Virginia City (1940)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
During the American Civil War, Captain Kerry Bradford escapes from a notorious confederate prison.
He and two of his men are sent to Virginia City where Confederate sympathizers are prepared
to donate $5 million dollars to the cause of Southern independence.
The war is going badly for the Confederacy and money may tip the war in their favor.
On the stagecoach to Virginia City, Bradford meets and falls in love with Julia Hayne
not realizing that she is one of the conspirators. When he gets to Virginia City,
he also runs into Confederate Captain Vance Irby who has been sent to collect
and safely deliver the gold. Irby manages to get out of the city but the Union cavalry is in hot pursue.
When Bradfoed catches up with them, he not only has to fight Irby but also John Murrell,
a bandit who has his own plans for the gold.
Written by garykmcd

Full Cast
Errol Flynn ... Kerry Bradford
Miriam Hopkins ... Julia Hayne
Randolph Scott ... Vance Irby
Humphrey Bogart ... John Murrell
Frank McHugh ... Mr. Upjohn
Alan Hale ... Olaf Swenson
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams ... 'Marblehead'
John Litel ... Marshall
Douglass Dumbrille ... Major Drewery (as Douglas Dumbrille)
Moroni Olsen ... Cameron
Russell Hicks ... Armistead
Dickie Jones ... Cobby
Frank Wilcox ... Union Soldier
Russell Simpson ... Gaylord
Victor Kilian ... Abraham Lincoln
Charles Middleton ... Jefferson Davis
Trevor Bardette ... Union Fanatic with Knife (uncredited)
Hank Bell ... Barfly (uncredited)
Ward Bond ... Confederate Sergeant Checking Passengers (uncredited)
Roy Bucko ... Barfly (uncredited)
Lane Chandler ... Irby's Orderly at Libby (uncredited)
Spencer Charters ... Sazerac Saloon Bartender (uncredited)
George Chesebro ... Southerner (uncredited)
Tex Cooper ... Townsman (uncredited)
Ben Corbett ... Barfly (uncredited)
Harry Cording ... Scarecrow - Union Prisoner at Libby (uncredited)
Claire Du Brey ... Southern Woman with Rifle (uncredited)
Tom Dugan ... Saloon Spieler (uncredited)
Jim Farley ... Southerner (uncredited)
Paul Fix ... Murrell's Henchman (uncredited)
Roy Gordon ... Major Gen. Taylor (uncredited)
George Guhl ... Sazerac Saloon Bartender #2 (uncredited)
Henry Hall ... Union Officer (uncredited)
Thurston Hall ... Gen. George Meade (uncredited)
Charles Halton ... Ralston - Virginia City Banker (uncredited)
John Harron ... Union Lieutenant (uncredited)
Al Haskell ... Guerrilla (uncredited)
Howard C. Hickman ... Confederate General Page (uncredited)
Max Hoffman Jr. ... Union Sergeant (uncredited)
Robert Homans ... Southerner (uncredited)
William Hopper ... Lieutenant Reporting Murrell's Attack (uncredited)
Reed Howes ... Union Sergeant on Horse (uncredited)
Edward Keane ... Officer (uncredited)
Jack Kenny ... Barfly (uncredited)
Bernard L. Kowalski ... Extra (uncredited)
Ethan Laidlaw ... Union Soldier (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas ... Southerner (uncredited)
Sam McDaniel ... Sam Moore - Black Driver (uncredited)
Walter Miller ... Sergeant in Saloon Reporting Irby's Whereabouts (uncredited)
Frank Mills ... Prisoner at Libby Prison (uncredited)
Shirley Mills ... Crying Young Southern Girl (uncredited)
Art Mix ... Southerner (uncredited)
Kansas Moehring ... Southerner (uncredited)
Monte Montague ... Wells Fargo Stage Driver (uncredited)
Philip Morris ... Confederate Sentry (uncredited)
Jack Mower ... Outpost Officer (uncredited)
Wedgwood Nowell ... Prosecuting Officer (uncredited)
Artie Ortego ... Guerrilla (uncredited)
Bud Osborne ... Ted - Stage Driver (uncredited)
Eddie Parker ... Lieutenant (uncredited)
George Reeves ... Maj. Drewery's Union Telegrapher (uncredited)
George Regas ... Murrell's Halfbreed Henchman (uncredited)
Albert Russell ... Southerner (uncredited)
Georgia Simmons ... Southern Spinster (uncredited)
Al Taylor ... Barfly (uncredited)
Charles Trowbridge ... Seddon - Aide to Jefferson Davis (uncredited)
Brandon Tynan ... Trenholm (uncredited)
Blackie Whiteford ... Townsman Standing by Stagecoach (uncredited)
Norman Willis ... Union Sergeant (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Robert Buckner (original screen play)
Howard Koch uncredited
Norman Reilly Raine uncredited

