ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO: Blu-ray (MGM, 1953) Warner Archive

Originally intended as a big and glossy 3D picture, the process to already have fallen out of favor with audiences and soured on studio interest by the time it went into production, director, John Sturges’ Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) instead hit movie screens in the inferior Ansco Color process, but with some heavy-hitting star power at the helm. Chief among the players, William Holden, whose career was experiencing something of a renaissance, thanks to Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Stalag 17, to immediately have preceded the release of this picture. No doubt about it. Holden, at 35, was in his prime – a bona fide hunk with a robust masculinity to prove it. And, as the fifties wore on, Holden’s reputation in Hollywood, as more than just a pretty pair of shaven pecs, only continued to ripen with solid work and plaudits lobbed at the actor’s feet. But in 1953, the true merits of John Sturges’ tenure in Hollywood had yet to be tested. And while Escape from Fort Bravo is not exactly a top-tier effort in his body of work, for Sturges, it proved a solid point of embarkation, from which the work itself would suddenly take off in leaps and bounds of artistic integrity.

Sturges had begun his career as a film editor in 1932 and, during WWII, made documentaries and training films for the U.S. Air Forces. His first opportunity to direct a feature, 1946’s The Man Who Dared, was unexceptional, as were a slew of others, made in rapid succession. However, and rather steadily, Sturges honed his craft, establishing his hallmarks in visualized storytelling. And two years following Escape from Fort Bravo, Sturges, undeniably, would strike his first ‘magnificent’ chord with Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), a heavy-hitting drama starring Spencer Tracy as a one-armed investigator into a racially motivated murder and cover-up. In Escape from Fort Bravo, we see the first inklings of Sturges’ life-long pursuit to tell character-driven stories where personal motivation, the theories and beliefs of life, takes precedence over the brute action to follow it. Escape from Fort Bravo tells the tale of an infamous Union prison camp, helmed by the autocratic, Captain Roper (William Holden). The prison is run efficiently enough. However, an inherent weakness in its seemingly impregnable façade surfaces with the arrival of Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) – a stunningly handsome woman who, reportedly, has come to aid in the wedding preparations of a dear friend. Actually, Carla is plotting a daring liberation of several prisoners, including her beloved Confederate Captain, John Marsh (John Forsythe). Roper and Carla fall madly in love – an unanticipated wrinkle that, nevertheless, does not delay her plans.  Determined to bring back the escapees, Roper does just that before all are ambushed by a contingent of Mescalero Apaches. Forced to take refuge in a shallow canyon, Roper frees and arms his prisoners. Alas, they are outnumbered. Meanwhile, self-professed coward, Bailey (John Lupton), manages to skulk off under the cover of night and presumably, to save his own hide. Mercilessly, the Apache pick off Roper’s party one by one, including Campbell (William Demarest), Young (William Campbell) and their Kiowa guide (Frank Matts). Marsh and Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson) are badly wounded in this assault. Aside: Anderson actually sustained two injuries with real arrows during this ‘staged’ attack. In a ‘last ditch’ effort to spare Carla a horrible fate, Roper feigns being the only man left standing and gallantly marches out to face the Apache alone, knowing he will likely die. Instead, he is wounded. Only now, the cavalry arrives with Bailey. As Marsh quietly dies, he knows Bailey’s heroism has saved the day.

Escape from Fort Bravo is a fairly pedestrian western with some well-scripted adventure concocted by writers,           Michael Pate, Phillip Rock, Frank Fenton. Holden did not shave his chest for this movie (a rarity) – and, offers up some bare-chested beefcake to satisfy the paying female patrons. As for John Sturges, he could definitely count this one in his personal ‘win’ column – the picture grossing over $1.4 million. Not everyone was impressed. The New York Times gave a rather scathing review, citing ‘fuzzily’ drawn characters and a seeming lack of anything in the way of subplot beyond the threadbare connective tissue to merely propel the story along. Nevertheless, MGM was pleased with the revenue generated, nearly $200,000 more than that grossed from its super-colossus, Quo Vadis (1951), still filling theater seats, but due to its exorbitant cost overruns, not nearly the runaway bell-ringer. Viewed today, there are decided virtues to be gleaned from Escape from Fort Bravo. Chief among these assets is the cast. Bill Holden is one tough hombre and has the rugged muscularity to pull off a role that could otherwise so easily have devolved into a rank-and-file martinet – albeit, a rather sexy one. Charisma is a quality oft overlooked in today’s class of male leading men in Hollywood – the buff bod’ to have eclipsed its importance. But Holden, beneath that most obvious veneer of attractiveness, emits a rarer and more compelling quality – a genuine toughness, beneath it, a vulnerability, and further beneath it still, something else; that intangible we call ‘star quality’ – capable of connecting so completely with an audience.

