People thinking of the historical record of the United States (prior to the controversy of the current Iraqi War) frequently overlook one peculiar diplomatic lapse. From 1812 to 1815 we were allied with Napoleon Bonaparte, at least unofficially. President Madison's decision to declare war on Great Britain in 1812 put us into this unique situation where instead of fighting for democratic government we were willing to be allied to a megalomaniac Emperor.
The War of 1812 is usually bypassed quickly in our schools (we lost it - the official line is it was a draw but our capital was burned in that war, and that never happened again). Napoleon was a cynical ally at best, but he never quite forgot that we were tied to him. After Waterloo he appears to have considered fleeing by French naval vessel to the U.S., using his brother Jerome's passport as his. He was captured before he could do this - possibly one of the most unexpected blessings in American history, for Bonaparte would not have stopped being Bonaparte if he had landed here.
However other French veterans did come here after the war - the restored Bourbon monarchy was not welcoming to soldiers who fought for Napoleon in the "100 days" of 1815. So many did come to our shores, and this film discusses how a party of them tried to settle in Alabama in 1819, but were nearly swindled out of their land.
The film is well made, especially in the casting of Babe Hardy as John Wayne's sidekick Willy. Wayne's sidekicks usually played it for laughs in his westerns, most memorably Gabby Hayes. Even Kirk Douglas (in THE WAR WAGON) is funny in his constant efforts to out-Wayne, Wayne by his gymnastic abilities. But Hardy has a marvelous rapport with Wayne. Witness the scene where they do the surveying (which neither of them knows much about). Hired (as a trick, as it turns out, by Grant Withers and Marie Windsor), they fumble around with the surveyor's telescope and the measuring stick, and (in following Wayne's orders) Hardy ends up defiantly holding up a measuring rod in the middle of a pond. Also the fiddle concert that both crash is a monument to surprise, as Hardy actually demonstrates he can play the fiddle and can do it comically. Wayne is less able to do that. On the other hand, Hardy can show a serious edge that is not frequently seen in his comedies with Stan Laurel. Listen to his calm discussion regarding his "putting away" hat with Wayne, or his care as a scout watching Wayne's capture, following him from a distance in the dark, and then heading for assistance.
The film is good to a point, but it's main problem is it is about 90 minutes long, but has enough plot for two hours. The film's initial villain is the smooth, apparently upper-crust John Howard, planning to swindle the French soldiers out of their money and land. Then it turns out that Grant Withers (Howard's business manager) is actually a more manipulative criminal than Howard, and is able to topple Howard unexpectedly. But Withers' girlfriend (Marie Windsor) plans to rob him of the money and run off with her actual boyfriend. All the villains are killed at the end by their criss-crossing situations (only one, Howard, dies redeeming himself), but the plotting and counter-plotting is so intensely complicated that the viewer has to accept it's intense pressure due to the time limitations of the movie.
Accept that, and the film is still entertaining. It gets a 7 on my voting.
The War of 1812 is usually bypassed quickly in our schools (we lost it - the official line is it was a draw but our capital was burned in that war, and that never happened again). Napoleon was a cynical ally at best, but he never quite forgot that we were tied to him. After Waterloo he appears to have considered fleeing by French naval vessel to the U.S., using his brother Jerome's passport as his. He was captured before he could do this - possibly one of the most unexpected blessings in American history, for Bonaparte would not have stopped being Bonaparte if he had landed here.
However other French veterans did come here after the war - the restored Bourbon monarchy was not welcoming to soldiers who fought for Napoleon in the "100 days" of 1815. So many did come to our shores, and this film discusses how a party of them tried to settle in Alabama in 1819, but were nearly swindled out of their land.
The film is well made, especially in the casting of Babe Hardy as John Wayne's sidekick Willy. Wayne's sidekicks usually played it for laughs in his westerns, most memorably Gabby Hayes. Even Kirk Douglas (in THE WAR WAGON) is funny in his constant efforts to out-Wayne, Wayne by his gymnastic abilities. But Hardy has a marvelous rapport with Wayne. Witness the scene where they do the surveying (which neither of them knows much about). Hired (as a trick, as it turns out, by Grant Withers and Marie Windsor), they fumble around with the surveyor's telescope and the measuring stick, and (in following Wayne's orders) Hardy ends up defiantly holding up a measuring rod in the middle of a pond. Also the fiddle concert that both crash is a monument to surprise, as Hardy actually demonstrates he can play the fiddle and can do it comically. Wayne is less able to do that. On the other hand, Hardy can show a serious edge that is not frequently seen in his comedies with Stan Laurel. Listen to his calm discussion regarding his "putting away" hat with Wayne, or his care as a scout watching Wayne's capture, following him from a distance in the dark, and then heading for assistance.
The film is good to a point, but it's main problem is it is about 90 minutes long, but has enough plot for two hours. The film's initial villain is the smooth, apparently upper-crust John Howard, planning to swindle the French soldiers out of their money and land. Then it turns out that Grant Withers (Howard's business manager) is actually a more manipulative criminal than Howard, and is able to topple Howard unexpectedly. But Withers' girlfriend (Marie Windsor) plans to rob him of the money and run off with her actual boyfriend. All the villains are killed at the end by their criss-crossing situations (only one, Howard, dies redeeming himself), but the plotting and counter-plotting is so intensely complicated that the viewer has to accept it's intense pressure due to the time limitations of the movie.
Accept that, and the film is still entertaining. It gets a 7 on my voting.