Devil's Doorway (1950)

8/10

FightingWesterner25 May 2014

Warning: Spoilers

Civil War hero Robert Taylor returns to his people to Wyoming, only to find his valley ranch fair game for white homesteaders and himself, as an Indian, ineligible to claim his own land, leading to a violent confrontation.

An unusual (and unusually grim) western, here the Indians are the cowboys and the villains sheep-farmers, the nemesis of cowboys everywhere. Although the ending is painfully obvious early on, getting there is compelling and heartbreaking, with the film perfectly capturing the anger and despair of not just native people, but anyone who plays by the rules and finds himself ground under the wheels of progress.

Although not as well known as Anthony Mann's western collaborations with star James Stewart, this one also knows what buttons to push and delivers an action-packed climax, as well as good performances from Taylor and Paula Raymond, as a lady attorney who takes up his case.

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8/10

An Unappreciated Classic!

jpdoherty6 July 2011

Warning: Spoilers

A dark grim yet gritty movie is probably the best way to describe this fairly forgotten and under appreciated jewel of a western. Produced by Nicholas Nayfack for MGM in 1950 the picture - just like "Winchester 73" and "The Gunfighter" made the same year - marked the coming of age of the American western. DEVIL'S DOORWAY was the first movie which undertook to depict - in graphic terms - the plight of the native American in the west of the 1860s. It was also the first western to be directed by Anthony Mann who alongside John Ford would become the genre's most iconic director with his masterpiece "Winchester 73" and thereafter with his fruitful working relationship with actor James Stewart that would produce some of the finest westerns ever made like "Bend Of The River", "The Far Country" and the brilliant "Naked Spur". Nicely written for the screen by Guy Trosperm DEVIL'S DOORWAY was stunningly photographed in glorious Black & White in Aspen, Colorado by John Alton and was complimented with a splendid atmospheric score - featuring an exciting Indian motif - by Russian composer Daniele Amfitheathrof.

With the Congressional Medal of Honour pinned to his Union tunic distinguished Shoshone Indian Sergeant Major Lance Poole (Robert Taylor) returns home from the war between the States to his people in his beautiful valley of Sweet Meadow. He is greeted by his aged and ailing father (Fritz Leiber) ("You are home - you are again an Indian"). But prejudice against the tribe is beginning to take hold in the nearby town instigated and then exacerbated by a shady Indian hating lawyer Verne Coolin (Louis Calhern). Things really come to a head when sheep-men arrive and need to graze their herds on Sweet Meadow but Lance will not allow it and orders them off his property ("This is my land and you're trespassing"). However they are encouraged by Coolin to take the land since the Homestead Act of the period states that it is forbidden for an Indian to own any land. An enraged Lance takes up arms and leads his people against the interlopers (a well executed battle scene). Finally with many deaths on each side the army are sent for to quell the fighting which leads to a tragic finale. Lance settles his score with Coolin before the final shootout with the army which sees him and his braves being killed, his village destroyed and the tribe - what's left of them - being escorted to the reservation.

DEVIL'S DOORWAY is a superb western and deserves to be rediscovered. With Mann's earlier noir successes "T Men" (1947) and "Raw Deal" ('48) DEVIL'S DOORWAY contains wonderful noirish moments of outstanding quality such as in the bruising fist fight sequence in the Saloon between Taylor and gunman James Milican with its low angle camera and arresting use of light and shadow and again later for scenes inside the dimly lit Indian shacks. The acting throughout is splendid all round. Taylor arguably gives the performance of his long career in an unusual bit of casting. Eschewing his handsome MGM glamour-boy image (he was Gable's chief rival at the studio) he turns in a powerful and striking portrayal of great depth and substance. His performance as a man who sees his beloved valley being ripped out from under him and his people is heartfelt and sincere. Excellent too is Louis Calhern as the antagonistic racist lawyer. His part not being very far removed from his brilliant shady lawyer in the studio's "Asphalt Jungle" the same year.

So here is a powerfully evocative and accomplished movie that was strikingly bold for its time and today remains compelling in its stark presentation. Directed by a man who was on the verge of western movie greatness DEVIL'S DOORWAY is a movie that shouldn't be missed by anyone who cares about the American western. It is a movie that with some reassessment and a little more exposure could easily become one of Hollywood's greatest achievements and perhaps even Mann's real masterpiece. A movie that makes the final and prophetic line in the picture that bit more fitting..........

"IT WOULD BE TOO BAD IF WE SHOULD EVER FORGET".

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8/10

Excellent.

planktonrules27 May 2010

While some might balk at the idea of Robert Taylor playing an American Indian, such casting was pretty typical of this era--with folks like Rock Hudson and Paul Newman cast as Indians as well! Plus, while the casting is poor, the film does have a lot in its favor. The biggest plus is that the American Indian is portrayed VERY sympathetically here and is a film about intolerance and prejudice--and makes some excellent points to counter the prevailing "evil and stupid Indian" image many films of the day. Plus, although Taylor is an Anglo with an aquiline nose and blue eyes, the film manages to have him appear rather Indian-like--and his craggy middle-aged good looks helped--along with gobs of skin paint! I cannot speak for American Indians, but I assume most would appreciate the film's message and overlook the casting--as there simply wasn't any better sort of film about them made at the time--and very, very few since.

