'UNCONQUERED' (1947)
- A review by Richard Harrison (2011)
Cecil B. DeMille never did things by halves. Unconquered is an
old-fashioned epic,
but, as I am wont to say, none the worse for that. Shimmering in
gorgeous technicolor,
the film re-unites DeMille with two of his favourite cast members- the
ever reliable Gary Cooper and the
ever lovely Paulette Goddard. Intriguingly, it is a period piece- set
in the 18th Century- showing that
the director (who also produced the film) was equally at home in
seemingly any era.
One particular point about the film is its "remastered" status.
Occasionally this becomes a meaningless tag,
applied to DVDs as a selling-point, but, pleasingly, Unconquered
can truly be considered "remastered"- both
sound and picture are excellent. Given the subject matter and overall
scale of the production, the mise-en-scene and
overall "look" of the film are vital. With a poor quality print this
impressiveness would be lost, hidden 'neath digital artifacts and
compression. This Odeon Entertainment edition is the antithesis of
this, and, consequently,
the locations sparkle like the actors- this is truly one of DeMille's
great films, although its considerable length (over 140 minutes) may
surprise some.
With a film of such scale and scope, some sort of clarity becomes
necessary- this is
provided via an expository voiceover at the start of the film, which
becomes an unashamed
flag-waver, a recognisibly modern piece of patriotism that is easily
glimpsed through the historical facade. After that, the film is allowed
to speak for itself- the events unfolding easily in a film that, for
all
its epic qualities, tells a very human story- that of endurance and
determination. At times, the film becomes
an intriguing mongrel- there are parallels to Treasure Island
and even a Fordian western like Drums
Along The Mohawk. But, above all else, the film is a historical
film- one that chronicles a specific time in
American history.
The actual plot of Unconquered is not one to reveal here
(indeed, such an action would be
counter-productive!) but
suffice to say, as with any DeMille film, scale is never
allowed to denegrate intricate human relationships- these take place
against the vast backdrop rather than being
dominated by it. Another important aspect of DeMille as director,
producer and ultimately creator, is his use of stars.
Here, two fine stars are supplemented by a clutch of character actors
and over 4000 extras. For us now the amazing scope and scale of
DeMille's films is barely credible. For him it was merely 'business as
usual'.
Unconquered is available from April 18th from Odeon
Entertainment.
Odeon Entertainment website
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