War Paint casts Robert Stack as a cavalry lieutenant with a mission to deliver a peace treaty, presumably a draft to the Indians. With Sergeant Charles McGraw, Stack leads a patrol to deliver said peace treaty. The chief's son Keith Larsen is to guide them through the rough desert country, but Larsen and his sister Joan Taylor have their own mission. They actually don't believe the white man's peace treaty, there's such an incredible track record on the subject and they're going to sabotage the mission.

Such stalwart characters actors as John Doucette, Robert J. Wilke, Peter Graves, Douglas Kennedy, and Paul Richards make up some of the patrol. When the water is sabotaged and the discipline breaks down the cast starts dying off for one reason or another.

I do have to say though why no one thought better of the fact that Keith Larsen was in War Paint as he started the mission I'm a bit perplexed at the writers for that.

War Paint gets pretty ugly at times as the men go off their nuts for lack of water and an abundance of heat. It's a gritty no frill western with great cinematography from Death Valley. It could have been a whole lot better though.

War Paint is directed by Lesley Selander and adapted to screenplay by Richard Alan Simmons and Martin Berkeley. It stars Robert Stack, Charles McGraw, Joan Taylor, Peter Graves, Keith Larsen, Robert Wilke and Walter Reed. Music is by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman, and cinematography by Gordon Avil.

A cavalry patrol trying to deliver a peace treaty to Gray Cloud are being destroyed from within by an Indian brother and sister.

Paper of lies!

Filmed out of the superb presence of Death Valley, War Paint is as solid as one of that location's rocks. The title hints at some cheapo "B" Oater, the kind that is all hooray and jingoistic as the cavalry mow down the Indians, but that is not the case. Though an air of familiarity exists, with the core of the story about an army unit literally dying out in the desert, with saboteurs operating within, there's a two sides of the coin pinch in the narrative, with dialogue nicely written with thought and sincerity. Opening with a scalping, drama and suspense is never far away, so as the group implode, with suspicions, thirst and gold fever taking a hold, the viewer is always intrigued as to who will survive and will the treaty ever reach its destination? Plus you may find yourself feeling very thirsty during the viewing...

Very nicely performed and handled with underrated tidy hands by Selander, this is well worth a look by Western fans. 7/10

WAR PAINT 1953

This 1953 western was a Bel Air Production released through United Artists. The cast includes, Robert Stack, Keith Larsen, Charles McGraw, Robert Wilke, Douglas Kennedy, Joan Taylor, Peter Graves, Paul Richards and John Doucette.

A Lieutenant in the U.S. Calvary, Robert Stack, is assigned to deliver a peace treaty to a US government official. The official is then to forward the treaty to the chief of an Apache tribe. What Stack does not know is that the Government type and his escort are all dead. The Chief's son, Keith Larsen and daughter, Joan Taylor, have other ideas about the treaty. They have ambushed and killed the Government man and his escort. The pair really want war between the whites and the Apache.

Not finding the Government type at the trading post meeting place, Stack decides to deliver the treaty himself. And as it so happens, the Chief's son, Larsen, is there and offers to lead Stack and his small patrol to his father. The treaty is time sensitive and must be delivered within 9 days. Larsen tells Stack that it will take 6 days to reach the native village.

Being Death Valley, the Cavalry loads up with full canteens and some pack horses with several casks of extra water. Of course things start to go wrong the further they go into the desert. A rock fall smashes most of the water casks. An important load with their maps is lost over a cliff etc.

Stack suspects that the Indian, Larsen might be the guilty party, but he is always in sight when the "accidents" happen. Of course the viewer knows it is really Larsen's sister, Miss Taylor doing the deeds. She is trailing the patrol at a distance during the day and doing a bit of sabotage at night.

With their water nearly exhausted, Larsen offers to take then to a water hole, but it will delay the trip to the village by a day. The day is wasted because the water hole is dried up. That night all their horses take off and the group is now on foot. Stack is bound and determined to deliver the treaty. The men now stumble onto a small water hole. The hole however is full of bad water which one of the men drinks. The man, Paul Richards is soon dead.

One of troopers now goes of his rocker from lack of water and blows out his brains. Now Stack finds out that the Indian, Larsen has been leading them in a big circle. A sound beating from several of the troopers soon has Larsen coughing up what he has done. He wants a bloody conflict so all the tribes will join in driving the whites out. Another of the troopers now steps up and shoots Larsen dead before Stack can stop him.

Stack and his Sgt, Charles McGraw now decide to send one man ahead to deliver the documents. They give the man, Douglas Kennedy all the remaining water and will follow as best they can. Kennedy however is ambushed the next day by Larsen's sister, Taylor. There is brisk exchange of rounds with Kennedy going down for the count. Kennedy though manages to pink Taylor in the forehead knocking her out.

Needless to say Stack and the others find Taylor and the dead trooper. Stack quickly puts two and two together and puts Taylor under guard. The men however are all going a tad wacko from lack of water. Several of the men, Wilkie, Graves and Doucette are all for having their way with the woman.

Taylor tells Stack that she will take them to some nearby water. She leads them up the hills to an old mine and tells them there is a well inside. Most of the men rush inside for a look. What they find is not water, but piles of gold. The men of course are now overwhelmed with gold lust. They decide to kill Stack and Sgt McGraw, then "force" Taylor to really lead them to water. Then they will load up on gold and disappear.

Stack collects a round in the arm before he can talk sense into Graves and company. Miss Taylor now decides it would be in her best interest to really show the men the water spring. The men's thirst for water is slackened, but not their thirst for gold. Rifles and pistols are pulled and shots ring out. The only survivors are Stack, Miss Taylor and Peter Graves. It takes a full-fledged knockdown, drag out fistfight, followed by a battle with knives before Graves is finished off.

Miss Taylor has now decided to change teams and helps Stack deliver the treaty to her father.

This well-crafted B western was directed by veteran programmer man, Lesley Selander. Between 1936 and1968, Selander worked on 145 diff films and television series.

This Pathecoler film was shot on location in Death Valley and is well worth a watch imo.

Producers Howard W Koch and Aubrey Schenck would score with a whole series of well-made B western, war and noir films during the 1950's. These include BIGHOUSE USA, FORT YUMA, CANYON CROSSROADS, THREE BAD SISTERS, GHOST TOWN, CRIME AGAINST JOE, HOT CARS, TOMAHAWK TRAIL, WAR DRUMS and HELL BOUND.