This was a film for my Brother, one of his favourite Westerns, while i only like a handful of good westerns i have to say this one is actually a really good film starring Ray Milland and Hugh Marlow.
I bought this one for jut £60 just before xmas on 2 x 1600ft spools, i wasn't expecting too much due to the age but what a surprise, a quick clean up and check, there were only two splices in the whole film, both 1st class, it has an excellent pin sharpe b/w image and as always excellent sound with hardly a mark on it. Unfortunatly my screenshots are not good and appear to make the print look dupe but it is actually a very good contrast print, the digi camera never really shows my films as they really are up there.
This now means that we can sell on the 5 x 400ft STD 8 version we have had. This one is completely uncut.
The Plot,
A rivalry between U.S. cavalry captains results in Kern Shafter being demoted and disgraced for striking Edward Garnett with a sabre. Kern claimed to be defending the honour of his fiancée.
Kern drifts for a while and is attracted to Josephine Russell, a woman he meets before a stagecoach to Fargo. When they reach Bismarck in the Dakota Territory, Kern then heads to Fort Abraham Lincoln and enlists in the 7th Cavalry. He is assigned to a company headed by an old friend and former sergeant major, Capt. Myles Moylan, and assigned the rank of sergeant. He is pleased until he learns that Capt. Garnett is there at Fort Lincoln as well, who is the commander of a different company, but is referred to as "top dog" by Moylan.
Kern makes a friend named Donovan, a private. Donovan was formerly a sergeant until he punched a sergeant major. The two of them are assigned to investigate the murder of local miners by Sioux tribesmen, leading to a dangerous encounter. When these risky missions continue, Capt. Moylan begins to realize that Garnett is deliberately putting Kern at risk.
The feud escalates when Garnett makes romantic advances toward Josephine, who is angered by Kern striking him, unaware of their history or Garnett's true character.
The soldiers leave with General George Armstrong Custer to do battle with the Sioux. Garnett deliberately puts Kern, Donovan, and another soldier in danger by sending the three on a scouting mission, claiming there are no Sioux warriors in the vicinity. The three see their company fall back as they see the Sioux in their scouting area. After his friend Donovan is fatally wounded, Kern is able to get back to his command, only to witness Custer and his own command killed in battle. Garnett pursues Kern during a different skirmish with the Sioux, and the two scuffle with each other until Kern gets knocked out by Garnett. When Garnett is about to drop a large rock on Kern, a Sioux warrior fatally shoots Garnett. Capt. Moylan arrives and kills the warrior, and informs Kern he saw the end of the scuffle with Garnett. The two then regroup with their command to fight the Sioux, where Kern gets shot during the skirmish.
Kern and Moylan survive the battle and Kern's reputation and rank of captain are restored thanks to Moylan, and he is now seen by Josephine as the man she wants.

A little bit of useless info for you,
During the titles you will notice a couple of blanked out names, this was due to the headhunt of so called communists during this period of time in Hollywood.
Ray Milland Served in the Household Cavalry. An expert shot, he became a member of his company's rifle team, winning many prestigious competitions, including the Bisley Match in England and also was a guard at Buckingham Palace.

any classic western fans out there chaps?

I love westerns and this looks very good

I have a Standard 8 print, bought in the 70's. This is a good one. Vidar, Tom have a standard 8 print for sale.

How much, Tom? I am very interested

i think my Brother is looking for £30 plus shipment Vidar.

I buy if no one has already.

Ok vidar. I shall send u a pm later today when i finish work.

Vidar, before i PM you i need to put the info right, the STD 8 version we have to sell is NOT 5 x 400ft, it is 4 x 400ft. My apologies for getting this wrong.
Are you still interested?
I wanted to ask this publicly before sending a PM. I feel if i put this in a PM after saying its 5 reels it will seem like i'm trying to pull a fast one.

i've seen this a couple of times on TV and it was very good. If my memory is correct, was this originally made in colour?; I bought a feature recently, that was a B&W print of a colour film, and the contrast is perfect, better than some of the B&W prints I have, as some were printed lighter for the stations that couldn't broadcast colour flms. The contrast on this is very good.

Thanks Robert, i have only ever seen the film once on telly and i think(i may need to be corrected here) it was made in b/w but many colour still s were put out.
I love the way the custers last stand is incorporated within this story and is shown through the binoculors as per image.

Robert , you are right. It was originally in Technicolor. I have to watch my standard 8, b/w print some day. I guess it´s 40 years since the last screening.

I stand corrected, im surprised the 16mm copy is b/w though.

I remember Mountain did this in Standard 8, not sure about Super, and it was B&W. Last November I bought a copy from the US of 'Sword of Monte Cristo', this has great contrast, but was originally in colour. I have downloaded a colour copy from the internet to put on disc. I'm more than happy with my B&W print, and it matches my other titles 'Son of Monte Cristo', 'Return of Monte Cristo', and 'The Wife of Monte Cristo'.

That's probably quite a rare print as well Tom. In 2016 I bought two features from the same seller in the US. I did a bit of research, and the reviews on IMDB and other places were similar, that both of these films had only been seen on TV no more than twice, then disappeared from sight. On film was originally in scope and colour, but my copy is B&W and flat. As this film hadn't been seen more than about twice, maybe no 16mm prints exist in colour.