The film begins with Taylor returning home after several years absence serving in the Union army during the Civil War. Along the way, he developed a bit of naiveté and assumes his being a sergeant in the military and living out the White American dream that he'd be accorded respect and equal treatment at home. However, there's an ill-will brewing and instead of receiving honor for his service (which had earned him the Medal of Honor--the nation's highest military award), he will face a lot of unreasoning hate. At the heart of this is a scum-bag lawyer (imagine that!) who is bent on stirring up the Whites against the Indians--mostly so he man make himself rich in the process.

I could say more to the plot, as there is quite a bit more to the film, but I really don't want to spoil the film. Suffice to say that it is very well written--mostly because it is NOT a movie with a clear message that the settlers were all evil and the Shoshone were perfect and noble. I liked this, as both sides had a point--though the Natives clearly were having their rights cast aside in the process. The characters, as a result, were multidimensional and interesting.

Overall, if you are a bit tired of cookie-cutter westerns and are looking for something a bit different, "Devil's Doorway" is a pretty good bet.

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7/10

Anthony Mann opens the door for Robert Taylor

wes-connors9 October 2011

In Wyoming, Native American Indian and Civil War hero Robert Taylor (as Broken Lance Poole) faces discrimination. When his father appears ready for the "happy hunting ground," Mr. Taylor can't get a doctor because he's an "Injun". White lawyer Louis Calhern (as Verne Coolan) wants to take away the land Taylor inherits. Taylor hires female attorney Paula Raymond (as Orrie Masters) to help and they are mutually attracted. Taylor learns that, as an Indian, he is not a United States citizen and has no right to his own land. Sheepherding homesteader Marshall Thompson (as Rod MacDougall) moves in, and the conflict gets violent...

"Devil's Doorway" opens with some serious reservations about Taylor's portrayal of a Native American. It doesn't help that his make-up shades up inconsistently in different scenes. But, after about thirty minutes, when he's in full "red-skin" dress, Taylor creates an appealing and believable character. Taylor's stoic mid-life screen persona matches the role perfectly, and he responds with one of his best performances. Also lifting this film from the doldrums is director Anthony Mann, who gets photographer John Alton under your skin with some beautifully framed and staged scenes. The "pro-Indian" theme was not new, but had become rare.

******* Devil's Doorway (9/15/50) Anthony Mann ~ Robert Taylor, Paula Raymond, Louis Calhern, Marshall Thompson

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9/10

A Superb Western

judithh-12 April 2015

Warning: Spoilers

Devil's Doorway is an indescribably sad movie. It is directed by Anthony Mann and photographed in Caravaggesque black and white by cinematographer John Alton. The film is a story about war, peace, love and bigotry. At the end of the Civil War, a veteran of the Union Army, Lance Poole, returns to his home in Wyoming. Poole, (Robert Taylor), a Shoshone Indian, has had his fill of fighting and simply wants to live in peace on his family's ancestral acres.

The West, however, is changing. Wyoming has become a territory and the railroad is spreading westward. Immigration from the drought ridden states of the Midwest is filling Wyoming with sheepherders who need land and water to survive. New territorial laws are Draconian in respect to Indians—they are not American citizens, but wards of the government. Land that has been in their families for generations is now open to anyone who wants to homestead there.

A lawyer named Vern Coolan (Louis Calhern) has moved West for his health. He hates Indians, especially Lance Poole, or Broken Lance, a "rich Indian." Coolan stirs up trouble by encouraging the sheep men to homestead Poole's land. Poole goes to the only lawyer in town other than Coolan, one A. Masters (Paula Raymond). At first horrified that she is a woman, Poole does hire her to help him.

Coolan is successful in mobilizing the sheep men. The Indians, led by Broken Lance, must fight to survive. Masters involves the army in a misguided attempt to save the man she now loves. A final battle ensues with the predictable outcome. Broken Lance, a holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his war service, surrenders to the cavalry.

A sub-theme of the film is the confinement of Indians to the reservations. Their men dead, a small group of women and children is forced to return to a reservation from their shelter on Poole's land. Watching them trudge away to a life of confinement is heart breaking. There are no happy endings here.

Robert Taylor is superb as Broken Lance Poole. When offered the role, Mr. Taylor was happy to act in a film that, for once, saw things from the Indian point of view. It is the same year he made another film, Ambush, that saw Indians as villains. Lance Poole gradually morphs into Broken Lance as Taylor is forced to accept that the world only sees the color of his "hide." His manner of dress changes as does his personality. Lance Poole was a happy man looking forward to the future. Broken Lance sees that there is no future for him.

The supporting cast of Marshall Thomson, James Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Spring Byington and Fritz Lieber, are first rate. The music by Daniele Amfithreatrof is muted and sorrowful, except for the battle scenes.

Broken Arrow, with James Stewart and Jeff Chandler, was made after Devil's Doorway but released first. It was a more upbeat and successful take on Indians. Devil's Doorway did make money but, according to the studio, only a net profit of $25,000. Today the film is highly regarded for its hard edged honesty, first-rate acting, subtle direction and superb photography.

