Young Daniel Boone
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Reginald Leborg
David Bruce
Kristine Miller
Damian O'flynn
Don Beddoe
Mary Treen
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In the early 1750s, the French and British are locked in a bitter struggle for control of the Ohio Valley. To further their cause, the French incite the Iroquois Indians to attack the British colonists, and in 1755, a British regiment is massacred by a group led by a local Indian chief. Among the few survivors are Lt. Col. Baron Kurt von Arnheim, a Hessian officer serving in the British Army, Charlie Bryan, a civilian trader from Philadelphia, and the mortally wounded Lt. Perkins. Before he dies from his injuries, Perkins tells von Arnheim that the Indians were led by whites. Von Arnheim decides that he must get this information to Col. Benson at British headquarters, but is stymied because the Indians are holding Bryan's two daughters, Rebecca and Helen, prisoner. Meanwhile, another survivor, Pvt. Haslet, has managed to reach Benson with news of the massacre, and the colonel sends Daniel Boone to scout for other survivors. Benson also assigns Capt. Richard Fraser to take dispatches to Gen. Braddock at Fort Stuart. Soon after the traitorous Fraser sets off on foot with an Indian scout, he kills the scout and then destroys Benson's request for reinforcements. Boone, accompanied by a young Indian, Little Hawk, finds von Arnheim and Bryan, but Bryan is dismayed that they have come alone. However, Boone conceives a plan to rescue Bryan's daughters by using multiple gunpowder explosions to make it appear that their force is much larger than it really is. The scheme works, and the group heads for the relative safety of an abandoned fort which has a hidden supply of food. Meanwhile, Fraser is arranging with the Indians to capture von Arnheim and follows Boone and the others to the fort, still posing as a loyal British officer. Von Arnheim insists that someone within the British command betrayed the regiment, as the Indians knew their exact route. Boone and von Arnheim set out to try to arrange for an escort troop but are attacked by Fraser's Indians. Upon returning to the fort, Boone and von Arnheim find that Fraser has taken the others prisoner. Fraser admits his treachery and reveals that he is Maj. Antoine de Brissaque of the French Colonial Office and intends to take von Arnheim, the finest tactician in the British Army, to Paris, to convince the British of the folly of pursuing their colonizing policies. As they are all about to leave, however, they are attacked by Shawnee Indians, who are hostile to both the British and the French. Fraser frees his prisoners, and they work together to temporarily drive off the Shawnee. Later, von Arnheim prepares a strategy to combat the Shawnee when they return, and Boone and Rebecca get to know each other. When the Shawnee attack again, von Arnheim fires at them with remotely controlled rifles, and the Indians retreat. Boone then turns his gun on Fraser, while von Arnheim strips him of his rank and takes him prisoner. However, a lingering Indian frees Fraser, and he takes Rebecca hostage and, once more claims the upper hand. At night, as more Indians enter the fort, Boone escapes. The next day, the others leave on foot as Fraser's and the Indians' prisoners, and Boone follows them and prepares an attack involving more gunpowder trickery. He also removes Fraser's gun while he is asleep, sabotages the Indians' bows and arrows, and substitutes the bullets in their guns with blanks. The next morning, Boone walks blithely into their camp, playing a flute. While the Indians shoot at him, he continues to play the flute, appearing immortal. He talks to them in their own language, then, from inside his shirt, removes the bullets they think they have been firing at him. Confronted by this seemingly magical display, the superstitious Indians run off. Fraser attacks Boone with a knife, and during the ensuing fight, Fraser falls on the blade. Later, after Boone has freed everyone, von Arnheim returns to Europe and Boone leaves to settle down with Rebecca.
Director
Reginald Leborg
Cast
David Bruce
Kristine Miller
Damian O'flynn
Don Beddoe
Mary Treen
John Mylong
William Roy
Stanley Logan
Herbert Naish
Nipo T. Strongheart
Richard Foote
Stephen S. Harrison
Bret Hamilton
Joe E. Molina
Tony Urchel
Charles Soldani
Dewey Drapeau
Bob Lugo
Max Reid
Dimas Sotello
Lalo Encinas
Chief Yowlachie
Crew
Raymond Boltz Jr.
James S. Burkett
William Calihan
Mary Chaffee
Charles Craft
Wilton R. Holm
Clint Johnston
Clint Johnston
Edward J. Kay
J. Kean
T. Larsen
Reginald Leborg
Otho Lovering
Clifford D. Shank
Nipo T. Strongheart
G. Warrenton
Allen K. Wood
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to historical records as noted in modern sources, in 1775, as part of an agreement with Richard Henderson's Transylvania company, Daniel Boone led a group of settlers, which included his wife and daughter, from Yadkin, North Carolina to the Indian territory known as Kain-tu-kee. After the American Revolution, Boone worked as a surveyor along the Ohio River, but little of the film's plot was based on actual events. Many films and television shows based on the life of Daniel Boone have been made, including the 1923 short film Daniel Boone, which was part of the Yale University Press's Chronicles of America series; Daniel Boone Thru the Wilderness, a 1926 Sunset Productions film starring Roy Stewart and directed by either Frank S. Mattison or Robert N. Bradbury (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.1197); Daniel Boone, a 1936 RKO Radio Pictures production starring George O'Brien and directed by David Howard; Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer, a 1956 Republic picture starring Bruce Bennett and directed by Albert C. Gannaway and Ismael Rodriguez; and the NBC television series Daniel Boone, which starred Fess Parker and ran from 1964 to 1969.
