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Customer Reviews of Custer's Last Stand

A 15-chapter serial climaxing in "Custer's Last Stand"
This version of "Custer's Last Stand" is actually a 15-chapter Western serial produced in 1936 and directed by Elmer Clifton. Chapters have such exciting titles as "Perils of the Plains," "Thundering Hoofs," "Fires of Vengeance," "Human Wolves," "Demons of Disaster," "White Treachery," "Circle of Death," "Custer's Last Ride" and "The Last Stand." Frank McGlynn plays Custer but the main hero of these adventures is his scout, Kit Cardigan, played by Rex Lease. The serial takes a nod towards the actual history of the Plains War by having a conflict between Indians and miners when gold is discovered on sacred Indian land. The main plot has to do with an Indian medicine arrow that is left behind after an Indian attack. Tom "Keen" Blade (Reed Howes) wants to learn where the gold is but the Indians will not tell him until he gets the arrow back. Consequently, Blade starts tracking down and killing the survivors, including John Cardigan, the father of Kit Cardigan (Lease plays both parts). Kit starts searching for his father's killer while Custer and the Seventh Calvary try to protect the settlers and head towards their destiny at the Little Big Horn at the climax of the serial.

The historical accuracy of "Custer's Last Stand" is certainly suspect but you have to appreciate the number of real people who are thrown into this serial. In additional to Custer and his senior officers Major Reno (Franklyn Farnum) and Captain Benteen (Lafe McKee), this film includes Will Bill Hickock (Allen Greer), Calamity Jane (Helen Gibson), Buffalo Bill Cody (Ted Adams), and Elizabeth Custer (Ruth Mix). I was also surprised to see that the Indians were played by actual Native Americans: Chief Sitting Bull was played by Howling Wolf and High Eagle played Crazy Horse. At least these were actors who were purported to be Native Americans. Chief Brown Fox was played by Iron Eyes Cody, who would achieve fame in the Seventies as the Indian who shed tears over America's blighted environment in a series of famous "Keep America Beautiful" ads; but Cody was born Espera DeCorti and was of Italian descent. Of course, Red Fawn, the Indian love interest of Kit Cardigan, is played by anglo actress Dorothy Gulliver.

All in all I thought this was an okay serial. The interpretations of Custer and the other "heroes" of the Old West are what you would expect them to be. The cliffhangers tend to be contrived, but that is to be expected with a serial; actually, that would be the whole point. The climatic battle actually ends up becoming a secondary consideration to Kit finding his father's killer, but the Battle of the Little Bighorn is actually intergrated into the overall story in a halfway decent way. If you have the opportunity you should watch "Custer's Last Stand" the way it was intended: one episode a day (restricting yourself to one each Saturday morning might be a bit much). Doing so will help you get into the spirit of the serial.