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A story which is relevant today....

dbdumonteil7 September 2005

Another strong western by Anthony Mann.But like any intelligent western,this story is eternal.A man who fought for his country and who is denied the most legitimate of all his rights,just because he is an Indian:to own a little bit of the land to which he had given the most beautiful years of his life.That was the story of Mervyn Le Roy's "I'm fugitive from a chain gang" when Paul Muni was trying to sell his medals to survive.That would be the story of Liam Neeson in "Suspect" ,once a Vietnam veteran,now one of the last lonely and wretched .

Robert Taylor is extremely convincing,mainly when he is speaking of the land,of the way the Indians love it,of their communion with nature. We find the same emotion in Delmer Daves' "Broken arrow" ,released the same year.

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7/10

An awesome pro-Indian Western marvelously acted and masterfully realized

ma-cortes1 May 2013

Sensational western , deemed as the first Hollywood film to side with the Indians , along with ¨Broken arrow¨ by Delmer Daves and starred by James Stewart . It deals with Lance Poole (offbeat cast of Robert Taylor who surprisingly is pretty well) , an Indian Navajo who won a Medal of Honor fighting at Gettysburg , goes back to his tribal territory intent on peaceful cattle ranching . Returning home and finding a bleak situation : his people living in poverty . As usual , crooked settlers and mean traders (Louis Calhern) thwart peace . Some people and State laws attempt to take possession his lands . Then Lance hires an advocate at law (Paula Marshall) . The solicitor attempting to find truce among feuding white man and Indian people.

This picture acclaimed like one of the first to deal the Indian with understanding and justice . The film contains agreeable depiction about Indian habits as it actually was , including adulthood initiations , complex mythology and peculiar culture .¨Devil's doorway¨ along with ¨Broken arrow¨ marked in the cinema field a trail of consideration and empathy toward native indigenous to North America, and lift the troublesome relationships between native and colonizers , then it would go on other films until reach its climax in the great and magnificent "Dancing with wolves" (Kevin Costner, USA 1990). Good acting by Robert Taylor as an Indian Navajo who served in Civil War and must fight to right the injustices against his people ; his perfect interpretation as "Lance Poole" remains one of the highlights in his prestigious career. Furthermore , an attractive Paula Marshall as a kind advocate and Louis Calhern as the intriguing lawyer "Verne Coolan" makes an adequate character of the evil . Support cast is frankly excellent such as Marshall Thompson as Rod MacDougall , the recently deceased James Mitchell as Red Rock , veteran Edgar Buchanan as Zeke Carmody , Rhys Williams and Scotty MacDougall and Chief John Big Tree as Thundercloud . Evocative and imaginative musical score by Daniel Amfitheatroph . This good film packs a splendid photography in atmospheric black and white by John Alton, another European -Austro-Hungarian- who emigrated US and became an excellent cameraman expert on Noir cinema as well as Nicholas Musuraca .

This top-drawer Western was stunningly realized by the master Anthony Mann , infusing the traditional Western with psychological confusion , including his characteristic use of landscape with marvelous use of outdoors which is visually memorable , including a majestic production design by Cedric Gibbons , Metro Goldwyn Mayer's (MGM) ordinary . Mann established his forte with magnificent Western almost always with James Stewart . In his beginnings he made ambitious but short-lived quality low-budget surroundings of Eagle-Lion production as ¨T-men¨ , ¨They walked by night¨ , ¨Raw deal¨ , ¨Railroaded¨ and ¨Desperate¨ . Later on , he made various Western , remarkably good , masterpieces such as ¨The furies¨ , and ¨Devil's doorway¨ and several with his habitual star , James Stewart, as ¨Winchester 73¨ , ¨Bend the river¨ and ¨The far country¨ . They are characterized by roles whose determination to stick to their guns would take them to the limits of their endurance . Others in this throughly enjoyable series include ¨Tin star ¨ and ¨Man of the West¨ is probably one of the best Western in the fifties and sixties . After the mid-50 , Mann's successes came less frequently , though directed another good Western with Victor Mature titled ¨The last frontier¨. And of course ¨Devil's doorway ¨ that turns out to be outlandish but stylishly realized , well paced , solid , meticulous , with enjoyable look , and most powerful and rightly-considered . This well acted movie is gripping every step of the way . It results to be an over-the-top western and remains consistently agreeable as well as thought-provoking . Rating : Above average , the result is a top-of-range Western . Well worth watching and it will appeal to Robert Taylor fans .

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9/10

It takes only one man to open the Devil's Doorway and hell to pour through.

