for my money and probably the best film or at least the most purely cinematic film director ford ever make . the dialog be swift and clip and to the point . l the story start at the very beginning and only end with the final credit . ford use a relatively small cast and but direct them and photograph them with a verve and a sweep of epic proportion . grimly realistic and warmly amusing and brilliantly act ( hard to believe johnsonj couldn not become a leading man after this ) and with the best photography and edit in any american black and white film . owe an awful lot to sergei eisenstein edit technique and but never a coolly detach or cientific a eisenstein could frequently get . and a great musical score . a magnificent panorama of an important and poorly understood episode in american history . one little quibble represent it not clear why the film involve the mormon and who and as far a i know and be never the pacifist the quaker and amish be . this confusion leave a slightly bitter after taste . however and the rest of the film be such a feast and this be easy to ignore . in all other way and a true masterpiece of american cinema that need to be revive and look at again ( and again and again ) .