Santa Fe Trail (1940).

Santa Fe Trail(1940). Western directed by Michael Curtiz. Cast: Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was the seventh of eight films that Flynn-de Havilland made together. The outdoor scenes were filmed at the Lasky Movie Ranch, on the Lasky Mesa area of the Simi Hills in the western San Fernando Valley.

The story begins when Cadet Carl Rader, is dishonorably discharged from West Point Academy for conspiracy. His friends Jeb Stuart and George Custer, graduate and are assigned to duty at the most dangerous post in the army. While traveling, Custer and Stuart meet Cyrus Halliday, the man responsible for building the railroad and his daughter, Kit Carson. After arriving at the fort, they find Brown's army, has been terrorizing the countryside with their raids.

During a raid on a wagon, Stuart and Custer capture Brown's injured son Jason and before dying, Jason tells them where his father's hideout is. In disguise, Stuart rides into the hide out and is recognized by Rader, who takes him at gunpoint to Brown. Stuart, finds himself trapped in a burning barn but is saved by Custer and his troops. Brown does not go down without a fight.

Olivia De Havilland, plays a Calamity Jane type character, who gave Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan as George A. Custer, a run for their money.

Errol Flynn(20 June 1909 – 14 October 1959), was best known for his romantic swashbuckler roles and his flamboyant lifestyle.

Flynn co-starred with Olivia de Havilland in eight films, Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940), and They Died with Their Boots On (1941.

Dodge City (1940) photos

Here's some wonderful photos from the terrific western, Dodge City.

Virginia City (1940).

Virginia City(1940). Cast: Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins and Randolph Scott, and featuring a mustachioed Humphrey Bogart in the role of the real-life outlaw John Murrell (Which is worth seeing the movie alone). The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, who also directed such film classics as The Adventures of Robin Hood and Casablanca.

Union officer Kerry Bradford, escapes from a Confederate prison after learning that the rebels plan to smuggle five million dollars in gold from Virginia City, Nevada, to Texas, to help the Confederates.

Bradford reports to Union headquarters and is sent to Virginia City, to find out where the gold is being kept. On the stagecoach, he meets and falls in love with Julia Hayne, who is a dance-hall girl and spy. Also on the stagecoach is a gun salesman, John Murrell, leader of a gang of bandidos. Bradford out smarts him and his gang and they leave with out the gold. Murrell also escapes by jumping into a river.

After the stage reaches Virginia City, Julia goes looking for Irby to warn him, who has been sent to manage the gold-smuggling operation. Bradford follows Irby to the hideout, behind a false wall in a blacksmiths' shop, but only finds that the gold has been moved .

Irby meets with the town doctor when Murrell shows up,needing him to set his broken arm. Irby offers Murrell $10,000 to attack the garrison. While the soldiers' backs are returning gunfire, Irby's men smuggle the gold out. Irby has Julia arrange a meeting between the two men so he can take Bradford prisoner.

The rebels' wagon train reaches a Union outpost, where they start a gunfight, and in the confusion Bradford escapes. Irby and his men, are hot on his heels when he rides his horse down a steep hill and ends up somersaulting down the hill. The rebels, leave him for dead. The train is traveling toward Texas, while Bradford sends a telegraph to the garrison. The major in charge of the garrison does not take his warning serious, so the chase falls ever further behind .

Murrell and his bandidos return, circling the wagons in a canyon, the rebels and their gold can not be found, when Bradford and his men arrive. Irby is wounded in the fight, but Bradford's and the rebels drive off the bandits. That night, knowing that in the morning both Murrell and the Union garrison will arrive, Bradford takes the gold from the wagons and hides it in the canyon.

The major and his men arrive just in time to ward off the bandits' attack, Bradford denies the gold ever existed. He is brought up in a court-martial, where he defends his actions by explaining that while, as a soldier, he knows the gold might be used to end the war. The court finds him guilty of high treason and sentences him to death .

On the day before Bradford's execution, Julia meets with the President and pleads for his life. Lincoln reveals that at that very moment, Generals Lee and Grant are meeting at the Courthouse to end the war. Will Lincoln pardon Bradford in time?

VIRGINIA CITY, is avery enjoyable western and is available in a Flynn western box set which also features: "San Antonio", "Montana" and the wonderful "Rocky Mountain".

Olivia De Havilland and Errol Flynn

Olivia De Havilland and Errol Flynn were known as one of Hollywood's most talented on-screen couples, performing in eight films together, but, were never romantically involved. The films in which they co-starred: Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), The Adventures of Robin Hood and Four's a Crowd (1938), Dodge City(1939). Directed by Michael Curtiz and based on a story by Robert Buckner. As a classic western, it tells the story of the rise, after the end of the Civil War, of the frontier post of Dodge City, Kansas to civilized town and trading place for cattle. In the process, Dodge City has to get rid of the bad guys terrorizing the citizens, and it takes a new sheriff and his deputy to clean up the town.

