Allegheny Uprising [VHS]

Allegheny Uprising [VHS]
by William A. Seiter

Allegheny Uprising [VHS]

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Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Brian Donlevy, Claire Trevor, George Sanders, John Wayne, Wilfrid Lawson
Director: William A. Seiter
Cinematographer: Nicholas Musuraca
Editor: George Crone
Producer: P.J. Wolfson
Writer: P.J. Wolfson
Writer: Neil H. Swanson
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Black & White, NTSC
Running Time: 81 minutes
Release Date: 1993-05-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Turner Home Entertainment
Studio: Turner Home Entertainment

VHS Movie Reviews of Allegheny Uprising [VHS]

Movie Review: Vintage! Surprising! Terrific!
Summary: 5 Stars

I had never heard of this movie before reading about it on Amazon. It sounded good and I took a chance. I won! This is an early John Wayne movie, and some of those are not very good. This one is terrific! I loved the early American time period. The acting was very good, and the script--fresh. This is one of the better movies I've seen in a while. Watch it. You won't regret your time!

Movie Review: Worthwhile pre-Revolution adventure
Summary: 3 Stars

The same year Stagecoach was released, John Wayne and Claire Trevor teamed for another movie, Allegheny Uprising, that's almost completely forgetten in relation to the John Ford classic. In 1760 after three years in captivity by an Indian tribe, James Smith and his friend, the Professor, return home to find several tribes on the warpath. These Indians have been supplied with muskets, shot and powder, and tomahawks by a trader looking to make it big. Smith and his neighbors must figure out how to stop the traders before they too are attacked, all the while dealing with the British command nearby who thinks Smith and Co. want to destroy British goods. This isn't a great movie, but it's an exciting movie for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It's fun to see a movie set in the colonies before the Revolution, a period often ignored in movies.

Teaming up again, Claire Trevor, with top billing, and John Wayne lead the cast. Trevor is Janie MacDougall, a tomboy who's loved James Smith as long as she can remember and isn't about to let him slip away a second time. Wayne plays Smith, the tough leader of his valley trying to protect the community. The parts aren't as good as in Stagecoach, but the two still have good chemistry. George Sanders is very good as Captain Swanson, the commander of the British troops in the valley trying to figure out exactly what's going on. Brian Donlevy is excellent as Callendar, the trader selling guns and whiskey to the Indians, an evil bad guy role he played many times. The supporting cast includes Wilfrid Lawson as Mac, Janie's father who loves drinking and fighting, and John Hamilton as the Professor, Smith's friend who does all the talking. Also look out for a young Chill Wills as one of Smith's friends, that voice is instantly recognizable.

The DVD is a good buy although there's some odd features added. The movie is shown in a good-looking standard presentation, really nice considering it's 80 years old. The features include a 16-minute live action short film about the Bill of Rights and a WB cartoon, a "Merry Melodies," that's got nothing to do with the movie or the storyline. Maybe I'm missing something. Still, it's a good but not great John Wayne movie, so give Allegheny Uprising a try!

Movie Review: A relatively obscure classic for John Wayne fans
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a relatively obscure classic that all fans of John Wayne should have in their video collection. It trades off any lack of historical accuracy for a high "nostalgia value" given by a straight-forward story line and the enthusiastic acting style of 1930's American cinema.

Movie Review: A John Wayne Classic
Summary: 5 Stars

This movie is so good that I have seen it so many times on TV snd was thrilled to now have it on DVD. The action of the movie was great ! This is in the top 20 of my favorite movies.

Movie Review: Allegheny Uprising
Summary: 5 Stars

THis was a ecellant movie of the duke in his prime. I would highly recommend this movie to not jus John Wayne collectors, but anyone who likes the movie of the old frontier.

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Summary of Allegheny Uprising [VHS]

Allegheny Uprising is an engaging blend of historical fiction, boisterous backwoods comedy, and pretty much nonstop rowdydow that qualifies as one of John Wayne's more offbeat vehicles. Made half a year after his stellar breakout in Stagecoach, the picture re-teams Wayne with Claire Trevor as a frontier tomboy who supplies feisty love interest. A decade and a half before the Revolutionary War, a community in south-central Pennsylvania (apparently Chambersburg) stages a principled rebellion against King George III's forces that's more social protest than full-fledged revolt. Wayne plays a thoughtful fellow named Jim Smith who, with his "men of the Conococheague," demonstrates to the Crown that it's bad faith to lend military protection to unscrupulous traders (cue Brian Donlevy) clandestinely peddling firearms and English-made weaponry to the Indians.

Now, there just aren't that many "Westerns" set in Pennsylvania, so Allegheny Uprising gets points for freshness. It also falls into a limbo between A and B movies, coming in at a trim 80 minutes but boasting larger action set-pieces (shot on location in credibly Pennsylvanian pockets of California) than was customary for RKO, a studio that tended toward in-house miniatures; Nicholas Musuraca, a future Val Lewton and film noir mainstay, proves himself a master of sunlit cinematography as well. Director William A. Seiter (with a string of Shirley Temple movies behind him) never finds a satisfying overall rhythm, and there are odd scraps of unrealized intentions in producer P.J. Wolfson's script (e.g., the sudden murder of a captured Indian raider at knifepoint, whereupon Smith ruefully observes, "We teach 'em everything, don't we?"). The most interesting element of the film is George Sanders' performance as an intransigent Brit officer who causes much of the strife with the Colonials, yet discloses unexpected vulnerability in private moments. --Richard T. Jameson

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