Fictional tale of interactions between a band of plains Cree in SW Saskatchewan, and the US Cavalry, on the one hand, followed by the newly emplaced Canadian Northwest Mounted Police, represented by one lone Mountie(Tyrone Power, as Duncan McDonald). As the story begins, a band of Cree, under the leadership of Standing Bear((Stuart Randall), have illegally relocated to Montana, where they hoped the bison had not been decimated, as they were starving. With the Technicolor cinematography, we see the largely pink and rusty red colors of the Arizona Colorado Plateau, and of Red Rock Canyon, in CA, instead of the expected Saskatchewan landscape....... The early spectacular battle scene between US cavalry and Cree, in the shallow water of a flood plain, clearly was lifted from the similar scene in the 1944 "Buffalo Bill", which I had seen earlier. The Cree decided the US plains was too dangerous to stay long, Thus, they crossed over to Canada, but not to their reservation. Thus, the Inspector(commander)(Howard Petrie) of the Mountie Fort Walsh sent a newly arrived recruit named Duncan MacDonald(Tyrone Power) to encourage the Cree to return to their former starvation reservation, and to release 2 white captives. MacDonald was termed by the Indians as a pony soldier......There are a number of action scenes scattered through the film, although much time is spent in negotiations and riding around. MacDonald is initially accompanied by Nayato(Thomas Gomez), who is rather afraid of the Cree, as his father was an enemy Blackfoot. He disappears about halfway through, as MacDonald sends him back to the fort. His place is more or less taken by a half-grown Cree orphan (Anthony Numkena, as Comes Running), who throws himself at MacDonald, whom he hopes will be his new father. The inclusion of this cute kid serves to lighten the otherwise serious nature of the screenplay. He will eventually come in handy when the war chief Konah tries to shoot MacDonald with an arrow........A council of chiefs and elders considers whether to accept MacDonald's demand to return to their reservation and release the captives unharmed. Meanwhile, the male captive, of somewhat disreputable background(Robert Hoston, as Jess), tries to escape, using a teepee stake as a club. He is attacked by Chief Konah's brother, who, in turn is killed by his own tomahawk. Jess almost pays with his life, as MacDonald shoots him off his getaway horse. This was a very risky thing for MacDonald to do, as he is charged with bringing the captives to the fort, unharmed. In retaliation for Jess's killing of his brother, Konah and others abduct the young woman captive: Emerald(Penny Edwards), tie her to a stake, and build a bond fire near her, with the purpose of burning her alive. If they intended to burn her, why did they set the fire some distance from her, rather than around her? This allowed MacDonald time to find her and fight with the Indians before she was burned......The screenplay purports to demonstrate that patient negotiation is often a better way than violence to settle a dispute, I'm still not sure why the Cree agreed to go back to their reservation, where they were starving. Also, I don't understand the bit about a supposed mirage of a river steamboat that everyone saw. What were they smoking? Incidentally, the only historic Standing Bear I could find reference to was a chief of the Ponco tribe, found in the central Midwest. In summary, this is a reasonably entertaining Northern, with some indications of a limited budget. See it at YouTube

