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Devil's Doorway

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For the movie from 2018, see The Devil's Doorway.

Devil's Doorway
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnthony Mann
Screenplay byGuy Trosper
Produced byNicholas Nayfack
StarringRobert Taylor
Louis Calhern
Paula Raymond
CinematographyJohn Alton
Edited byConrad A. Nervig
Music byDaniele Amfitheatrof
Production
company
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed byMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • September 15, 1950 (1950-09-15)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,373,000[1]
Box office$2,096,000[1]

Devil's Doorway is a 1950 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern and Paula Raymond. Taylor portrays a Native American who returns home from the American Civil War a hero, having been awarded the Medal of Honor. However, his hopes for a peaceful life are shattered by bigotry and greed.

The film was released to American theaters on September 15, 1950. It received positive reviews and was a commercial success.[1]

Plot

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Lance Poole, a Shoshone veteran of the Civil War and Medal of Honor recipient, returns to his home in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to something a far cry from a hero's welcome. The mostly-white townspeople resent the fact that Poole and his father own a large and valuable piece of land. A doctor refuses to treat Poole's father, who dies, while Poole himself is unable to even buy a drink in the local saloon. Bigoted attorney Verne Coolan uses a loophole in a law regarding homesteaders to strip Poole of his property. Poole turns to a woman lawyer, Orrie Masters, for help, telling her, "It's hard to explain how an Indian feels about the land. ... My father said the Earth is our mother." However, she fails to acquire the necessary petition signatures they need to overturn the law.

Coolan organizes sheepherders and attempts to drive out Poole by force. Shoshone tribesmen fight by Poole's side, using his cabin for a fort. Masters 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. Poole is at least able to kill Coolan, but not before being seriously wounded himself at the Shoshone barricade.

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, Poole puts on his Civil War sergeant major's 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. Poole then dies from his wounds.

Cast

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Reception

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According to MGM records the film earned $1,349,000 in the US and Canada and $747,000 overseas, resulting in a profit of $25,000.[1]

Critical response

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Bosley Crowther 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."[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  2. ^ Crowther, Bosley. The New York Times, film review, November 10, 1950.
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