Tonight's Movie: The Horse Soldiers (1959) - A Kino Lorber Blu-ray Review

John Ford's THE HORSE SOLDIERS (1959) has just been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

It's a lovely widescreen edition which includes a commentary track by Ford scholar Joseph McBride as well as a cardboard slipcase.

John Wayne stars as Col. John Marlowe, a Union officer tasked by Ulysses S. Grant (played by singer-composer Stan Jones) with destroying Southern railroads during the Civil War. Marlowe's mission, set in 1863, was inspired by true events.

The dangerous job in Confederate territory is complicated when the colonel learns that Hannah Hunter (Constance Towers of SERGEANT RUTLEDGE), whose home has been commandeered by Marlowe, is spying on his troops. In order to prevent word of his plans getting out to the Rebels, he's forced to demand that Hannah and her maid Lukey (Althea Gibson) accompany the Union soldiers when they move on.

It's a tough mission, given regular skirmishes with pockets of Confederate resistance and the resulting attrition of his troops. Marlowe frequently spars with the unit's doctor, Maj. Henry Kendall (William Holden), due to his lack of trust in physicians as well as their differing temperaments.

THE HORSE SOLDIERS is one of a small handful of "late era" Ford films I'd not yet seen, along with TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961) and CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964). It goes without saying that any John Ford film is worth seeing, but in my view there's also no denying that THE HORSE SOLDIERS is lower-tier Ford.

The screenplay by John Lee Mahin and Martin Rackin, based on a novel by Harold Sinclair, is subpar, without enough of substance to fill the movie's too-long 120 minutes. The movie feels padded with too many shots of "horses riding around" -- a crutch rather unique to Westerns and period war films -- and repeated skirmishes that don't always do a great deal to advance the story and character development.

To be sure, the film has entertaining and even excellent moments, thanks to the director and cast, and we do eventually see some good character changes, particularly when it comes to the prickly relationship between the major and the doctor.

I liked Towers in the next year's SERGEANT RUTLEDGE, and as I wrote in that review, I was also fortunate to see her perform in person on two occasions. She's initially hampered here as her character lays on the Southern belle routine so thick that it makes her seem out-and-out phony. It's true she is play-acting for the Union soldiers, but we don't simultaneously get to see enough of the real Hannah behind those moments, just the fake persona.

Eventually the surface layers are peeled back and we see the thoughtful woman underneath, but it's a long time coming, and we also need more buildup of Hannah developing a relationship with the major. My basic criticism of the movie is it needed less action and more substantive character interaction.

Additionally, while perhaps it was simply taken for granted at the time of filming, a more explicit examination of the reasons behind the conflict at hand would have added substance as well, enriching not only the military aspect of the story but the Wayne-Towers relationship, which has some overtones of the Wayne-Maureen O'Hara story in Ford's RIO GRANDE (1950). The movie simply needed more depth.

The movie has a typically outstanding Ford cast, including Hoot Gibson (in his next-to-last film), Judson Pratt, Ken Curtis, Willis Bouchey, Hank Worden, O.Z. Whitehead, Denver Pyle, Strother Martin, Russell Simpson, Anna Lee, and Basil Ruysdael. Stan Jones, seen as Grant at the beginning of the film, composed "I Left My Love," heard on the soundtrack.

I particularly enjoyed spotting William Wellman Jr. as one of the buglers. I've met Mr. Wellman on a few occasions and was fortunate to have a conversation with him a couple of years ago in which he recounted Ford casting him after a brief, abrupt conversation in Ford's office. He shared a fun anecdote about filming the sequence where the soldiers cross a river on horseback, as his particular horse loved to swim and he had to fight to keep from passing the lead actors and ruining the shots!

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray from a new 4K master does a nice job showing the widescreen cinematography of William Clothier at its best. The movie was largely filmed on location in Louisiana and Mississippi.

McBride's commentary tracks are always informative -- "film school in a box," as the saying goes -- so I look forward to listening to it and learning more about the film.

In addition to the McBride commentary, Kino Lorber's Blu-ray includes the movie trailer and four additional trailers for films available from Kino Lorber.

Thanks to Kino Lorber for providing a review copy of this Blu-ray.

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