Dark Command

Last updated

Dark Command
Dark Command 1940.jpg
1940 film poster
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Written by
Based onThe Dark Command
1938 novel
by W.R. Burnett [1]
Produced by Sol C. Siegel
Starring
Cinematography Jack A. Marta
Edited by William Morgan
Music by Victor Young
Production
company
Republic Pictures
Distributed by Republic Pictures
Release date
  • April 15, 1940 (1940-04-15)(United States)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$750,000 [2] [3]

Dark Command is a 1940 Crime western film starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders during the American Civil War. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the novel by W. R. Burnett, Dark Command is the only film in which western icons John Wayne and Roy Rogers appear together, and was the only film Wayne and Raoul Walsh made together since Walsh discovered Wayne working as a prop mover, renamed him, and gave him his first leading role in the epic widescreen Western The Big Trail a decade before.

Contents

The film also features George "Gabby" Hayes as Wayne's character's sidekick.

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction by John Victor Mackay. [4]

Plot

Mary McCloud marries the seemingly peaceful Kansas schoolteacher William Cantrell, before finding out that he harbours a dark secret. He is actually an outlaw leader who attacks both sides in the Civil War for his own profit. After capturing a wagon loaded with Confederate uniforms, he decides to pass himself off as a Confederate officer. Her naive, idealistic brother Fletcher joins what he believes is a Rebel guerrilla force. Meanwhile, Cantrell's stern but loving mother refuses to accept any of her son's ill-gotten loot.

A former suitor of Mary's, Union supporter Bob Seton, is captured by Cantrell and scheduled for execution. After being rescued by a disillusioned Fletcher McCloud, Seton and Mary Cantrell race to the town of Lawrence (site of an actual infamous Quantrill-led massacre) to warn the residents of an impending attack by Cantrell's gang.

Cast

Production

W.R. Burnett's novel was published in 1938 and became a best seller. [5] It was a rare historical novel from Burnett, who was better known for modern day crime stories. [6] Film rights were purchased by Republic Pictures who announced the film in May 1939 as part of their slate for 1939–40. [7]

Director Raoul Walsh had discovered John Wayne in 1929 when Wayne was a 23-year-old prop man named Marion "Duke" Morrison. Walsh was reading a biography of General "Mad Anthony" Wayne at the time and gave the prop boy the last name "Wayne" after casting him as the lead in The Big Trail (1930), a 70 mm Grandeur widescreen epic shot on location all across the West. Dark Command remains the only other film upon which both Walsh and Wayne collaborated during their lengthy careers.

The film was financed on a larger budget than Republic normally provided. It was a similar scale to a successful historical drama they had made the year before, Man of Conquest . Walter Pidgeon was borrowed from MGM. [8] Filming started November 1939. [3]

Dark Command was the second film John Wayne made with Claire Trevor after Stagecoach , the other being Allegheny Uprising (1939).

Roy Rogers was given a key support role in Dark Command, the only time John Wayne and Roy Rogers made a movie together. [9]

Historical Inaccuracies

Release

Dark Command premiered in Lawrence, Kansas. [10]

It received favourable reviews and box office, and encouraged Republic to continue to allocate more money for John Wayne films. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Rogers</span> American singer and actor (1911–1998)

Roy Rogers, nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and rodeo performer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantrill's Raiders</span> Pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas in the American Civil War

Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Quantrill</span> American Confederate guerilla leader (1837–1865)

William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War.

<i>High Sierra</i> (film) 1941 film by Raoul Walsh

High Sierra is a 1941 American film noir directed by Raoul Walsh, written by William R. Burnett and John Huston from the novel by Burnett, and starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. Its plot follows a career criminal who becomes involved in a jewel heist in a resort town in California's Sierra Nevada, along with a young former taxi dancer (Lupino).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raoul Walsh</span> American film director and actor (1887–1980)

Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He was known for portraying John Wilkes Booth in the silent film The Birth of a Nation (1915) and for directing such films as the widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930) starring John Wayne in his first leading role, The Roaring Twenties starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, High Sierra (1941) starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart, and White Heat (1949) starring James Cagney and Edmond O'Brien. He directed his last film in 1964. His work has been noted as influences on directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jack Hill, and Martin Scorsese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Donlevy</span> American actor (1901–1972)

Waldo Brian Donlevy was an American actor, who was noted for playing dangerous and tough characters. Usually appearing in supporting roles, among his best-known films are Beau Geste (1939), The Great McGinty (1940) and Wake Island (1942). For his role as the sadistic Sergeant Markoff in Beau Geste, he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George "Gabby" Hayes</span> American actor (1885–1969)

George Francis "Gabby" Hayes was an American actor. He began as something of a leading man and a character player, but he was best known for his numerous appearances in B-Western film series as the bewhiskered, cantankerous, but ever-loyal and brave comic sidekick of the cowboy stars Roy Rogers and John Wayne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. R. Burnett</span> American novelist

William Riley Burnett was an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for the crime novel Little Caesar, the film adaptation of which is considered the first of the classic American gangster movies.

