Devil's Doorway
Devil's Doorway is a 1950 American Western film directed by Anthony Mann for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern and Paula Raymond. Taylor portrays a Native American who returns home from the American Civil War a hero, having been awarded the Medal of Honor. However, his hopes for a peaceful life are shattered by bigotry and greed. The only film project Jacques Tourneur ever turned down in his whole career.
Plot
Lance Poole, a Shoshone veteran of the Civil War and Medal of Honor recipient, returns to his home in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, to something a far cry from a hero's welcome. The mostly-white townspeople resent the fact that Poole and his father own a large and valuable piece of land. A doctor refuses to treat Poole's father, who dies, while Poole himself is unable to even buy a drink in the local saloon. Bigoted attorney Verne Coolan uses a loophole in a law regarding homesteaders to strip Poole of his property. Poole turns to a woman lawyer, Orrie Masters, for help, telling her, "It's hard to explain how an Indian feels about the land. ... My father said the Earth is our mother." However, she fails to acquire the necessary petition signatures they need to overturn the law.
More details
| author | Guy Trosper |
|---|---|
| contentLocation | Wyoming |
| director | Anthony Mann |
| editor | Conrad A. Nervig |
| genre | western |
| keywords | american civil war civil war greet homestead homesteader medal of honor sergeant major shoshone survive u.s. cavalry united states cavalry woman lawyer wound |
| musicBy | Daniele Amfitheatrof |
| producer | Nicholas Nayfack |
| productionCompany | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| publisher | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| recordedAt | Colorado |