g_ryder22 May 2012

This movie is in a remarkable contrast to Broken Arrow (released in the same year) insofar that in this movie one bad man (lawyer Verne Coolan) leads a whole community on the wrong path. It's not that the others are innocent sheep that can be led anywhere, but the racial, cultural prejudices are the preying grounds for the Devil to feed upon. And what better agent or instrument of the Devil than an evil lawyer, and an unjust law as the weapon? The hook or by crook manner in which the Native people in the new World were looted and stripped of all their rights is nowhere better exemplified than in this movie. Of course in this fictional (although in reality it was typical) case, the methodology is crude and overt because all that was needed was to push over one man who wanted to hold on to his land and to hold on to it even if he has to buy his own land if need be. But even that is denied to him because a new law framed by the government does not recognize an Indian as a valid citizen (and therefore cannot legally own any land even if bought by him). The far more sophisticated method was to simply pay a few dollars and bottles of whiskey to just one weak and drunkard Indian of the tribe, in return get a piece of paper signed by him selling all the land the tribe was living on, and loudly claim that they were now the owners of the land and the Indians had better push off or get killed by the 'volunteer army'. A further level of sophistication was required when the tribe was united under a strong Chief. In that case a treaty was made that promised protection to the Indians from further encroachment if the Indians gave up a large chunk of the land. Once that was accomplished, a slow process of gradual encroachment would begin, along with provocation upon provocation that would eventually elicit a retaliatory response. Once again a hue and cry would be raised that the Indians had broken the treaty. Naturally, the 'poor innocent settlers' were under grave threat to their lives and 'fully paid-up' property, and the 'poor innocent government' had no choice but to call in the 'highly disciplined' army to restore order in the land by wiping out the remaining Indians, and if some had still managed to survive, they would be confined to a 'reservation' where they would be slowly starved to death. Much later, even Hitler expressed his admiration for these sophisticated methods and advanced political science techniques used to find a 'solution' to the 'problem' of sub-humans. Such is the legacy of the 'conquest' and on such foundations 'the birth of The Nation' took place, The Nation that would claim to be the champion of 'human rights' and 'freedom of the individual' all over the world. Such ill-gotten power carries a terrible burden, and the telling of the story truthfully (in the general context) as this movie does, has substantial redeeming value, although what is done cannot be undone. Try to ignore it, try to forget it, and even that little window of redemption is shut for ever.

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6/10

"You are home. You are again an Indian."...

Doylenf20 May 2010

ROBERT TAYLOR, grim-faced and painted to look like an Indian, gives a strong performance in Anthony Mann's examination of the plight of American Indians and their mistreatment in DEVIL'S DOORWAY.

Although he's a winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor after his victorious conduct in war, he doesn't get the welcome he expects when he returns to his home state of Wyoming where EDGAR BUCHANAN is the Sheriff who warns him that he's naive if he thinks he can find a welcome mat for Indians at any bar.

PAULA RAYMOND is the pretty lawyer who tries to help Taylor when her mother (SPRING BYINGTON) reminds her that that's what her dad would do. But nobody can stop evil lawyer LOUIS CALHERN from spreading false and malicious gossip that poisons the mind of the homesteaders who want a piece of Taylor's land.

It's a grim story, beautifully photographed with stunning B&W western landscapes filling the eye with their grandeur. All of the performances are expert and the climactic battle with men foolishly following Calhern's orders is photographed for stunning impact.

Told in a tense 85 minutes, it's a film worth viewing and one that was ahead of its time in dealing with the plight of American Indians in a realistic way.

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10/10

My Own Bit of Land

bkoganbing20 June 2006

Anthony Mann's first western maybe one of the best ever done and sad to say it was probably overshadowed by the more popular Broken Arrow which also dealt sympathetically with the plight of the American Indian.

Right after Devil's Doorway Mann did Winchester 73 and a whole slew of films with James Stewart, mostly westerns and well received ones at that. Devil's Doorway should be grouped with those films as well as a cinema classic. My guess is that it is because Mann never did another film with Robert Taylor. If anyone knows why, please let me know.

Robert Taylor gives one of his best screen performances as Lance Poole, Union Army veteran and Congressional Medal of Honor winner and full blooded Shoshoni Indian. He's returned to his ranch in Wyoming hoping to pick up the pieces of his civilian life. Taylor has bought into the ideals of the Civil War. He in fact went to war to free another group of people from slavery.

It's one big disillusioning process as he discovers that Indians need not apply for a piece of the American dream. The Homestead Act which Abraham Lincoln signed during the Civil War specifically excludes Indians from its provisions.

Louis Calhern portrays one of the most loathsome villains of his career as Verne Coolan, a lawyer who apparently for no other reason than his own hatred of the red man, stirs up hatred and resentment against Taylor and the Shoshonis. He brings in sheepherders to homestead in the valley that Poole has his ranch on, knowing full well it will be the start of a range war with racial overtones. The entrance to Taylor's valley is known as the Devil's Doorway.

Calhern has an equally loathsome henchman played by James Millican who starts a bar fight that Taylor finishes. It's a brutal one, ranking right up there with the one in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.

Other noteworthy performances are by Edgar Buchanan as the town marshal who is torn between his friendship for Taylor and the discriminatory law he's sworn to enforce. Also Paula Raymond and Spring Byington as a female attorney and her mother, quite radical in those days. Although overtly Taylor and Raymond have a business relationship, there is a gleam in Raymond's eyes whenever Taylor's around.

Oddly enough six years later Taylor saw cinematically how the other half lived when in The Last Hunt he played buffalo hunter Charlie Gilson who had a hate for the Indian the equal of Calhern's here.

Although Broken Arrow got all the acclaim and deserved it, it is a pity that Devil's Doorway did not get more attention. Catch this very special film whenever it is broadcast.

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7/10

A Good Movie, But Very Sad

ldeangelis-7570830 June 2022

I just discovered this movie and checked it out because I'm a Robert Taylor fan. I soon got caught up in the story, which was a good one, but not the movie to watch if you're feeling a bit down and want something to help cheer you. (And if you're looking for the typical Hollywood happy ending, forget it.)