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), Santa Fe Trail (1940) and They Died with Their Boots On (1941).

De Havilland stated, "He never guessed I had a crush on him. In fact, I read that he was in love with me when we made The Charge of the Light Brigade the next year, in 1936. I was amazed to read that, for it never occurred to me that he was smitten with me, too, even though we did all those pictures together." However, in an interview cited on Turner Classic Movies De Havilland claims she knew the crush was reciprocal and that when Flynn proposed, he was still married to actress Lili Damita.

Rocky Mountain(1950)

Rocky Mountain (1950). Director: William Keighley. cast: Errol Flynn. It takes place during the American Civil War.


A small group of the Confederate cavalry, led by Captain Barstow, crosses the California state line. The soldiers are under orders from General Robert E. Lee to meet with outlaw Cole Smith, in order to convince him and his men to fight on the side of the South. They decide to meet at Rocky Mountain, also known as Ghost Mountain. When Barstow and his men are waiting for them, they see a war party of Indians attack a stagecoach. Barstow's men ride to help and return with the driver, and his passenger, Johanna Carter, who is on the way to join her fiancee, Union soldier Lt. Rickey. During the night, the Indians burn what is left of the stage, and the following morning, a small group of Union soldiers and Shoshone scouts come across the burnt stage. Barstow and his men capture Rickey and his soldiers. Barstow learns that the Union knows is looking for them. Smith leaves to get help. He tells Barstow that the Indians will escape and return with their tribe. That night, while Jimmy is on watch, the Indians make a run for it. The soldiers kill only two of them. That night, Rickey escapes, leaving Johanna behind. The following morning, the men find Smith's horse and realize that he has been killed. Now that the men know no help is coming and they decide to fight the Indians while Johanna and Craigie try and escape.

It has a very good beginning and a exciting and very emotional ending. Errol Flynn is perfect for the role of a man who has seen too much war. In real life, Flynn and several of the co-stars were very good horsemen.

Fun Facts:
Slim Pickens' movie debut.

Errol Flynn's last western.

Filming Location: Gallup, New Mexico.

Patrice Wymore's first film performance was in the 1950 film Tea for Two, starring Doris Day and Gordon MacRae. That same year she performed opposite Errol Flynn in Rocky Mountain, with whom she would become romantically involved. The two married in October 1950. Wymore continued to act, performing in. I'll See You in My Dreams, her second film alongside Doris Day. She also guest stared as herself in the 1951 film Starlift, performing the song "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)." In 1953, she performed with Virginia Mayo in, She's Back on Broadway, and that same year she starred opposite Randolph Scott in The Man Behind the Gun. In 1955 she performed with her husband Errol Flynn and Anna Neagle in King's Rhapsody. Following Flynn's death, Wymore returned to acting, mostly in musicals; Carnival!, Guys and Dolls, Irma La Douce, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Ocean's Eleven in 1960. In 1965, she was cast in the soap opera Never Too Young, and in 1966 she performed in the film Chamber of Horrors. Her last performance was on the television series F Troop in 1967.

Montana(1950).

Montana(1950). Cast: Errol Flynn, Alexis Smith and S.Z. Sakall.

Australian sheep-man Morgan Lane comes to Montana riding in on his beautiful palomino looking for grazing land, and holds his sheep at the boundary line set up by the cattle barons to keep the sheep from eating all good grass. He goes to town, pretending to be a merchant and learns that Maria Singleton, owner of a large ranch, and Rodney Ackroyd, another ranch owner and Miss Singleton's fiancee, are the leaders of the cattlemen against the sheep-men.

Miss Singleton, quickly decides that Morgan has a much better name than Rodney but the cattle-vs.-sheep feud keeps them apart. Until they meet in the street for a showdown...

Another thing the movie Montana, is known for is a nice little cowboy duet that Errol and Alexis sing called Reckon I'm In Love.

Errol Flynn - The Warner Brothers Western Collection.

Errol Flynn, is probably best remembered as Robin Hood and his swashbuckling adventure films. Flynn also did a few western films. They mabybe be not as popular as some of his other pictures, but they are still entertaining movies. (I think they mabe my next DVD box set). Warner Brother has put together a nice group of films: Errol Flynn - The Warner Brothers Western Collection.


MONTANA (1950)
Flynn plays Morgan Lane, an Australian who has relocated to the United States during the hey day of the Wild West who is hoping to purchase some land so that he can raise sheep.


