DIE SCHLACHT AM BLAUEN BERGE (1936). Tinted

DIE SCHLACHT AM BLAUEN BERGE is a 1936 feature-length German-language version of the 1930 serial, THE INDIANS ARE COMING. It is a standalone feature film from the 1930 serial with one of the great stars of the early Westerns: Tim McCoy. THE INDIANS ARE COMING was shown from October 10, 1930, until December 26, 1930. As this was also the time of the epochal change from silent films to talkies, this serial was released in two different versions: once as a silent film for cinemas that had not yet converted to the new sound technology, and also as a talkie. The lavishly staged series was produced by Universal Pictures, which provided a budget of $160,000 for its production, which was quite generous at the time. The series is based on the book. THE GREAT WEST THAT WAS, written by the legendary Buffalo Bill Cody, whose life was itself the basis for various film adaptations.

PLOT:
The storv focuses on cowboy Jack Manning (Tim McCoy), who is sent from California to a city in the Midwest by his friend George Woods (Francis Ford) to bring George's brother Tom (also Francis Ford) and his daughter Mary (Allene Ray) to California, as George had become a wealthy man through gold discoveries. In addition to a letter and a bag full of gold, George also gave Jack a photo of his granddaughter, with whom Jack has already fallen in love. When he arrives at his destination, Jack thwarts the plans of the sleazy Rance Carter, who also has his eye on Mary. Rance joins the train that is supposed to take Tom, Mary and Jack to California and does everything he can to get rid of his rival and also get his hands on the gold himself.

PRODUCTION:
The production was supervised by William Lord Wright (1879 - 1947), one of Universal's top authors, and who had already supervised a number of serials. The other key man in this production was Henry MacRae, who was born on August 29, 1876 in Toronto, Canada. MacRae was one of the pioneers of the American film business and made 164 films between 1912 and 1933, wrote the screenplays for a few dozen films himself, and also directed 66 productions, including this series. Wright and MacRae had already worked together in 1928 on HOOFBEATS OF VENGEANCE and the following year on THE HARVEST OF HATE. However, although THE BATTLE OF BLUE MOUNTAIN was extremely successful, their collaboration ended with this production and Wright began to largely withdraw from the film business.

CAST DETAILS:
Things get interesting when one takes a closer look at the cast list for this film. It becomes clear that Universal has used many actors from the pioneering days of film for this production. The biggest name on the cast list is certainly Tim McCoy, who was a highly decorated soldier in World War I and World War II. But McCoy was also a great rodeo rider, close friends with many Native Americans, and had his own western show. From 1925 onwards, McCoy was the star of numerous westerns. The female lead went to Allene Ray, who is largely forgotten today, but who was one of the stars of silent film in the 1920s due to her beauty. However, Ray's career quickly ebbed with the triumph of sound film because her voice was not well received on screen. A fate that also befell Edmund Cobb. Nevertheless, Cobb is still one of the well-known faces in film history, having appeared in well over 600 films, often uncredited, such as in Orson Wells' masterpiece CITIZEN KANE (1941). Cobb had been working in the film business since 1912 and was first married to Helen Hayes, who was one of the early female stars of cinema. On July 24, 1934, Cobb married Vivian Marie Winter, with whom he had been married for 40 years. Vivian died two days after their 40th wedding anniversary, and Edmund just 20 days later, on August 15, 1974, of a heart attack. Francis Ford, who plays a double role here, is another important name on the cast list, for Francis is not only the older brother of directing legend John Ford, but also brought him into the film business and was initially his mentor. Francis himself began his Hollywood career in 1909 and appeared in almost 500 productions. Between 1912 and 1928, Francis Ford directed 180 films, also working with his son Phil. Francis' face is known from numerous films by his brother John, who gave him mostly small roles in many of his works. Francis Ford died on December 5, 1953 at the age of 72 in Los Angeles.

THE GERMAN COMPILATION:
The compilation of the original 12-part seral, with total running time of 3 hours 20 minutes, was edited down to 76 minutes. The dubbing is the original version from 1936. The black and white, now tinted, image is in the 1:1.18 format that was common at the time. The only language option is the German dubbed version. Unfortunately, there are no subtitles.

Hopefully in the near future we will try to find a good copy of the original INDIANS ARE COMING and download it to this site.