Eleanor Parker, at the pinnacle of her sultry screen appeal, manages to straddle the chasm between an enterprising frontier femme fatale and a real woman of darkly lit passions, whose emotional core is tested by the primal urges and sparks generated between Carla and Capt. Roper.  Bringing up the rear is John Forsythe, later to achieve ever-lasting immortality as the uber-suave, Blake Carrington on TV’s prime-time soaper, Dynasty (1981-89), herein, illustrates an unusual bent to be able to play nobler than thou, even when his purposeful motives are less than. Forsythe’s masculinity is much harder to peg. Handsome, he also transmits a curious intelligence to set himself apart from the typical class of leading men who fall back on their good looks to sell themselves as potential heartthrobs. And truth to tell, Forsythe could never be considered one of those. He is, however, a rather fascinating actor to watch, the depth of his own character, never worn on his sleeve, but parceled off in carefully calculated portions, meant to gradually draw out the viewer’s curiosity – presumably, agitating an interest to learn more. Forsythe proves an amiable counterbalance to Holden. Capt. Roper – a man of action. Capt. Marsh, the thinking man’s soldier. The war could not have been won without each man applying his God-given talents. However, and rather interestingly, the finale to Escape from Fort Bravo implies a beautiful mind will always be at the mercy of brute strength.    

Shot in 1:75.1, MGM’s then, go-to for ‘widescreen’ releases, Escape from Fort Bravo suffers from all the shortcomings of a vintage Ansco Color release, including some very soft and slightly out of focus main titles, and amplified grain levels thereafter. Ansco’s emergence as a viable alternative to shooting features in Technicolor or Eastmancolor (and its various re-christened derivatives) in the early 1950’s coincided with Hollywood’s sudden post-war panic over skyrocketing production costs. The Ansco process was, in fact, an extension of the E. & H. T. Anthony Company, to have supplied photographic equipment dating all the way back to just prior the American Civil War.  Anthony’s merger with the photographic division of Scovill, a camera equipment manufacturer, created Ansco (An-for Anthony, Sco-for Scovill). In 1928 the company was bought out by Agfa in Germany to market a line of amateur and professional cameras. But in 1944, the company was seized by the U.S. government under the Alien Properties Act. During WWII, Ansco evolved its color negative/positive process - Ansco Color, and, after the war, began to dominate the professional photographic markets.  And this is where the company’s history gets a bit sketchy. The U.S. government, having taken control of its ownership – ostensibly - began to put on the brakes in its ability to move forward in its development and research. Intervention on behalf of home-grown Technicolor and Eastman Kodak?  It would certainly explain why Ansco, a company to have pioneered color negatives, suddenly failed to qualify, even for consideration, during the post-war decade, eventually surpassed by its competition. MGM used Ansco on several prominent features throughout the fifties, including Kiss Me Kate, Knights of the Round Table (both in 1953), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Brigadoon (both in 1954), and, perhaps most effectively, in Vincente Minnelli’s Lust for Life (1956) – the last movie to be shot in its process.  

Given Escape from Fort Bravo’s photographic shortcomings, the new-to-Blu from the Warner Archive (WAC) is definite cause for celebration. While the main titles remain a semi-ugly and softly focused mess, thanks in part to clunky opticals and Ansco Color’s problematic handling of them as dupes, once the titles pass into the main body of the feature, the image improves with remarkable clarity and colors that, if not quite as crisp or refined as a movie shot in vintage Technicolor or even on Eastman stock, nevertheless appear indigenous to their source, and better still, are rendered with a degree of accuracy which allows them to be fully appreciated for what they are, rather than what they might have been. As Escape from Fort Bravo was photographed in 1.75:1, there are thin black borders to the left and right to approximate the original theatrical presentation.  To say Escape from Fort Bravo looks ravishing is a bit much. But it does look impressive, and far more so than one might expect from the Ansco Color process, showing off cinematographer, Robert Surtees’ imagery to its very best advantage. The Westrex mono soundtrack has been faithfully reproduced in 1.0 DTS mono, minus hiss and pop. Alas, the only extra is a theatrical trailer. Bottom line: Escape from Fort Bravo is an admirable effort from John Sturges, soon to be eclipsed by his more noteworthy contributions in the western genre. The Magnificent Seven (1960) - it ain’t. But Escape from Fort Bravo is a good, solid entertainment. The Blu-ray is handsome. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

0