Original Music
Max Steiner

Cinematography
Sol Polito

Trivia
Miriam Hopkins replaced Olivia de Havilland.

First film written by Howard Koch, although he didn't get screen credit.

"Lux Radio Theater" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on May 26,
1941 with Errol Flynn reprising his film role.

Goofs
Anachronisms
During John Murrell's escape from the runaway stagecoach, he shoots it out with Bradford and Swenson.
All three men are firing Colt revolvers that won't become available until the 1870s.

In the opening scene Captain Irby inspects a pistol. He opens a loading gate on the right side of the pistol.
This indicates a metallic cartridge pistol. Almost all Civil War pistols in use at that time were cap and ball or paper cartridges.
Both were loaded in the open end of the cylinder and used percussion caps.

The Union troops at the outpost were using "Trapdoor" Springfield rifles. 1863 Springfield rifles of Civil War vintage
were not converted to trapdoor until 1865/1866.

Continuity
During John Murrell's escape from the runaway stagecoach, Marblehead falls between the horses and clings
to the underside of the coach. In one camera shot, the coach passes and no person is visible
where Marblehead is supposed to be.

Factual errors
In one scene in Virginia City a speaker tells the crowd the current news.
He mentions Vicksburg being captured at the same time Savannah was.
Vicksburg was captured in 1863 while the battle of Gettysburg was fought.

Filming Locations
Santa Clarita, California, USA
Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Lake Sherwood, California, USA
Painted Desert, Arizona, USA
Sedona, Arizona, USA
Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA
Victorville, California, USA
Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California, USA

Watch this Clip

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.

Look out for Duke 'Pals'

Ward Bond as a Confederate Sergeant Checking Passengers (uncredited)
and
Paul Fix as a Murrell's Henchman (uncredited)

User Review

Quote

Great idea put on screen, good casting, save Bogart as an Mexican-American bandit.
7 February 2004 | by Mickey-2 (Front Royal, VA)

"Virginia City", released in 1940, is a film that could have been rated as a western classic,
because of the cast members alone. Against the backdrop of the American Civil War,
Errol Flynn, Union Captain, was up against Randolph Scott, Confederate Colonel,
with Miriam Hopkins supplying the love interest between the two. Flynn breaks out
of a Confederate prison commanded by Scott during the latter days of 1864,
a period that saw the South's dwindling resources virtually shrink to nothing.
There is a slim chance to smuggle a multi-million gold shipment from Virginia City, Nevada, to the South.
Scott is given the assignment, and Flynn, hearing of the plan, is given the job by the Union
to prevent the smuggled gold from reaching the Confederacy.
There's the overview. The weakness comes in casting Humphrey Bogart
as a Mexican-American bandit whose main interest in the gold
is to steal it for himself. Bogart's miscasting really distracts from the film,
even though it is no fault of his own.

Besides the stars in the film, there's good support cast members from Guinn "Big Boy" Williams,
Alan Hale, Sr., John Litel, and Moroni Olsen, all veterans of the Western genre.
Add a stirring music score by Max Steiner, plus sweeping vistas of the West,
and the struggles of the Confederate sympathizers in their efforts to succeed in their task,
and you have a film that could have been great, but one that falls short.
It is worth watching, however. 7/10

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Just to mention look out for

Ward Bond as a Confederate Sergeant Checking Passengers (uncredited)
and
Paul Fix as a Murrell's Henchman (uncredited)