War Western In 1854, Jeb Stuart, (Errol Flynn), George Custer (Ronald Reagan) and other graduates from West Point are posted to Kansas to help pacify the territory before railroad construction to Santa Fe can resume. 🍿 🥤
Director: Michael Curtiz
Writer :Robert Buckner (original screenplay)
Stars: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey
Plot summary
At the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1854, the flash J.E.B Stuart (Errol Flynn) is constantly taunted by Rader (Van Heflin), a disciple of John Brown (Raymond Massey). They fight, and Rader is dishonorably discharged and goes to join Brown and his band. Lieutenant Stuart and some fellow classmates are sent to "Bloody" Kansas upon graduation. Stuart and his friend Lieutenant George Custer (Ronald Reagan) fall in love with Kit Carson Holiday (Olivia de Havilland), the sister of classmate Bob Holiday (William Lundigan). Kit finally admits her love for Stuart. Custer and Stuart act as part of the military escort for a railway freight shipment and meet John Brown. The latter, posing as a minister named John Smith, meets the train and asks for the delivery to him of a consignment of Bibles. One of the boxes breaks open, and the contents are rifles. A battle ensues, and Stuart and Custer are the victors. Stuart, with his guides "Barfoot" Brody (Alan Hale) and "Tex" Bell (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams), posing as civilians, are caught spying on the Brown followers and captured by Rader. The latter double-crosses Brown by telling Stuart of Brown's plans to seize the U.S. arsenal at Harper's Ferry. Brown is taken prisoner, tried, and hanged, but the ideal he had been fighting and martyred for begins to take root.
Commentary: "Santa Fe Trail" only nominally lives up to its title, serving as a backdrop to its story of abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey) and his zealous mission to ban slavery in pre-Civil War America. Most of the action occurs in 'Bloody Kansas,' still a territory in 1854 and home of Fort Leavenworth, the U.S. Army's most dangerous outpost. It's where hot-headed members of West Point's graduating class of the same year wind up being assigned, including J.E.B. Stuart (Errol Flynn) of Virginia and George Custer (Ronald Reagan) of Ohio. Though the military men would find themselves on opposite sides in the Civil War, the film finds itself in the middle, straddling the line of dedication to duty and leaving policy matters to civil authority. Depending on one's point of view, that's either noble or a cop-out, as the soldiers face no moral quandaries. Their mission is simply to bring John Brown to justice, dead or alive.
It's interesting to reflect on the film from a historical perspective today, some sixty-six years after it was made, while only seventy-five years after the end of the Civil War. The portrayal of black Americans in movies often found single characters in subservient or comedic roles. Still, here a slave family on the way to freedom is portrayed as human, terrified of confrontation aboard a train bound for still neutral Kansas Territory. Their plight is given even more meaningful resonance later in the film when John Brown finds he must leave Kansas to avoid capture. "Does just sayin' so make us free...?" one of the formerly enslaved people wonders, fearing he may not be equipped for that privilege.
Historical inaccuracies aside, We found the film exciting and entertaining, assembling many of Warner Brothers' stars, stock players, and masterful director Michael Curtiz. Flynn and Reagan generally share equal screen time, vying for the attention of Kit Carson Holliday (Olivia de Havilland), whose father Cyrus (Henry O'Neill) lends credence to the story's backdrop financing the construction of the Santa Fe Railroad. As in the same year's "Virginia City," Flynn is supported by those two flat-footed rum-pots, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams and Alan Hale, whose comedic camaraderie is injected at just the right moments. However, when the spotlight is on Raymond Massey, it's difficult to turn away; the energy and zeal he brings to the character of John Brown is totally absorbing. His performance is reminiscent of an earlier portrayal of the unwavering protagonist Cabal in the 1936 film "Things to Come."
For those who find this movie enjoyable, We also recommend "They Died With Their Boots On," another Errol Flynn feature in which he's cast as General George Armstrong Custer. He gives Custer some of the flamboyance and arrogance that the history books recall, traits not acknowledged in Ronald Reagan's take on the character.
From Russia with Love is a 1963 spy film. It is the second in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions and Sean Connery's second role as MI6 agent 007 James Bond.
The picture was directed by Terence Young, produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and written by Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood. It is based on Ian Fleming's 1957 novel From Russia, with Love. In the film, Bond is sent to assist in the defection of Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova in Turkey, where SPECTRE plans to avenge Bond's killing of Dr. No. The film followed Dr. No (1962) and was followed by Goldfinger (1964).
Following the success of Dr. No, United Artists greenlit a sequel and doubled the budget available for the producers. In addition to filming on location in Turkey, the action scenes were shot at Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire, and in Scotland. Production ran over budget and schedule and was rushed to finish by its scheduled October 1963 release date.
The Film Noir community gave this film. 🍿 🍿 🍿 ...
All Through the Night is a 1942 American comedy-crime-spy thriller film directed by Vincent Sherman and starring Humphrey Bogart, Conrad Veidt, and Kaaren Verne, and featuring many of the Warner Bros. company of character actors. Warner Brothers released it. The supporting cast features Peter Lorre, Frank McHugh, Jackie Gleason, Phil Silvers, Barton MacLane, and William Demarest.
The Film Noir community gave this film. 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿 🍿
Post Tipping Allowed: 💵 💵
Rating: 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿
Free Matinee: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
So, stock up on buttered popcorn and Good & Plenty. Then grab seats down front. The show is about to begin. And we will see daylight again sometime this afternoon.
Cast notes
⦿ Jackie Gleason and Wallace Ford are billed onscreen as "Jackie C. Gleason" and "Wally Ford," respectively.
⦿ Jackie Gleason and Phil Silvers owe their presence in the film to the direct intervention of Warner Bros. studio head Jack L. Warner, who personally phoned Sherman to...
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - Episodes 246-250 - The Alvin Summers Matter - 1955
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Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar is a radio drama that aired on CBS Radio from February 18, 1949 to September 30, 1962.
✦ Starring Bob Bailey
Written by Robert Ryf
Produced and Directed by Jack Johnstone
Features Virginia Gregg, Marvin Miller, Don Diamond, Tony Barrett, and Parley Baer
The first several seasons imagined protagonist Johnny Dollar as a private investigator drama, with Charles Russell, Edmond O'Brien, and John Lund portraying Dollar in succession over the years. In 1955, after a yearlong hiatus, the series came back in its best-known incarnation with Bob Bailey starring in "The Transcribed Adventures of the Man with the Action-packed Expense Account – America's Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator." There were 809 episodes (plus two not-for-broadcast auditions) in the 12-year run, and more than 710 still exist today.
Jim ...