Two Flags West
| Two Flags West | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Wise |
| Screenplay by | Casey Robinson |
| Story by | Frank S. Nugent Curtis Kenyon |
| Produced by | Casey Robinson |
| Starring | Joseph Cotten Linda Darnell Jeff Chandler Cornel Wilde |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Louis Loeffler |
| Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Color process | Black and white |
Production company | 20th Century Fox |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Two Flags West is a 1950 Western drama set during the American Civil War, directed by Robert Wise and starring Joseph Cotten, Jeff Chandler, Linda Darnell, and Cornel Wilde. The opening credits contain the following statement:
On December 8th, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued a Special Proclamation, whereby Confederate Prisoners of War might gain their freedom, provided they would join the Union Army to defend the frontier West against the Indians.
Based on the historical service of "Galvanized Yankees", the film tells the story of a company of imprisoned Confederate Army cavalry troopers given such amnesty. The company of Georgia veterans journeys to a remote New Mexico post commanded by an embittered, Southerner-hating major who expects them to desert at the first opportunity. The fulfilment of that expectation is challenged by an attack on the fort itself by Kiowa.
Two Flags West was one of a wave of Civil War reconciliation-themed Westerns in the 1950s, in which soldiers from North and South combine against a common foe: it included Rocky Mountain (1950), The Last Outpost (1951), Escape from Fort Bravo (1953), and Revolt at Fort Laramie (1957).