The Warner Archive Collection has packaged together Devil’s Doorway, Westward the Women, Ivanhoe, and The Last Hunt in the Robert Taylor 4-Film Collection. All of the packaged films have previously been released on Blu-ray.

Warner Archive has been rather busy releasing Blu-ray collections with some of the stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Other collections include Errol Flynn, Gene Kelly, James Cagney, Greta Garbo, Gary Cooper, Elizabeth Taylor, Clark Gable, Doris Day, and James Stewart. Upcoming collections include Spencer Tracy, Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, and Tennessee Williams. Many of the included films have been previously released on Blu-ray, but it’s nice to have them all together in one set.

I haven’t had an opportunity to watch any of the films in the Robert Taylor 4-Film Collection but I will be making the time to do so soon.

Devil’s Doorway

Synopsis

Shoshone tribesman and Civil War hero Lance Poole (Robert Taylor) returns home with a Congressional Medal of Honor on his chest and a saddlebag full of dreams about prospering as a cattleman on his family’s land. But Native Americans have no citizenship, no property rights. The courts, despite the efforts of Lane’s attorney (Paula Raymond) offer no remedy. Lance and his people must fight to keep their land. Devil’s Doorway, the first of the dozen or so groundbreaking Westerns by auteur filmmaker Anthony Mann (The Naked Spur) is one of the earliest films sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans, standing alongside the same year’s Broken Arrow. Perhaps not coincidentally, Lane Poole’s tribal name is Broken Lance.

Bonus Features

• Classic Cartoons:
  • THE CHUMP CHAMP
  • CUE-BALL CAT
• Original Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Anthony Mann
SCREENWRITER: Guy Trosper
CAST: Robert Taylor, with Louis Calhern, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, James Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Rhys Williams, Spring Byington, James Millican

Westward the Women

Synopsis

They are rugged pioneers and brave trailblazers who tame the wild west. These are the women of the great frontier — that’s right — the women! Based on historical record, this wagon-train saga details a 2,000-mile journey from Chicago to California. The men seek gold; the women seek matrimony. Both strike pay dirt! Buck Wyatt (Robert Taylor) is a tough, experienced scout who leads a wagon train comprised of two ex-showgirls (Denise Darcel and Julie Bishop), a hearty widow (Beverly Dennis) and fifteen men who act as guides. When one of the men disobeys Buck’s orders not to fraternize with the ladies, Buck shoots him, causing the others to desert. Instead of turning back, the determined women insist on going on, learning to ride, shoot, and drive mules. Although treacherous terrain and a deadly ambush lay ahead, these tough ladies are filled with the American frontier spirit, and nothing will stop them! Based on a story by Frank Capra, and directed by signature gusto by the masterful William Wellman, Westward the Women is a cinematic masterpiece.

Bonus Features

• Audio Commentary by Scott Eyman
• Vintage M-G-M featurette Challenge of the Wilderness
• LUX RADIO THEATER Broadcast 12/29/52 with Robert Taylor
• M-G-M cartoons:
  • TEXAS TOM
  • THE DUCK DOCTOR
• Original Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: William A. Wellman
SCREENWRITERS: Charles Schnee
CAST: Robert Taylor, Denise Darcel, with Hope Emerson, John McIntire, Julie Bishop, Lenore Lonergan, Henry Nakamura, Marilyn Erskine

Ivanhoe

Synopsis

Stand and pledge loyalty — or prepare to lie cold beneath your shields. Chivalrous knight Wilfrid of Ivanhoe is determined to restore Richard the Lionhearted to England’s throne. Gallantry and costumed pageantry combine in this crowd-pleasing nominee for 3 Academy Awards , including Best Picture. Robert Taylor plays the title role, and Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine also star in a rousing adaptation of Sir Walter Scott’s novel. The film’s jousting tournament is a galloping display of steeds and stouthearted men. Most spectacular of all is the siege of Torquilstone Castle, a wave-after-wave combat of arrows, fire, boulders, battering rams and blades. To the battlements!

Bonus Features

• Cartoon: The Two Mousketeers
• Theatrical Trailer

DIRECTOR: Richard Thorpe
SCREENWRITERS: Noel Langley
CAST: Robert Taylor, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Emlyn Williams, with Robert Douglas, Finlay Currie, Felix Aylmer, Francis DeWolff, Norman Wooland, Basil Sydney, and Guy Rolfe

The Last Hunt

Robert Taylor (Quo Vadis) and Stewart Granger (The Prisoner of Zenda) team up in this “grim, fierce, raw-boned outdoor fare” (Variety) filmed on location in rugged Custer State Park, North Dakota. Charlie Gilson (Taylor), a mean-spirited hunter, joins reserved Sandy McKenzie (Granger) on a great government-sanctioned buffalo hunt that will keep the buffalo population under control and make the men rich. Joining them are Woodfoot, an old, one-legged skinner (Lloyd Nolan), and Jimmy (Russ Tamblyn), a half-Indian boy. But trouble begins to break the team apart when Charlie kills a group of Indians whom he accuses of stealing his horses. Charlie’s subsequent mistreatment of the lone survivors — an Indian woman and her child — forces Sandy to realize that his partner is consumed with hate…and that he enjoys killing more than just buffalo. “Raw, real and rugged” (L.A. Examiner), The Last Hunt is so intense and powerful that its stark images will stay with you long after the film ends.

Bonus Features

• MGM Parade TV Promo #1
• MGM Parade TV Promo #2
• Trailer

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Richard Brooks
CAST: Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan, Debra Paget, Russ Tamblyn, with Constance Ford, Joe DeSantis, Ainslie Pryor, Ralph Moody,

The James Stewart 4-Film Collection is available on Blu-ray.

Please subscribe to The Solzy Report and visit Dugout Dirt.