Customer Reviews

Proud Rebel [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the story of a Southern father, played by Alan Ladd, who is heading North (just after the Civil War) to find medical treatment for his mute son, played by David Ladd. The boy underwent some trauma during the war that has left him unable to speak. When the elder Ladd gets into trouble, farmwoman Olivia de Havilland bails him out with the judge, leading to his working on her farm to pay off the debt. She's having trouble with her neighbour Dean Jagger, so she needs all the help she can get. The Proud Rebel is a well made family western, with a little more emphasis on the family than on the western. Since they were, of course, a real life father and son, the Ladds have an excellent, real chemistry together on screen as well, with much quiet emotion. The younger Ladd is especially good in his role, delivering a very natural, believable performance. As the independent farmwoman, Olivia de Havilland may not seem to be the likely choice, but she is terrific in her characterization, bringing a mixture of warmth and toughness to her, as well as some good chemistry with both the Ladds. Director Michael Curtiz balances the action with the family relationships and sentiment, and the result is a film well worth viewing.

Proud Rebel is a fine story. Alan Ladd and his son are perfect in their roles; the senior Ladd bringing to Rebel much of the same characterization he brought to "Shane." A good watch, and worth having in a home library.

Alan Ladd is a veteran who has returned from the war to find his house destroyed, his wife dead and his son missing. He finally locates his son in an orphanage, but his son is so traumatized from watching his mother killed and his home destroyed that he cannot utter a single word.

Ladd packs up what is left of the family treasures (he was, before the war, a well-to-do man) and sets out, consulting one doctor after another, trying to find one who can cure his son.

His search leads him to a small town where a lone woman owns a farm. This strong-willed woman is played, oddly enough, by Olivia de Havilland, and she plays the part as convincingly as all the sweet-woman roles she has played. When he hears of a doctor in Rochester, Minnesota who might be able to cure his son, Olivia volunteers to take the boy there, while Ladd guards the farm from a neighbor who has been trying to force the woman out and grab her land.

There are surprises and a tense action sequence at the end. Unlike the Amazon spoiler, I won't tell you how it comes out. But it's a satisfying and convincing ending.

The son, by the way, is played by David Ladd, Alan's real-life son. David said in a documentary on Alan Ladd that playing that movie with his father was one of the high points of his life. See Alan Ladd: True Quiet Man. It's a must for all fans of Alan Ladd and for those who wonder why this magnetic actor was so under-used and wasted by the studio system.

First a word about 'gray market' DVDs--

Often, transfers are not of the highest quality. The movies themselves are unrestored and rarely pristine (but still watchable), extras are non-existent and inclusion of artwork or liner notes varies by manufacturer.

Michael Curtiz's THE PROUD REBEL is a family-oriented western. This high-quality production stars Alan Ladd, his 11-year-old son David and Olivia de Havilland, who as sheep rancher Linnett Moore accurately appears without noticeable makeup or modern hairstyle.

The Ladds portray father and son, John and David Chandler. David hasn't spoken a word since he witnessed his mother's death in a Civil War fire incident. John thinks some doctor somewhere can cure the boy. In their wanderings up north, John gets into a fight caused by others, and an unsympathetic judge sentences him to either pay a fine or spend 30 days in jail. Miss Moore makes a deal with John to cover his fine in exchange for a month's work on her ranch. A close friendship develops from this employment contract.

When the obligation to her is fulfilled, John elects to stay on with Linnett after her barn is torched by the sons (Stanton and Pittman) of Harry Burleigh (Jagger), the rancher who got him in trouble with the law. John asks Linnett to take David to a doctor in Rochester, Minn. while he guards her home, but needs to quickly raise three hundred dollars travel expenses. He sells David's dog, Lance without the boy's knowledge.

David undergoes an apparently unsuccessful surgery in Minnesota and returns only to learn that his beloved pet is gone. To set things right with his angry son, John searches for the dog and finds that Burleigh now owns it. He goes to Burleigh's place to buy Lance back but the rancher and his sons have set a deadly ambush for him. The still-mute David sees that his father may get shot to death and struggles to catch his attention, but fails...

Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(6.6) The Proud Rebel (1958) - Alan Ladd/Olivia de Havilland/David Ladd/Dean Jagger/Cecil Kellaway/Harry Dean Stanton/Tom Pittman (cameos: John Carradine/Mary Wickes/Percy Helton)

The Reel Enterprises issue of this film has the initials "RE" prominently writen right on the film all the way through it, or as far as I watched it before returning it. The color was also faded. After returning it for that reason, I bought the Synergy Ent. version. The color is far better. Although the issuing company also put some writing right on the screan, it is very light and not nearly as distracting as the RE version. The film itself is excellant, very reminiscent of "The Yearling" in its tone. Fine acting all around. Ruining a movie by putting your name or initials, or other writing on it, is not acceptable when it is done on television, but when you are purchasing a movie it is intolerable.

This review is for "The Proud Rebel" released by studio `Reel Enterprises' with the release date of May 22, 2007 via DVD-R.

First of all, let me state this is a wonderful, family-friendly western. Others have already reviewed the storyline and acting, which are both superb. Therefore, I will direct my review to the quality of the manufacturing production sources and quality by this distributor.

Since I do not know what their source material is, all I have to go by are my rather tired eyes, but they are also the eyes of a western genre lover who grew up with my western heroes in the theaters and on TV.

Secondly, I am using last year's top of the line Samsung Blu-Ray player which up-scales 480i Standard DVDs (SDVD) up to 1080p and are being shown on Samsung's last year's near-top-of-the-line model capable of 5 million to 1 contrast ratio, far beyond the capabilities of my poor old eyes. So, that is the equipment I am using for my evaluation.

Video Quality: I must state when comparing the video quality of this SDVD western to other similar movies, this one is comparable to watching a second-generation dubbed movie from an old VHS source. Also, they have chosen to pour salt into the wound by displaying their company logo "RE" in the lower right-hand corner of the screen throughout the entire movie. It is frustrating enough to see commercials before the start of SDVD and Blu-Ray movies we purchase, but when they also superimpose their logos onto the screen like some of the cable channels do, it is downright criminal. I've spent my hard-earned money to own a pristine copy of the original movie. I also don't want any commercial advertisement superimposed onto the screen! What I received is a poor quality reproduction with their logo shown throughout!

The movie was originally shot in Technicolor with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Yet, it is obvious this release has not been remastered. The color shifts throughout the movie and detail has been lost over time. `Reel Enterprises' may be using modern production equipment, but if their source material is not up to par, it will show up on the screen and it does.

MGM now owns the distribution rights in the U.S. and I have emailed them asking they consider restoring this to Blu-ray quality and releasing it again. I have read elsewhere MGM did restore this a few years ago, but I have not been able to find one of their restored SDVD versions yet.

So, my advice is to pay attention to which distributor/studio has released the SDVD version you are considering purchasing, because if you are like me, you demand a picture and sound quality better than we got 20 years ago with our old VHS recorders. This "RE" DVD-R version does not measure up what a good quality VHS recorder could do in its hay day. I rate the movie a 4 of 5, but the quality of this DVD-R release a 1 star production.

"HBO" Edition of this movie has Clear Video and Sound Quality. I recommend purchasing "HBO" dvds instead of most of these unknow/little-known companies that appear to be making bad copies of vhs tapes (this is my opinion only).

My husband and I went to a theater in Toas New Mexico. That was in August of 1958. We enjoyed the movie very much. I'm sure we will enjoy having it to watch again.

I already had a copy of the more expensive DVD of this film, but had been disappointed with it because the color was rather faded. Since I love The Proud Rebel, I took a chance and bought this new, less expensive DVD and was very pleasantly surprised to find that the color has been restored! This copy of the film is much more satisfying to watch.

Other reviewers have given a good synopsis of the story. I'd just like to add that this is a quality film suitable for the whole family. Olivia DeHaviland is excellent as always, David Ladd is adorable and touching as the young boy who is mute, and Alan Ladd gives a subdued and poignant performance as the proud former Confederate soldier searching for a cure for his son. The scenes between Ladd and his real-life son are heartfelt and genuine. The final close-up of Alan Ladd's face, tears of happiness and relief in his eyes at the satisfying conclusion is exquisite.

This particular DVD version of The Proud Rebel is very nicely priced and well worth having. I highly recommend it.

I watched this movie last night and though a good family movie with very good actors and actress, it reminded me too much of Shane. The story was about a fathers love for his son and what he would do to restore his sons voice. I thought this was a little overdone, but that is just my opinion. Olivea de Havilland plays the female rancher who comes to love them both. I am a romantic so like happy endings and was not dissapointed. A good movie for the time you want a family movie for all ages. Don't expect it to have the power of Shane.