20th. Century Fox's 1952 production PONY SOLDIER (aka. "MacDonald Of the Canadian Mounties") is a somewhat disappointing and quite action-less adventure and even more so when one considers that it is one of the few westerns the estimable Tyrone Power appeared in. Produced for the studio by Samuel G.Engel it did however have a few saving graces and not least the stunning colour cinematography of Coconimon National Forest by Harry Jackson and a driving ethnic score by composer Alex North. Thinly written for the screen by John C.Higgins it was however ably directed by Joseph M.Newman.It is 1876 and constable Duncun MacDonald (Tyrone Power) of the Royal Canadian Mounted police is given an assignment to investigate the reason why the Cree Indians are massing along the Canadian/US border and attacking wagons crossing into Canada. With a half-caste guide (Thomas Gomez) he makes the long trek to the Indian camp to speak to the chief (Sturt Randall) and discovers the tribe have taken two white captives - a woman (Penny Edwards) and an unscrupulous ex-convict (Robert Horton). Now, besides trying to persuade the Crees to return to the reservation he must also endeavour to negotiate the release of the two hostages. However, the hatred of one of the chiefs (Cameron Mitchell) for all whites makes it impossible for the young constable to achieve anything culminating in a hand to hand fight to the death in the final reel.Although it's a beautiful looking movie (Ty Power's red tunic is luminous) and the scenes in the Indian camp are quite colourful the picture can often be dull and boring. Particularly tedious and tiresome is the relationship that develops between Power and an Indian boy who befriends him. There is much too much screen time wasted here and is simply just padding to fill in the running time. There is very little action throughout the movie which really only occurs in the film's first fifteen minutes and comes from stock footage culled from the studio's earlier "Buffalo Bill" (1944). Anthony Quinn who played chief Yellow Hand in that picture remember - can clearly be identified here as he runs and leaps onto his pinto pony to lead his warriors from the camp to engage with the US cavalry in William Wellman's classic battle scene from that earlier movie.On the plus side are reasonably good performances. Power is his usual polished self and Cameron Mitchell is very authentic and striking looking as the militant and vengeful warrior. The female lead is taken by pretty Penny Edwards as one of the captives but has little to do and isn't in it very much. The "B" picture actress has hardly more than a dozen words of dialogue to say in what must be her only A list movie and playing opposite one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Also of note is the sparkling score by Alex North. There's a savage atmospheric Indian theme heard in its broadest rendition under the titles with baying horns against wild woodwind figures. It perfectly conjures up the will and determination of the Canadian Cree nation. And discerned here in the great composer's music are little hints of the masterwork he would conceive ten years later for one of the finest scores ever written for the screen - "Spartacus".PONY SOLDIER is no earth shattering viewing experience at all but with its few saving graces and the presence of its appealing star it is just about worth a look.

Greatly enjoyed this film which had great photography in Arizona and showed in great detail the Native American dwellings and customs. Tyrone Power(Constable Duncan MacDonald),"The Eddy Duchin Story",'56, played a young Canadian Mounted Police Constable who was on a mission to rescue settlers who were captured and held hostage. Thomas Gomez,(Natayo Smith),"Key Largo",'48 gave an outstanding performance as a guide to Duncan through the Indian country and demanded great rewards for his services. Penny Edwards,(Emerald Neeley),"Two Guys from Texas",'48 was the only white woman around and was greatly abused through out the entire picture. Despite all the conflicts among the Indians and the White folks, Duncan MacDonald was able to adopt a young boy as his son with the Indian community blessings. I have seen Thomas Gomez perform in many Classic films, but I truly enjoyed his great acting abilities in this film and regret he had a very short lived career.

I'm not sure, but has there ever been a film made with a less than sympathetic treatment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? The Mounties have done very well cinema wise and Pony Soldier is not setting any new patterns.It doesn't have to because it's a very entertaining film. The plot has a lot of similarities to Broken Arrow which 20th Century Fox also produced. Tyrone Power is playing Constable Duncan MacDonald, newly arrived at Fort Walsh and sent out on a mission to negotiate a peace with Cree Indians who've left their reserve and tangled with U.S. Cavalry south of the border. On the way back they've taken two white prisoners in a raid and Power is looking to get them back. One is Penny Edwards who catches the eye of Cameron Mitchell and he decides she'd make a good squaw for his little brother. The other is Robert Horton who's an escaped outlaw.So intrepid Mountie Power along with his Indian guide Thomas Gomez go to the camp of the Crees. Gomez is a most reluctant guide, in fact he's kind of blackmailed into making the journey. Thomas Gomez is an underrated and capable actor who deadpans some very funny lines.Two others in the cast really make this work. Little Anthony Numkena plays the Cree Indian boy who Power adopts and that turns out to be a great negotiating technique. But their affection is genuine and the scenes between Power and Numkena are some of the best in the film.Stuart Randall plays the Cree Chief Standing Bear. His portrayal is very similar to Jeff Chandler's more heralded portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow. In fact the Indians are not stereotyped, they are three dimensional characters here. Randall does a fine job as Standing Bear, negotiating with Power and having to contend with militants in his own camp led by Cameron Mitchell. Since Jeff Chandler had already broken the same ground with Cochise, Randall's performance has been overlooked, unfortunately so for him.Tyrone Power is a whole cloth hero here and does a fine job. One of the things that Americans don't appreciate is that the Mounties were there in large measure to protect the native Indians from white depredation. Canadians have always loved contrasting that to how the U.S. Cavalry treated the native population. Our cavalry was there on the settler's behalf. The contrast is certainly a matter of historical record, but I wonder if Canada had seen the immigration westward that America did, would their Mounties have been more like our blue coats.