I wish I could forget the truths in this film, as they're far from pretty. As RT's character, Shoshone Native lance Poole discovers, fighting for his country in the Civil War, showing bravery in several famous battles, and winning the Congressional Medal of Honor won't make one bit of difference to the people who won't accept him in society, oppose his owning land and living among them, and wanting him to go to a reservation, where they believe he belongs. He was good enough to fight for his country, yet that same country repays him with bigotry, unfair laws, and social stigma. (A doctor won't treat his ill father, he's refused service in a saloon, and lawyer Verne Coolan (Louis Calhern) uses a loophole in the law to take away Lance's property, preventing him from homesteading.

Lance refuses to give up his land, and lets Verne know he'll have a fight in his hands. He finds an ally in Orrie Masters (Paula Raymond), a woman lawyer who tries to help him. (Her mother is played by Spring Byington, who gives a bit of comic relief to an otherwise downer tale.) In a surprising twist, she's shown respect for her legal expertise, and is accepted as having a most unusual career for a woman in the 1860's; no one's telling her to get a husband and have babies. (Though you get the impression that, had society been different and not put so many obstacles in their path, she may have wanted a home and children with Lance.)

Orrie tries helping Lance, by getting a petition together, to try and overturn the law, and when that fails, and Verne and a band of sheepherders try to force Lance off his land (he's supported a Shoshone tribesmen), Orrie calls in the Cavalry, hoping to put an end to the fighting, but instead they side with Verne, feeling the law must be upheld.

I won't give anymore away, I'll just say that the movie makes you think about how foolish people can be, and how ironic it is that Native people were made to feel unwelcome in a country that was theirs to begin with.

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10/10

one of the best

omerie25 May 2001

Warning: Spoilers

wow - I'm not normally a big fan of westerns, but this one seems to excel in all departments. At first I was wondering if I would buy Robert Taylor as a full-blooded Native American character, but it's a testament to the depth and range of his talent that he had me convinced within the first minute of his screen time, without even a momentary falter throughout the rest of the film. The cinematography is nothing short of spectacular, sometimes even haunting; certain outdoor scenes are as memorable as masterpiece landscape paintings (and we're talking black & white here!)

The dramatic storyline is excellent and never misses a beat; character motivations may be surprising at times, yet they remain dramatically valid and consistent throughout the film. Even when the main character makes certain decisions with which you may not agree, you'll still understand why he does what he does.

The ending is one of the best that I know of; the final dialogue is as prophetic as it is unforgettable. I watched this movie on TCM knowing very little about it before I sat down in front of the tube, and I'm thrilled to say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching an actual 10/10. I'm really looking forward to seeing it again!

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7/10

Hidden Gem -Anthony Mann's Best Movie?

doug-balch22 May 2010

This movie is a hidden gem. Directed by Anthony Mann, it was probably the first "Civil Rights" Western that went "all in" in terms of presenting the Indian point of view. At the same time, Mann's intensity and fundamental dark view of mankind keep it from becoming condescending or maudlin.

Pretty impressive to take this theme on so aggressively a full four years before the "Brown vs. Board of Education" Supreme Court decision kicked off the modern Civil Rights movement.

Here are some of the pluses:

This is an absolutely terrific performance by Robert Taylor, all the more impressive since it's hard to imagine him playing a full blooded Shoshone Indian. He pulls it off in spades. I haven't seen every Robert Taylor movie, but I can't believe he ever had a better part. Even more impressive, this is an ultra-liberal movie and in real life Taylor was a well known right wing kook. Now that's acting!!

This is in black and white, but the movie has a fantastic look and feel to it. Mann's superior direction and creative camera angles jump out at you.

One of my favorite Western themes, the Civil War tie-in, is prominent. Lance Poole is a decorated Union Army veteran who returns home to confront racism. In 1950, this is clearly a metaphor for the plight black WW2 veterans returning to the Jim Crow South.

It is well plotted. Everything makes sense, is plausible and all the character's motivations are consistent and logical (not something you find in all Anthony Mann Westerns. See my review of "The Man From Laramie").

In most cases, the love interest in Westerns is blatantly gratuitous. Orrie Masters, nicely played by Paula Raymond, is written solidly into the script as a sympathetic lawyer. Of course, the movie is once again way ahead of its time with its portrayal of a professional woman.

An excellent portrayal of the Shoshones and their plight.

Absolutely fantastic Montana location shoot. A shame it wasn't in color.

The negatives in this movie are very minor:

The problem with going "all in" Indian point of view is that it is inherently depressing.

Could have used a stronger supporting cast. Louis Calhern is good as the heavy, but this part could have been stronger.

No room for comic relief in the dark world of Anthony Mann. All that stops this from devolving into a lugubrious depress-fest is the edgy plot, good action scenes and Taylor's compelling performance.

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3/10

overrated

loydmooney-121 June 2006

This is one of Mann's works in progress. Compare it to any three or four of his best and it falls tremendously short. The woman lawyer is poorly cast, the story is rather tedious, in short this is a very heartfelt flop. However, Mann's camera is, as usual, simply amazing. And there is a curious lazy believability about Taylor that others have noted here: he talks in Harvardese English that is great, probably the one big feature of realism that has struck home with the others here.

