Tonight's Movie: Indian Agent (1948) at the Lone Pine Film Festival

Our Sunday viewing at the 30th Lone Pine Film Festival included Tim Holt starring in INDIAN AGENT (1948).

I always look forward to seeing Holt films at the Lone Pine Fest; past Holt viewing at the festival includes DYNAMITE PASS (1950) and THE ARIZONA RANGER (1948), both of which I found particularly enjoyable. INDIAN AGENT was another good one.

INDIAN AGENT was part of a trend toward a more sympathetic portrayal of Indians in Westerns, soon to be followed by Gene Autry's THE COWBOY AND THE INDIANS (1949), which I wrote about last year for Classic Movie Hub, and the James Stewart Western BROKEN ARROW (1950), as well as other films which presented a more understanding take on Indian issues.

Dave Taylor (Holt) and his pal Chito (Richard Martin) are traveling home to their ranch when they see Indians led by Red Fox (Noah Beery Jr.) pursuing a wagon driven by Ellen Wheeler (Nan Leslie) and her uncle. They head off the Indians and accompany the wagon to town, where Ellen plans to start a newspaper.

Upon later arriving home, Dave and Chito are perplexed to find an Indian baby in their house. It had been left there by Red Fox's wife (Claudia Drake), as the Indians don't have enough food. Red Fox is an old friend of Dave's, so she has faith that Dave and Chito will feed the baby. The only reason Red Fox had been chasing the wagon was out of desperation for food.

It turns out that Hutchins ('30s cowboy star Tom Keene), the area Indian agent, and freighter Chip Carter (Harry Woods) have been diverting food meant for the Indians to a gold mining camp where they can sell the food for high prices.

Dave and Chito work to bring the bad guys to justice, with Ellen aiding the cause by publishing stories in her paper.

This was a well-plotted Holt film with a good cast, which also included Iron Eyes Cody, Bud Osborne, and Robert Bray.

In an article in the 2015 edition of LONE PINE IN THE MOVIES, David Rothel, author of a highly informative 1994 book on Holt, quotes Nan Leslie as saying, in part: "Tim was a natural for the Westerns because he was a good horseman. Dick Martin was also a natural for the comic relief, and he was such a darling man...Dick's presence there loosened us up. I think it did for Tim too. Tim was also very good to work with."

She fondly recalled her time in Lone Pine, with the beautiful sunrise making it more bearable to get her makeup done before 6:00 a.m., and she enjoyed her Sundays off fishing outside Independence, further up Highway 395.

Leslie died in 2000, at the age of 74. Rothel's book, incidentally, was republished in paperback in 2014.

In INDIAN AGENT I especially enjoyed the chance to see the building known in Lone Pine as the "Tim Holt Cabin," which appears in the film as Dave and Chito's home. I shared photographs of the cabin in 2014. It's deteriorating but still standing.

INDIAN AGENT was written by Norman Houston and directed by Lesley Selander. It was filmed in black and white by J. Roy Hunt.

INDIAN AGENT is available on DVD in the Warner Archive's Tim Holt Western Classics Collection, Vol. 2.