''Fort Ti'' is a 1953 American 3-D

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

William Castle William Castle (born William Schloss Jr.; April 24, 1914 – May 31, 1977) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is known for the horror film, horror and thriller film, thriller B movie, B-movies he directed durin ...

, and starring George Montgomery and

Joan Vohs Joan Vohs (July 30, 1927 – June 4, 2001) was an American model and film and television actress. Early years Vohs was a native of St. Albans, Queens, in New York City, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs William Vohs, who also had two younger daughters ...

. Written by Robert E. Kent, the film is the first Western to be released in 3-D and the first 3-D feature to be released in

Technicolor Technicolor is a family of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes. The first version, Process 1, was introduced in 1916, and improved versions followed over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black-and ...

by a major studio. ''Fort Ti'' was distributed by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

in the United States. The film is set in 1759 at

Fort Ticonderoga Fort Ticonderoga (), formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century star fort built by the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in northern New York. It was constructed between October 1755 and 1757 by French-Canadian ...

during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

Premise

As war is raging across 18th-century colonial America, a band of famed native fighters join British forces for an assault on a French stronghold.

Cast

* George Montgomery as Capt. Jedediah Horn *

as Fortune Mallory *

Irving Bacon Irving Ernest Bacon (September 6, 1893 – February 5, 1965) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films. Early years Bacon was the son of entertainers Millar West Bacon (who was a teenager) and Myrtle Vane. He was born ...

as Sgt. Monday Wash * James Seay as Mark Chesney *

Ben Astar Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

as François Leroy * Phyllis Fowler as Running Otter * Howard Petrie as Maj. Robert Rogers * Cicely Browne as Bess Chesney *

Lester Matthews Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. Career In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. M ...

as Lord

Jeffery Amherst Field Marshal Jeffery Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, (29 January 1717 – 3 August 1797) was a British Army officer and Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in the British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the ...

* George Leigh as Capt. Delecroix * Louis Merrill as Raoul de Moreau *

Rusty Hamer Russell Craig "Rusty" Hamer (February 15, 1947 – January 18, 1990) was an American stage, film, and television actor. He portrayed Rusty Williams, the wisecracking son of entertainer Danny Williams (Danny Thomas), on the ABC/CBS situation ...

as Jed's nephew (uncredited)

Production

says Sam Katzman was inspired to make the film by the success of ''

Bwana Devil ''Bwana Devil'' is a 1952 American adventure B movie written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and starring Robert Stack, Barbara Britton, and Nigel Bruce. ''Bwana Devil'' is based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters and filmed wi ...

''. Castle says he "decided to throw every goddamn thing I could think of at the camera" in the movie. 3-D supervision was by M.L. Gunzburg, creator of the Natural Vision 3-D system that had initiated the 3-D boom, previously used on ''

'' and '' House of Wax''. The film was shot at Columbia Studios and on location in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

and

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

Box office

''Fort Ti'' earned an estimated $2.6 million domestically during its first year of release."The Top Box Office Hits of 1953", ''Variety'', January 13, 1954

Legacy

In 1982, ''Fort Ti'' became the first 3-D film to be broadcast on television in the United Kingdom. 3D glasses were given away with the "TV Times" listings magazine. The following year, it became the first 3-D film to be broadcast on television in the United States and Australia along with the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

3-D short ''

Pardon My Backfire ''Pardon My Backfire'' is a 1953 short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges ( Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). It is the 149th entry in the series released by Columbia Pictures starri ...

''.

References

External links

* *
''Fort Ti''
at

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

Review of film
at Variety {{Sam Katzman 1953 films 1953 Western (genre) films Films set in 1759 1953 3D films American Western (genre) films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by William Castle Films set in New York (state) Films set in the Thirteen Colonies Films shot in California Films shot in Utah French and Indian War films American historical adventure films 1950s historical adventure films American 3D films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language Western (genre) films Films produced by Sam Katzman English-language historical adventure films