Having seen it right behind Man of the West as I just did, well, not a good thing for it: There are five or six or seven scenes in the Cooper film that I have watched maybe 30 or 40 times, the only one here would be the first : the dog barking Taylor into town and the great looming shot of Calhern, wonderful introduction to his vile character, very classic. The rest of the story is pretty hokey, however, and that however is a big one, there is never a doubt you are watching one of the great eyes of cinema. Mann's camera was much more unexpected and darting than Welles, even though they both relied on more great closeups than any other great directors of their time, though Welles always loved shooting up peoples noses, Mann just always from every which side and level, and because he was trying so desperately to peel away the layers of character with the angles. By Man of the West, Winchester 73, Bend of the River, he was turning out his masterpieces and if it took something like this to get them, it was worth it.

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another under-appreciated classic

SHAWFAN2 October 2002

Your one other comment on this film so far (Under the Arch) sums up my feelings entirely. Why this masterpiece of a film is not mentioned in the same historical discussions of great westerns as Stagecoach, The Oxbow Incident, High Noon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, etc. is beyond me. But of course it was made by Anthony Mann and that says it all. Those little known episodes in our nation's history in which greedy white men dispossessed cooperative and non-violent native Americans can never be re-told often enough; such as when Andrew Jackson, despite a Supreme Court decision to the contrary, conspired in the 1820s with the land robbers so as to allow those white men to exploit the state's mineral wealth in the 1820s. The peaceful and civil Cherokees were driven out of their Carolina homelands and into concentration camps. (Hitler had nothing on Andrew Jackson.) From there the Cherokees were driven into Florida and then on to Oklahoma via the "Trail of Tears." And the Devil's Doorway is such a classic tale of land-grabbing, ethnic cleansing, bigotry, and high-handed discriminatory bureaucracy as to make your flesh creep. See it.

PS I recently (2009) saw Anthony Mann's Cimarron (1960, his last Western) for the first time and read all the many reviews of it. Many went into great depth as to Mann and his career, listing and evaluating many of his previous films. Not one of them mentioned this film, perhaps his greatest! So even among Mann aficionados one of his greatest accomplishments has fallen by the wayside and into the memory hole! What can be done about this to bring back such a classic and restore it to its rightful place in film history?

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6/10

"Devi's Doorway" Gateway to Hollywood Treatment of Indians **1/2

edwagreen23 May 2010

Warning: Spoilers

Despite a very good performance by Robert Taylor as a native Indian facing discrimination after his heroic war efforts during the Civil War, the film is a rather routine one.

Louis Calhern plays the heavy here- an attorney full of prejudice who causes the tragedy to unfold in the Wyoming territory, after the civil war and the coming of the Homestead Act.

It's usually a movie adage that never in the history of motion pictures has the cavalry ever been late. Too bad that those famous lines didn't work here.

Spring Byington was probably ending her wonderful movie career dating back to the 1930's if not before. As the mother of the lawyer attempting to help the Taylor character, her part was rather wasted here. I guess that television would be more adventurous to her with the coming of "December Bride."

Yes, we can identify this film with Wounded Knee and other outrages committed against minorities through the ages.

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10/10

A wonderfully understated performance by Robert Taylor as a Shoshone Indian.

mamalv26 March 2005

Warning: Spoilers

This is one of the most underrated of all the westerns of the decade. Much before its time in the realm of bigotry and racism, it is truly a masterpiece. The black and white photography is magnificent, the scenery amazing, and Robert Taylor with very little makeup, is truly the Shoshone he plays, his features perfect for the part. Lance Poole comes back from the war fighting side by side with whites in the Union forces and winning the Congressional Medal of Honor. He has changed, thinking that the world has changed with him. He returns to Sweet Meadows, the land of his father, and only wants to build upon the land a cattle ranch. He does so successfully for 5 years until the white settlers come to homestead and he finds that because he is an Indian, he is not entitled to his own land. He hires a lawyer, played well by Paula Raymond, but she is also unable to change the laws which lead to bloody battles over the land, headed by another lawyer, Louis Calhern, a total bigot and instigator. Calhern is convincing as the lawyer who hates the success of the Indian, and plans his demise. As time goes along Lance realizes that nothing has changed and that he must make a last stand. Raymond tries to stop him, because she is drawn to him, and I suspect loves him, but the times would never allow her to be with him. She goes to him at the burned out ranch, and he embraces her telling her that she could never be with him, but maybe 100 years from now it would have been possible. The film was much ahead of its time, and I consider it to be one of the finest westerns ever made, and Taylor's performance one of sensitivity and strength. So overlooked it is a crime.

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6/10

Important movie, particularly for its time

blott2319-127 October 2021

I tend to enjoy when movies look at familiar movie themes and tropes but take a new angle on them. The Devil's Doorway follows along some well-trodden paths when it explores "cowboys & indians," but instead makes the protagonist a Native American. I love that a movie from 1950 was tackling the fact that these people weren't the enemy that they are often portrayed as in the movies, instead they were here first and what the colonizers did to them was horrifying. It also explores how those same people that were being disenfranchised had been used to help fight the white man's war. Sure, they cast a caucasian guy to play the main Shoshone man (which would be horribly chastised nowadays,) but it's still a bold story to tell in its time.

