Comanche

This colorful western has plenty of action and the beautiful landscapes of Durango, Mexico as the setting for a story of war and peace on the Texas plains between the U.S. cavalry and the Comanches. The Indians also attack Mexican villages and take horses and captives and rampage on both sides of the Rio Grande. Dana Andrews is the scout whose task it is to convince Quanah Parker to stop raids into Mexico and talk peace with the American soldiers. Of course, the quest for peace is threatened by white scalp hunters and renegade Indians. There are several good cavalry-Indian battles in this film which was the American debut of Mexican movie star Linda Cristal, who is Andrews' love interest. The music score is decent but the warbling by Alfred Perry and company is out of place in this kind of western. It is also worth noting that several lines of dialogue in this film were lifted verbatim from Elliott Arnold's excellent work, "Blood Brother", which details the Apache wars and the friendship between Cochise and Tom Jeffords. Many of Quanah Parker's ideas of war and peace were taken word-for-word from Arnold's novel and attributed to the Comanche chief to portray him as the sage leader of "the lords of the south plains". One wonders if Arnold ever received credit or acknowledgment for the screenplay in this movie.