Warner Archives' 16:9 enhanced widescreen transfer is all over the map. Sometimes the image is impressively sharp compared to other Allied Artists titles owned by Warner Bros., but the Technicolor (AA's first domestic production in the format), varies from excellent to appallingly awful, for reasons unclear to this reviewer.

Three-time loser (gunfighter, gambler, and U.S. Cavalry deserter) Bart Laish (Hayden) has soldiers hot on his trail when he comes across a contingent of soldiers massacred by Indians. The sole (though terminally wounded) survivor turns out to be Laish's cousin, Maj. Andy Pepperis (Carleton Young), with whom he had trained at West Point. Pepperis, en route to lead a wagon train safely to Fort Taylor, begs Laish to catch up with the wagon train and take command, but Laish, hoping to hightail it to Oregon before the soldiers arrest him, wants no part of it.

Soon after, Laish reaches Fort Taylor, and finds everyone there dead, too, likewise murdered by Indians. This turns the tide and Laish dons the Major's uniform and, pretending to be Pepperis, catches up with the wagon train just as its bogged down by relentless Indian raids. Laish's impersonation fools second-in-command Lt. Steve King (Keith Larsen), pioneer woman Christella Burke (Coleen Gray), and shady trade wagon owner Tillotson (Tudor Owen), but not veteran scout Crowshaw (Tom Tully, in a good performance), who quickly sees through Laish's masquerade. Nonetheless, Crowshaw goes along with the ruse as Laish's strategies for dealing with the Indians are slightly more promising than King's and less likely to get everyone killed.

The film is a decent mix of action-suspense as Laish and his newly-adopted wagon train face one crisis, one attack after another, and Laish's internal struggle trying to maintain the illusion to all those around him that he's Pepperis, using the late major's authority to keep everyone alive, and thus bringing Laish a kind of redemption, making up for his wasted life. Hayden, one of the great, underrated actors, brought to the role all kinds of weighty, recent baggage, Hayden having "named names" before the House Un-American Activities Committee, later admitting in his autobiography, "I don't think you have the foggiest notion of the contempt I have had for myself since the day I did that thing."

Arrow in the Dust is fairly routine in other respects, though ex-Monogram singing cowboy Jimmy Wakely's song, "The Weary Stranger," neatly fits right in with the narrative, and a few welcome faces, including Lee Van Cleef, Iron Eyes Cody, and Sheb Wooley, turn up in small, uncredited parts.

Video & Audio

Presented in 1.78:1 enhanced widescreen, approximating its original 1.85:1 release format, the transfer alternates between a very sharp, impressive image with excellent color to softer, inferior chunks where the color is terrible when not downright bizarre. This is most apparent in the action-packed climax, when the nearly cloudless daytime skies are sometimes a rich blue, and in other shots everything is bright orange (rather than magenta, suggesting a faded negative). The color timing seems way off. Long nighttime scenes, shot day-for-night, are very dark some of the time, while elsewhere everything is timed as if it were broad daylight. Why this beleaguered transfer looks as it does is anyone's guess. Maybe the WB employee doing the transfer fell asleep on the job, or perhaps the elements were in terrible shape, and this was the best they could come up with. In any case, the mono audio, English only with no alternate audio or subtitle options, is acceptable, and the disc is region-free. No Extra Features.

Parting Thoughts

Not bad at all, Arrow in the Dust is Recommended.

Stuart Galbraith IV is the Kyoto-based film historian and publisher-editor of World Cinema Paradise. His credits include film history books, DVD and Blu-ray audio commentaries and special features.