<i>Virginia City</i> (film) 1940 film directed by Michael Curtiz

Virginia City is a 1940 American Western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, and a mustachioed Humphrey Bogart in the role of the real-life outlaw John Murrell. Based on a screenplay by Robert Buckner, the film is about a Union officer who escapes from a Confederate prison and is sent to Virginia City from where his former prison commander is planning to send five million dollars in gold to Virginia to save the Confederacy. The film premiered in its namesake, Virginia City, Nevada. The film was shot in black and white (sepiatone).

Edward Small was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Kane</span> American film director (1894–1975)

Jasper Joseph Inman Kane was an American film director, film producer, film editor and screenwriter. He is best known for his extensive directorship and focus on Western films.

<i>The House Across the Bay</i> 1940 American film

The House Across the Bay is a 1940 film directed by Archie Mayo, starring George Raft and Joan Bennett, produced by Walter Wanger, written by Myles Connolly and Kathryn Scola, and released by United Artists. The supporting cast features Lloyd Nolan, Walter Pidgeon and Gladys George.

<i>Northern Pursuit</i> 1943 film by Raoul Walsh

Northern Pursuit is a 1943 American World War II film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Errol Flynn as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who tries to uncover a Nazi plot against the Allied war effort. The film was set in Canada during the early years of the war.

Alan Brown Le May was an American novelist and screenplay writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Errol Flynn filmography</span>

The film appearances of movie actor Errol Flynn (1909–1959) are listed here, including his short films and one unfinished feature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Wayne filmography</span>

American actor, director, and producer John Wayne (1907–1979) began working on films as an extra, prop man and stuntman, mainly for the Fox Film Corporation. He frequently worked in minor roles with director John Ford and when Raoul Walsh suggested him for the lead in The Big Trail (1930), an epic Western shot in an early widescreen process called Fox Grandeur, Ford vouched for him. Wayne's early period as a star would be brief, as Fox dropped him after only three leads. He then appeared in a string of low-budget action films before garnering more recognition with the 1939 film Stagecoach.

<i>That Forsyte Woman</i> 1949 film by Compton Bennett

That Forsyte Woman is a 1949 American romantic drama film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young and Janet Leigh. It is an adaptation of the 1906 novel The Man of Property, the first book in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.

Seton Ingersoll Miller was an American screenwriter and producer. During his career, he worked with film directors such as Howard Hawks and Michael Curtiz. Miller received two Oscar nominations and won once for Best Screenplay for the 1941 fantasy romantic comedy film, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, along with Sidney Buchman.

<i>Red Mountain</i> (film) 1951 film

Red Mountain is a 1951 American Western film directed by William Dieterle and starring Alan Ladd, Lizabeth Scott, Arthur Kennedy and John Ireland, set in the last days of the US Civil War. The plot centres on an attempt by Quantrill's Raiders to stir up rebellion in the West.

<i>South of Pago Pago</i> 1940 American film

South of Pago Pago is a 1940 American South Seas adventure film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Victor McLaglen, Jon Hall and Frances Farmer.

References

  1. Landesman, Fred (July 11, 2007). The John Wayne Filmography. McFarland. ISBN   9780786432523.
  2. "Notes for Dark Command (1940)". tcm.com. Retrieved November 10, 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Of Local Origin". New York Times. October 26, 1939. p. 31.
  4. "NY Times: Dark Command". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2008.
  5. "THE BEST-SELLING BOOKS". New York Times. May 1, 1938. p. 109.
  6. Smith, Cecil. (September 19, 1954). "Burnett Publishes 20th Novel, The Tale of an Irish Bravo: Tireless Author, Bel-Air Resident, Shuns Publicity". Los Angeles Times. p. D4.
  7. "REPUBLIC TO MAKE 50 FEATURE FILMS: 'Seven Million Dollars,' 'The Dark Command' and 'Wagons Westward' Top List FOUR SERIALS SCHEDULED Other 1939–40 Pictures Will Be Based on Jack London and Mark Twain Tales". New York Times. April 6, 1939. p. 34.
  8. Schallert, Edwin (November 18, 1939). "DRAMA: 'Boom Town' Looms for Gable and Tracy". Los Angeles Times. p. A7.
  9. DOUGLAS W. CHURCHILL (November 27, 1939). "SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD". New York Times. p. 13.
  10. Schallert, Edwin (April 3, 1940). "Astaire-Zorina Duo Bright New Dance Idea: Film Ingenue Grows Up O'Brien Budgets Raised Mexican Actress Tested Veterans to Team Again Premiere Due in Kansas". Los Angeles Times. p. 13.
  11. Schallert, Edwin (June 4, 1940). "John Wayne Wins Star Role in 'Big Bonanza': New Series for O'Brien Switch in Spy Yarns R.K.O. Signs Blackmer Sanders to Play Sleuth Pangborn Air Spieler". Los Angeles Times. p. 13.