Tue 27 Jul 2010
Movie Review: THE FIGHTING GUARDSMAN (1946).
Posted by Steve under Action Adventure movies , Reviews[3] Comments
THE FIGHTING GUARDSMAN. Columbia Pictures, 1946. Willard Parker, Anita Louise, Janis Carter, John Loder, Edgar Buchanan, George Macready, Lloyd Corrigan. Based on the novel The Companions of Jehu by Alexandre Dumas père. Director: Henry Levin.
In all truthfulness, I don’t think there’s much in the novel in this movie, and what’s there is all jumbled around, with no Napoleon Bonaparte in sight, and what’s worse, if you’re a Dumas fan they’ve made a comedy out of it, sort of. (Since I’ve not read the book, but only read about it, there may be some comedic aspects to it, in which case, I will take back that last phrase of that first sentence. Eat my words, I will.)
But picture a young Edgar Buchanan in various late 18th century peasant garb, or posing as a guard of the royal court (Louis XVI in the movie, and Louis XIII in the book, if I have it right), and prone to funny sidekick behavior, you will see what I mean.
Also picture Louis XVI as played by pudgy Lloyd Corrigan (Wally Dipple four times on the old Ozzie & Harriet TV show), as he futilely tries to make some inroads, romance-wise, with Janis Carter, whom he has invited for a long stay at his country hideaway – a brassy showgirl type if ever there was one – which is not bad casting, since she’s playing the daughter of the local tavern-keeper, and as such is able to slip Roald (Willard Parker) and his Companions of Jehu some inside dope on what the king and his men are up to.
(The photo of Mr. Corrigan comes from a scene in The Manchurian Candidate, an altogether different kind of movie, to be sure, but it’s the best I’ve been able to come up with, so far.)
This is one of those “The Peasants Are Revolting!” movies, which was serious business at the time, but in this movie it has been turned into just another cowboy western, or it would have been, if cowboy westerns had pudgy kings in them with fingers just itching to find their way into places where they were not allowed. (I’ve left a lot of the rest of the plot out, and with a running time of 84 minutes, this means a noticeable amount.)
Willard Parker, last mentioned on this blog for his title role in The Great Jesse James Raid [reviewed here ] is just as stalwart and upstanding as he was when he was playing Jesse James. At least he’s supposed to be a hero in The Fighting Guardsman, and I have to admit that he does it very well.
And if the movie had been filmed in color, as it should have been, he would have done it even better, I am sure.
July 27th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Like you I doubt there is a great deal of the novel in the film, but the basic story is more or less there, and there is a good deal of rough and ready humor of the THE THREE MUSKETEERS vein in the book off and on. Dumas may have written some dark books, but he was never above throwing in a bit of comedy into the mix — especially after the success of MUSKETEERS.
I always wondered if he was trying for a more contemporary MUSKETEERS with this one.
But between it having been thirty years since I read this and never seeing the film I can’t say how much of the plot may or may not survive.
Willard Parker and Edgar Buchanan in a swashbuckler though — I’d like to see that.
July 27th, 2010 at 6:16 am
The average Columbia B-swashbuckler of this period wasn’t much diferrent from their B-westerns: same supporting players, same stuntmen, and mostly the same plots–substitute the Palace for the Ranch and the evil Duke for the duplicitous banker and thee’s the story. Fun in their way, but rather despirited.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:39 am
[…] stars carry over from the movie which I previously reviewed here, Janis Carter and George Macready (in The Fighting Guardsman), and Jim Bannon was in the one I […]