Dark Command

Dark Command
1940 movie poster
Directed by	Raoul Walsh
Produced by	Sol C. Siegel
Written by	screenplay by Jan Fortune F. Hugh Herbert Lionel Houser Grover Jones from the novel by W.R. Burnett
Starring	Claire Trevor John Wayne Walter Pidgeon Roy Rogers George "Gabby" Hayes Porter Hall Marjorie Main
Music by	Victor Young
Cinematography	Jack A. Marta
Editing by	William Morgan
Distributed by	Republic Pictures
Release date(s)	April 15, 1940 (1940-04-15)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$750,000[1]

Dark Command is a 1940 western film starring Claire Trevor, John Wayne and Walter Pidgeon loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders in 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 movie Wayne and Raoul Walsh made together since Walsh discovered Wayne and gave him his first leading role in the widescreen western The Big Trail a decade before.

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

The movie was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction by John Victor Mackay.^[2]

Plot summary

Mary McCloud (Claire Trevor) marries a seemingly peaceful Kansas schoolteacher William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon), before finding out that he harbors 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 (Roy Rogers) joins what he believes is a Rebel guerrilla force. Meanwhile, Cantrell's stern, but loved mother (Marjorie Main) refuses to accept any of her son's ill-gotten loot.

A former suitor of Mary's, Union supporter Bob Seton (John Wayne), 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

• Claire Trevor as Mary McCloud
• John Wayne as Bob Seton
• Walter Pidgeon as William 'Will' Cantrell
• Roy Rogers as Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud
• George 'Gabby' Hayes as Andrew 'Doc' Grunch
• Porter Hall as Angus McCloud
• Marjorie Main as Mrs. Cantrell, aka Mrs. Adams
• Raymond Walburn as Judge Buckner
• Joe Sawyer as Bushropp (guerrilla)
• Helen MacKellar as Mrs. Hale
• J. Farrell MacDonald as Dave (gunrunner)
• Trevor Bardette as Mr. Hale

Production

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 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.

See also

• List of American films of 1940
• John Wayne filmography (1926-1940)

References

1. ^ "Notes for Dark Command (1940)". tcm.com. http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/title.jsp?stid=72283. Retrieved 2007-11-10. 
2. ^ "NY Times: Dark Command". NY Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/12241/Dark-Command/details. Retrieved 2008-12-13. 

External links

• Dark Command at the Internet Movie Database
• Dark Command at AllRovi
• Dark Command at the TCM Movie Database