Must See Movie...

Highly Overrated But Still Good

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Undoubtedly one of the most accomplished and most interesting of Curtiz's later movies, this one re-united him with the brilliant cinematographer, Ted McCord. In fact the color photography is always so visually attractive that the players face an uphill battle to compete with the breathtaking scenery. That they actually manage to do this is a tribute not only to their own acting skills, but to director Curtiz. De Havilland handles her character role with total authority, Ladd plays with conviction and sincerity in what is possibly his best performance ever, while Dean Jagger is so memorably vicious as the heavy it's hard to believe it's the same guy who delivered such a ridiculously bland characterization of a Clayton's general in Curtiz's big 1954 hit, White Christmas.Nonetheless, it's young David Ladd who easily walks away with the movie's acting honors and deservedly won the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 1958 award for the most outstanding performance by a juvenile. Technical credits are equally accomplished. Add to Curtiz's bravura direction and McCord's striking camerawork, the powerful music score of Jerome Moross.

Terrific western with David Ladd stealing the show as a lad whose vocal chords were paralyzed after he witnessed the death of his mother during the civil war.Dad Alan Ladd, who portrays David's father in the film, looks for every way possible for his son's voice to be restored.After meeting up with Olivia De Havilland in a chance meeting when he is jailed and the tables turned on him by an evil Dean Jagger and his sons, the latter trying to wrestle control of Linnett's farm so that they may extend their sheep herding.Lassie film lovers move over. The boy is enamored with his dog Lance and Ladd sells the dog to pay for an operation that appeared to be unsuccessful.Naturally, the dog was sold to Jagger who plots to kill dad Ladd after promising him that he can have the "worthless" dog back, only to want to kill the Ladd character as a dog stealer.Emotion abounds in the film as De Havilland comes to love the Ladd character and the boy.Co-starring Eli Mintz, of the television "The Goldberg's fame as a store keeper. Cecil Kellaway is appealing as a Quaker doctor.

I grew up watching "Family Classics with Frazier Thomas", a program that featured a wide variety of family friendly movies. This was one of them(so was TOBOR THE GREAT but we won't get into that-I just finished reviewing that clunker a few minutes ago). Alan Ladd plays Civil War veteran John Chandler, who is seeking treatment for his mute son(played by real-life son David Ladd), and meets up with a town spinster (Olivia DeHavilland), who takes both of them in when Chandler is falsley accused of starting a brawl, facing thirty days in the town jail. In the meantime, a sheep herder (Dean Jagger) and his juvenile-delinquent sons attempt to force DeHavilland off her ranch. Chandler must also make the tough choice to sell young David's beloved dog to a breeder in order to pay for his treatment.The performances are first-rate. Alan and David have one of the best father-son chemistries in movie history-(along with Jon Voight and Ricky Schroeder in THE CHAMP twenty or so years later). Also, Olivia DeHavilland, Dean Jagger, and veteran actor Harry Dean Stanton help make this one a must-see for all. Even horror veteran John Carradine makes a cameo appearance in the opening scene.Sadly, this family classic makes the untimely death of Alan Ladd a few years later all the more tragic. Rating: ****1/2 out of *****

'The Proud Rebl' has some heartwarming moments involving a boy and his strong loyalty to his dad and his dog--but it is not quite satisfying in that the Ladd-de Havilland relationship is never completely explored. A stronger dose of romance might have livened up some of the slower moments. Children will be drawn to the theme of boy/dog and man/son relationships--but adults may find it not quite as heartwarming as it strives to be. Ladd plays a tight-lipped man ready to brawl when he has to -- Shane in a minor key -- and David Ladd is the mute son traumatized by the death of his mother in a fire. De Havilland has some good moments as the woman who has both Ladds on her farm, helping her deal with villainous neighbor (Dean Jagger) and his outlaw sons. The technicolor photography makes the most of Utah locations and the background score by Jerome Moross is distinctive--but somehow the overall effect is simply that of a low-key family film, "a man, a boy and a dog" sort of thing that falls short of its intended mark. The missing element seems to be romance--it is barely hinted at in the relationship and should have been emphasized more, for there is good chemistry between Ladd and de Havilland and this would have given the story the adult appeal that it lacks.