The Last Wagon (1956)

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General		Extras
Category	Western	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1956
Running Time	95:03 (Case: 89)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Delmer Daves
Studio Distributor	20th CENTURY FOX Beyond Home Entertainment	Starring	Richard Widmark Felicia Farr Susan Kohner Tommy Rettig Stephanie Griffin Ray Stricklyn Nick Adams Carl Benton Reid Douglas Kennedy George Mathews James Drury Ken Clark
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$14.95	Music	Lionel Newman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes, an occasional pipe
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Arizona Territory 1873. Comanche Todd (Richard Widmark) is a white man who had lived 20 years with the Comanche Indians. But now he is a condemned murderer, captured by Sheriff Bull Harper (George Mathews) and being taken in to be hanged. When they come across a wagon train of settlers heading west through Apache country led by Colonel Normand (Douglas Kennedy) they join together for mutual protection. Tensions arise when Jenny (Felicia Farr) and her younger brother Billy (Tommy Rettig) object to Harper’s brutal treatment of Todd. But the wagon train is attacked by Apaches and there are only a few survivors; Jenny, Billy, half sisters Jolie (Susan Kohner) and Valinda (Stephanie Griffin), young men Clint (Ray Stricklyn) and Ridge (Nick Adams). And Comanche Todd. Now the condemned murderer is the only chance the group of young people have to survive in hostile Indian country and make it back to white civilization and the soldiers.

     With Apaches on their trail, Todd takes the group through the aptly named Canyon of Death. As they journey through the rugged, hostile terrain, each member of the party has to come to terms with deep seated prejudices and to learn that a person’s actions speak louder than the colour of their skin. As the Apaches close in it becomes a race to get to the soldiers before they are overtaken and killed, but Todd knows, of course, that if he succeeds in saving them it will only be to put a rope around his neck.

     The Last Wagon will not be a film that leaves much of an impact although it is not without interest. Filmed on location in Arizona in Cinemascope it looks stunning; the bluffs, valleys, desert and forests are simply spectacular as the landscape dwarfs the humans. We feel exactly how small people are in this vast land. Director Delmer Davis also knows a bit about the western landscapes, his credits including Broken Arrow (1950) and the original 3:10 To Yuma (1957), and here he uses the environment as an extra character. The music score is by Lionel Newman. Although not as well known as his brother Alfred Newman (who won 9 Oscars), he delivers a very 1950s sounding lush score that adds to the epic feel of the film. The actors fare less well; while Richard Widmark gives an athletic and competent performance, none of the rest of the basically unknown cast convince, so that their self realisations are not as interesting as they might be. Indeed, the script probably does them no favours; for while the anti-prejudice message is indeed worthy, here it is heavy handed and unbalances an otherwise straightforward narrative.

     In the end, The Last Wagon is worth watching for the spectacular Arizona locations and Widmark’s performance.

Video

     The Last Wagon is presented in 2.35:1, its original ratio, and is16x9 enhanced. For a 54 year old film it looks wonderful, the print doing full justice to the stunning Arizona locations.

     The colours are deep and look very natural, with the reds, browns and greens looking great. Brightness occasionally varies slightly but skin tones are natural, blacks solid and shadow detail very good (although all the night scenes in the film were shot in the day, which helped). Sharpness and clarity are on the soft side but were far better than I expected.

     There were a few artefacts, but again far fewer than I expected, as well as film grain. However, none of this was distracting and this is a very good print indeed.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192. Dialogue was clear and understandable and the effects are acceptable if flat sounding, especially the explosion at the end which really lacked any depth. I did not notice any hiss or distortion. My system directed some music to the surrounds, the sub was not used.

     The orchestral score by Lionel Newman came across nicely.

     Lip synchronization was occasionally slightly off, evidence of the on location filming.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Absolutely nothing.

     The Region 1 US is a double sided disc with the 2.35:1 version on one side and a cropped, pan and scan version on the other. Extras are Poster, Stills and Behind the Scenes Galleries plus the Theatrical Trailer. The video and audio seem similar to our version with only PAL / NTSC differences. The extras don’t appear extensive enough to go beyond the local release, and why would you want to see such a wonderful Cinemascope landscape in cropped 1.33:1?

     In The Last Wagon condemned murderer Richard Widmark must guide the survivors of a wagon train massacre through Apache country, knowing that if he succeeds all he faces is a hanging. Of interest mainly for the spectacular Arizona locations and Widmark’s performance. The video is excellent for a 56 year old film, the audio is fine. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall