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.

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