Posts from ejgreen77 in thread „Dark Command (1940)“

  • Dark Command (1940)



    Well, now that ethanedwards has set up this nice thread for us, I can review my review of Dark Command!!!!!


    What I meant in comparing Dark Command and Santa Fe Trail was that they are both set in the same time and place (pre-Civil war "Bleeding Kansas"), but they come from two different points of view about the war (Dark Command showing a pro-Northern view and Santa Fe Trail a pro-Southern view).


    Just look at who the heavies are. In Santa Fe Trail it's abolitionist leader John Brown, played by Raymond Massey. Brown was an anti-slavery zealot, who often did use force and violence to achieve his ends. To the South, he was a lawbreaker and anarchist, while in the North, he was seen as a man ahead of his time, a foreshadowing of the war that was to come. There's even a scene where some black folks tell Flynn they're fed up with Brown's violence. VERY pro-Southern, there!


    In Dark Command, the heavy is the Southern guerilla leader Quantrill (called "Cantrell" in the film), played by Walter Pidgeon. Quantrill was another brute of the war, he and his men continued to raid and pillage the Kansas-Missouri border country long after it had lost any strategic importance to the Southern cause. To the North, he was nothing but a renegade and outlaw, while in the South, his actions and contributions received the silent approval of the Southern government (think, the reception Flora Robson gives to Errol Flynn in The Sea Hawk: "I can't officially recognize this, but thanks just the same" [paraphrase]). In fact, I believe there is a scene in Rooster Cogburn where Duke's character proudly tells Kate Hepburn about his service with Quantrill during the war.


    To sum it up, I like both Dark Command and Santa Fe Trail equally. They are two good films with two very different points of view on American history. As with everything, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, as both sides were equally guilty of what they are accused here. In today's era of political correctness, Dark Command probably holds up better, but they are both well worth seeing in their own right.


    E.J.