Movies

James Craig stars as Indian scout Jonathan, whose pro-Native American sentiments do not rest well with crooked civilian Indian agent Jim Sawyer (Dean Jagger), who intends to benefit from an impending tribal uprising.

Court-martialed on a trumped-up charge fomented by Sawyer, Jonathan escapes the stockade with the help of a friendly sergeant and rides off to Washington DC, hoping to forestall an all-out Indian war. En route, he makes the acquaintance of Sawyer's snooty fiancee Christine (Lucille Ball), forcing her into a marriage.

After juggling comedy and melodrama for nearly eight reels, the film turns serious towards the climax, when the fate of the protagonists falls into the hands of level-headed Indian chieftan Cochise (Antonio Moreno) and his hotheaded rival Geronimo (Tom Tyler).

Special Notes: A July 1941 news item in Hollywood Reporter notes that Dorothy Comingore was slated as the female lead, but illness forced her replacement by Lucille Ball. The film was shot on location in Arizona and in Santa Fe and Taos, NM, and employed Indians from the Taos, Santa Clara, Jemes, San Juan and Tesuque pueblos in New Mexico.