Daves and starred James Stewart and Jeff Chandler. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, and won a Golden Globe award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding. It made history as the first...
, is a Western with a point of view that rattles some skeletons in our family closet. Robert Taylor may strike you as a rather peculiar choice to play a full-blooded Indian, but give the man credit for a forceful performance. Indeed, his is the only role that is not a stereotype. However, the other players give good performances even though they represent characters that are as much a part of the Western film formula as horses and sagebrush."