That being said, Devil's Doorway is far from a fun watch. We are forced to deal with awful realities of these things that never were dealt with in a proper fashion throughout America's history. I like that they introduce Paula Raymond as a rare female lawyer, because there are plenty of questions about the legality of things that happen in this movie, so she can guide us through that aspect of the story. She also acts as an audience surrogate of sorts, as she looks on and feels powerless to stop what seems so clearly unjust. I probably appreciated Devil's Doorway more than I enjoyed it. It's one of those times where I felt annoyed by what I knew was inevitably coming, but I still love that the story was told.

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10/10

Tough, honest, gritty and real, totally lacking in sentimentality.

mhall-173 February 2006

I saw this film as a teenager and immediately recognized it as the real thing. This movie had more atomic weight in its characters,setting, plot and theme than most other films of its time (and the year 1950 was indeed a most impressive time for westerns). Its frank and honest treatment of racism and injustice rang true from beginning to end. Taylor was ,as usual, a tough and gritty hero with three dimensions. Louis Calhern filled the role of chief villain and head bigot impeccably.The film was tough, honest, gritty and real; moreover, it was totally devoid of sentimentality or clichés. I wonder if it wouldeven have been made just two years later-during the McCarthy era.Robert Taylor had clearly evolved from a "pretty boy" leading man of the 1930s into a believable ,masculine hero for a tough-minded postwar film environment.

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7/10

the devil's doorway

mossgrymk30 July 2022

The conflict between the whites and Indians in this film comes in a distant second to the tug of war involving director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Altin's moody, menacing visuals and Guy Trosper's heavy handed, Hollywood liberal screenplay. The three lead actors are caught in the middle with Rat Fink Bob and Louis Calhern delivering effective studies in various shades of darkness while sexy, beautiful Paula Raymond is, like Trosper's script, heavy and humorless.

I am happy to report that, after a gargantuan struggle, Mann and Altin come out on top with that last shot of Taylor dying and falling out of frame as we pan to the aspen trees and Tetons looking like it influenced Peckinpah's ending in "Ride The High Country". Give it a B minus.

PS...Ironic that inter racial love between Taylor/Raymond is addressed here since, in real life, Raymond was married to Floyd Patterson. You can look it up.

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10/10

Amazing thought provoking film

climbingivy18 December 2014

Warning: Spoilers

Robert Taylor you are a superb, amazing actor who I enjoy.You are also good to look upon.I just watched this movie for the first time earlier today and I was entranced through every minute.The Devil's Doorway is a tender, tough piece of film that shows how inhumane the policy was back in the 1800s in regards to the American Indian.Sweet Meadow was a gorgeous,breathtaking holy place that the Shoshone Indians made their home.Then after the Civil War there was a new law invoked in the United States that made it illegal for Native Americans to own land.This is the story of a former Civil War soldier who fought for the Union and he was an American Indian.After the war ended he comes home to Wyoming to settle down and live for the rest of his life at Sweet Meadow.He meets with tyranny,hate and all out greed.The white man decides they are going to let sheep herders and their families take Sweet Meadow from the Indian tribe.You can guess what happens after that.This movie was intelligent,well acted,and beautiful to watch.I cannot say enough.Watch this gem if you can.I made a DVD from Turner Classic Movies and I watched the DVD today and I am glad that I did.If you watch this movie more than likely you will not be sorry.

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9/10

The law says an Indian ain't got no more rights than a dog.

hitchcockthelegend9 April 2010

Devil's Doorway is directed by Anthony Mann. It stars Robert Taylor as Lance Poole, a Shoshone Indian who returns home to Medicine-Bow from the American Civil War after a three year stint, and a veteran of three major conflicts. Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor he rightfully expects to be able to retire to a peaceful life back on the family land. However, all his hopes and dreams are shattered by bigotry and greed as new laws are ushered in to deprive the Native Indians land rights.

Biting and cutting, Devil's Doorway is a Civil Rights Western that, boldly for its time, looks at the injustices done to Native Americans. Very much grim in texture, it's no surprise to see Anthony Mann at the helm for this material. Mann of course would go on to become a Western genre darling for his run of "Adult Westerns" he would do with James Stewart. Prior to this Mann had showed himself to have a keen eye for tough pieces with dark themes in a few well regarded film noir movies. So this was right up his street, in fact a glance at his output shows him to be something of a master when it comes to showing minority groups sympathetically. MGM were nervous tho, unsure as if taking the Western in this direction was the way to go, they pulled it from release in 1949. But after the impact that Delmer Daves' similar themed Broken Arrow made the following year, they ushered it out and the film promptly got lost amongst the plaudits for the James Stewart starrer. That's a shame because this is fit to sit alongside the best work Mann has done.

Filmed in black & white, the film has beautiful landscapes that belie the bleak road the movie ultimately turns down. Shot on location at Aspen and Grand Junction in Colorado (the talented John Alton on cinematography), the film also manages to rise above its obvious eyebrow raising piece of casting. Robert Taylor always had his critics, hell I'm sometimes one of them, but here as he is cast against type as a Shoshone Indian, he gives the character conviction and a stoic nobility that really makes it work. Some of his scenes with the beautiful Paula Raymond (playing his lawyer Orrie Masters) are a lesson in maximum impact garnered from emotional restraint. You will be aware of the fluctuating skin pigmentation he has throughout the movie, but honestly look into his eyes and feel the confliction and loyalty and you really will not care.

