Copyright 1955 by Paramount Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Criterion: 20 May 1955. U.S. release: June 1955. U.K. release: June 1955. Australian release: 8 February 1957. 9,826 feet. 109 minutes. Censored by 2 minutes in the U.K. in order to qualify for a "U" certificate.SYNOPSIS: In 1803 President Jefferson sends Lewis and Clark on a jaunt to map and explore the Louisiana Purchase.COMMENT: An impossible script, straight out of dime romance novels, almost defeats this commendable attempt to re-trace the exploratory achievements of Lewis and Clark. Fortunately, there are snatches of action to relieve the triangular tedium, and the scenery — in the hands of Daniel L. Fapp's Technicolor-VistaVision camera — is absolutely breathtaking. Heston tries manfully to overcome the script's deficiencies of dialogue and inadequate characterization, but is ultimately defeated by an especially unbelievable conclusion. Fred MacMurray had presumably read the script in advance. He doesn't even try. Demarest tries vainly to assert himself. Miss Hale is likewise wasted. Oddly enough, it is Donna Reed who is halfway convincing as the never-take-no Indian girl, despite her obviously too smooth make-up and a puerile fade-out that makes nonsense of her one- tracked devotion.A colorful Jefferson has the best lines, allowing Herbert Heyes to easily walk away with Far Horizon's acting honors, such as they are.Maté's direction homes in on the scenery, costumes and sets but makes little sense of the "story".

For what it is, an almost total fabrication of the events involved in the exploration of the Louisiana territory, the film is an enjoyable, beautifully shot adventure but for the real story look elsewhere. Donna Reed is ridiculously cast as Sacajawea, Katy Jurado who was actively working in Hollywood at the time would have been far more suitable. She gives an earnest reading of the part but if this is the best the studios could find for her after her Oscar win it's little wonder that she had moved over to TV within a few years. MacMurray although first billed actually disappears for several stretches of the film and Heston, who is ideal in this sort of picture, carries the bulk of the movie.

In 2011, "Time" magazine listed this as one of the 10 historically misleading films! As a retired American history teacher, it's pretty obvious what I think about the film!! Some of the ridiculously wrong portions of the film include a romance between Clark and Sacagawea (she was pregnant and married to Charbonneau in real life) as well as having the Donna Reed play this lady!! It's hilarious hearing her, with her perfect diction and Midwestern accent, playing a native. So how do they make her look like an Indian? LOTS of paint and a wig! I think Divine would have been about as convincing (and a lot more entertaining)!! Despite this romance NEVER occurring, it is the main focus of the film! And, despite the nasty natives in the film, for the most part, the tribes the expedition encountered were very peaceful.If you can completely ignore the film's MANY inaccuracies, it is a very nice looking but dull film. The color is amazingly nice--and has that nice 1950s color scheme. It also has many lovely location shots and is HUGE in scope. And, if you ignore most of the details, the film did get the gist of the actual story! There were folks named Lewis and Clark and they did explore the western portion of the United States. As for the acting, it was generally good, but Fred MacMurray didn't seem to have a lot to do but scowl. Poor guy. And William Demarest sounded VERY peculiar--with an accent that came and went and seemed like it was part Irish, part Scottish and part....God knows! Heston and Reed were fine.Note: Although the film is VERY pretty, sometimes the images are blurry. Apparently this is caused by differences in shrinkage rates of the color strips put together to make a full-color film. In other words, the red or blue layer might shrink at differing rates in portions of the film--giving a few scenes an odd look today.Another Note: Films about this expedition neglect to mention that not too long after it was complete that Captain Lewis committed suicide! This dark event was apparently the result of his lifelong struggle with clinical depression. Pretty sad....

See this movie for the first time on TCM for a primer on Hollywood studio film making in the post-war '50s. Get The Journals of Lewis and Clark edited by Bernard DeVoto for the best story you will ever read about the discovery of the American West, and it's all true. The book is in libraries and at Amizon.com. Second choice: Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose.The stars of the movie (Fred MacMurray, Charlton Heston, Donna Reed) are Hollywood legends but their acting is as uninspired as the script. William Demarest as Sgt. Gass is the only believable character. The combat scenes are total fiction. Only one member of the Corps of Discovery died (of an illness)and only one Indian was shot, for trying to steal a horse from Lewis one night in Monatana on the return trip.As others have reported, the love story is contrived but remains a fascination in Western romance novels about Sacajawea. The joke is on the film makers because The Journals ooze sex between the men of the Corps and women of some of the tribes. Lewis was the medic and half of his medicine it seems was used to treat the men suffering from venereal diseases.Read the book; maybe someday Hollywood will make the movie.Note to reviewers: Use of the term "squaw" has been politically incorrect for some time.