A domineering Western Dad tries to stay out of the Civil War and hold his family together; instead discovers that neither is possible when the Devil holds all the cards. Director McLaglen cut his teeth on the classic TV series HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL; his technique is to focus on the characters and story, while posing the actors against the most beautiful natural backgrounds he can find, and that technique serves him well here. SHENANDOAH is no classic, but it is an honest meal.

A very underrated Jimmy Stewart anti-war film. This film occured in Virginia during the Civil Wars and Jimmy plays a father who raised a big family and didn't want to have to do anything with the war until one of his sons is mistakenly captured for a Confederate prisoner. I enjoyed it a lot but I enjoyed all of Jimmy Stewart's films.