Cinema: Wimmin of Troy

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A Distant Trumpet is a far cry from the grand old westerns of yesterday. Taken from Paul Morgan's engrossing historical novel, which told how U.S. cavalrymen in the 1880s subdued one of the last powerful Apache chiefs, the movie plays down the drama of the great Southwest, plays up three bright young faces from Beverly Hills. All that fuss about redskins seems picayune compared with the plight of Lieut. Troy Donahue. Setting femmes aflutter at Fort Delivery, Ariz., Troy bestrides a flesh-and-blood horse, but his acting is appropriately wooden. He is an animated Ken doll with golden hair, caught between the Barbie and Midge dolls impersonated by Suzanne Pleshette and Diane McBain.

Short on excitement, Trumpet shows a streak of rather whimsical originality in a sequence that has Chief War Eagle speaking Apache lingo while English subtitles flash on the screen. A less significant breakthrough is James Gregory's mock heroic performance as a gruff old Indian fighter who charges into battle spouting quotations from Latin. Since completion of the film, Troy and Suzanne have become Mr. and Mrs. in private life, gamely rallying from disaster for a Hollywood finish of their very own: omnia vincit amor.