Scripted by Guy Trosper (Birdman of Alcatraz), the screenplay is unflinching in showing how badly the Native Americans were treated. Throw that in with Alton's other gift, that of the dusty barren land shot, and you got a very film noir feel to the movie. Something which not only is unique, but something that also showed a shift in the Hollywood Oater. We now get brains to match the action and aesthetics of the Western movie. Not that this is found wanting for action, Mann doesn't short change here either, with a dynamite led offensive purely adrenaline pumping.

A fine fine movie, an important movie in fact. One that is in desperate need of more exposure. Still awaiting a widespread home format disc release, I quote Orrie Masters from the movie..."It would be too bad if we ever forget".... that applies to both the theme of the piece and the actual movie itself. 9/10

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5/10

Taylor Miscast

Garranlahan23 June 2006

Robert Taylor, a Hollywood workhorse if there ever was one, NEVER in over 30 years on the screen, put in a bad performance or one in which he failed to give everything he had--from heavily romantic roles, to fatuous 1930s comedies to Westerns to Toga & Sandal monstrosities to crime dramas and---you name it. And always to the level best of his ability. William Wellman, a crack director and one very, very tough and world-experienced hombre, said Taylor was the finest man he ever knew. But the problem Taylor faced in The Devil's Doorway was absolutely insurmontable, even for him. American Indians are Asiatics (which is abundantly clear from the many Indian faces which appear in the movie (not including his father, played by a Caucasian)). No one in the whole wide world looks less Asiatic or more Caucasian than Robert Taylor (with the possible exception of Burt Lancaster, who also, moronically, got saddled with a Noble Indian role). Indeed, in the original version of this movie, which was in color, blue-eyed Robert Taylor had the dubious distinction of playing the only full-blooded blue-eyed Shoshone in the history of the world. Throughout the movie all the experienced moviegoer could think while watching it was "There's Ol' Bob Taylor in blackface." It was like watching Louis Armstrong in whiteface. Ridiculous. Also, his English was without accent and clearly educated, upper-middle class White (mirroring what Taylor in fact was)---how could that possibly be?---while his Shoshone was limited to a few barked, incomplete commands. Nevertheless, Taylor did his usual faultless, yeoman-like job against hopeless credibility odds. The photography was outstanding, Paula Raymond---who, by the way, could not, as a woman, have been licensed to practice law---was breathtakingly beautiful (what ever happened to her?), and Louis Calhern, as always, was excellent. As for the story, that is something else again. Childish, good-guy spirit-loving, earth-loving Indians versus bad-guy avaricious, violent Caucasians. Yawn. That is not the way it was. The Indians did all but teach university-level courses in Violence and Avarice---which they practiced extensively on one another before and after the arrival of the Whites. But that's for another time.

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10/10

Mann's dark masterpiece about the tragic story of the American Indian

larma78 July 2011

Anthony Mann is a treasure of classic films and the Western genre. A craftsman who works in relative simplicity but manages to infuse his work with dark, psychological edges and bleakness, making for highly compelling cinema. "Devil's Doorway" is perhaps his greatest western -- I haven't managed to see them all yet. It's inexplicably under-seen, but it's one of the most cynical, gritty, violent, and largely un-sentimental westerns I have ever seen, a bitter indictment of the disgraceful treatment of the American Indian. The drama here is remarkably well-played in an often complex manner. The fact that this film was made in 1950 surely shows how ahead of its time it is as a socially progressive piece of work. Mann's outlook on injustice and humanity never being bleaker. There is no redemption to be found here -- no happy ending could ever come about.

Robert Taylor gives a strong, stirring, and impassioned performance here of an honorable man, betrayed and brutalized by the people around him and the country he distinguishably served. The script is absolutely dynamite, and I think here Mann has unequivocally showcased to me that he is cinematic master. Wonderful use of on location shooting, beautiful black and white, a great eye for composition that creates some powerful shots. His use of close-ups here is fantastic. There is even a brief but highly effective tracking shot at the end of the movie, where the camera follows Taylor's character from behind as he emerges out of the doorway and into the blazing gunfire. Just exquisite.

This is the best film I have seen from Mann yet, topping all 5 of the James Stewart westerns. Absolutely one of the great revisionist westerns. A masterpiece and in my top 5 westerns.

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8/10

I have a new "favorite" to add to my list

jdcoates_19994 July 2005

Warning: Spoilers

I just finished watching the VHS tape of the movie, "Devil's DOOR" and loved it. I was struck by how sympathetic to Native Americans it was being 1950. When judged against its contemporaries, it would certainly have raised a few eyebrows.

Also, I immediately saw parallels between the protagonist (Robert Taylor) having to fight racism against Indians on the home front after fighting for the USA gallantly in the Civil War, and African Americans who fought in WWII having to deal with the same in post war America. Again, another eye-brow raiser for its time.

Well paced, well acted, and uncompromising. I have a new favorite to add to my list.

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