ROCKY MOUNTAIN (1950)
Also known as Rocky Mountain Trail, this film, set at the end of the Civil War, finds Flynn, in his last western role, playing Captain Lafe Barstow, a man who has been assigned with the job of securing the western part of the United States for General Robert E. Lee.



SAN ANTONIO (1945)
Flynn plays Clay Hardin, a cattle rancher trying to make a living who come up against a gang of cattle rustlers.



VIRGINIA CITY (1940).
Flynn plays Kerry Bradford, an undercover Union officer who escapes from a Confederate jail and heads to Virginia City trying to prevent a train carrying a massive cargo of gold from getting to Dixie and funding the Confederate war movement.

Dodge City (1939)

Dodge City Photos

 

Another classic film from that golden year in cinema of 1939. This rousing western stars Errol Flynn as ex-soldier, now cattle driver Wade Hatton. Yes, I said Errol Flynn..he of the swashbuckling films like Robin Hood, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk. And before you can say it won't work, Flynn is awesome from the get go. He is perfectly at home in a western with a six gun as he would be in Sherwood Forest flinging arrows. The story has him delivering some cattle to the wild and dangerous town of Dodge City. Along the way he also guides a wagon train through the treacherous countryside. That's where he meets Abbie Irving (played by the lovely De Havilland) and her troublesome brother. Well when her drunk brother causes a stampede and shoots at Wade, Wade shoots back and injures the kid. After that unfortunate incident Abbie has no use for wade. Finally when the wagon train arrives in Dodge City, Wade encounters the local bad guy..Jeff Surrett (played to the evil hilt by Bruce Cabot) who has a habit of killing men who he buys cattle off of and keeping the money for himself. Well Wade reluctantly agrees to become town sheriff after he sees a tragic accident and becomes Surrett's worst enemy. Eventually Abbie comes around and starts liking him too. Dodge City is a super western, staged with impressive action scenes including a wild saloon bar fight that leaves the place in shambles. The color is extraordinary and the music score is heavenly. Errol Flynn is perfectly cast as Wade as he shows that he won't take any guff from anyone. Olivia is just amazing. Every time I hear her voice, I fall in love with her. She has the most wonderful accent you will ever hear. Also Ann Sheridan, the Oommph Girl is on hand as a saloon singer who gets to belt out a couple of energetic numbers. Plus the banter between Errol and Olivia only solidifies why they were one of the best on screen couples ever. Dodge City is one of the best westerns ever to come out of Old Hollywood and I highly recommend it.

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Wade Hatton: You know, out here the trail boss has sometimes even got to take the law into his own hands.
Abbie Irving: Oh, yes, pioneering I believe you call it, don't you?

 

Dodge City Photos

Another classic film from that golden year in cinema of 1939. This rousing western stars Errol Flynn as ex-soldier, now cattle driver Wade Hatton. Yes, I said Errol Flynn..he of the swashbuckling films like Robin Hood, Captain Blood, and The Sea Hawk. And before you can say it won't work, Flynn is awesome from the get go. He is perfectly at home in a western with a six gun as he would be in Sherwood Forest flinging arrows. The story has him delivering some cattle to the wild and dangerous town of Dodge City. Along the way he also guides a wagon train through the treacherous countryside. That's where he meets Abbie Irving (played by the lovely De Havilland) and her troublesome brother. Well when her drunk brother causes a stampede and shoots at Wade, Wade shoots back and injures the kid. After that unfortunate incident Abbie has no use for wade. Finally when the wagon train arrives in Dodge City, Wade encounters the local bad guy..Jeff Surrett (played to the evil hilt by Bruce Cabot) who has a habit of killing men who he buys cattle off of and keeping the money for himself. Well Wade reluctantly agrees to become town sheriff after he sees a tragic accident and becomes Surrett's worst enemy. Eventually Abbie comes around and starts liking him too. Dodge City is a super western, staged with impressive action scenes including a wild saloon bar fight that leaves the place in shambles. The color is extraordinary and the music score is heavenly. Errol Flynn is perfectly cast as Wade as he shows that he won't take any guff from anyone. Olivia is just amazing. Every time I hear her voice, I fall in love with her. She has the most wonderful accent you will ever hear. Also Ann Sheridan, the Oommph Girl is on hand as a saloon singer who gets to belt out a couple of energetic numbers. Plus the banter between Errol and Olivia only solidifies why they were one of the best on screen couples ever. Dodge City is one of the best westerns ever to come out of Old Hollywood and I highly recommend it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wade Hatton: You know, out here the trail boss has sometimes even got to take the law into his own hands. Abbie Irving: Oh, yes, pioneering I believe you call it, don't you?
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