Santa Fe Trail (film)
Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 American western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey, Ronald Reagan and Alan Hale. Written by Robert Buckner, the film is about the abolitionist John Brown and his campaign against slavery prior to the American Civil War. In a subplot, J. E. B. Stuart and George Armstrong Custer compete for the hand of Kit Carson Holliday.
The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, and the seventh Flynn–de Havilland collaboration. Its content has little relevance to the actual Santa Fe Trail.
Plot
At West Point Military Academy in 1854, cadet Carl Rader, an agent of John Brown, is dishonorably discharged for distributing anti-slavery pamphlets. His classmates Jeb Stuart and George Custer become second lieutenants and are posted to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, the most dangerous duty in the Army—an assignment they relish. On the way to Kansas, Custer and Stuart meet Cyrus K. Holliday, in charge of building the railroad to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and his daughter Kit, with whom both officers fall in love.The Kansas Territory is bloodstained and war-torn, a victim of John Brown's relentless crusade against slavery. Meanwhile, Rader has enlisted as a mercenary in Brown's army, which has been terrorizing the countryside. During Brown's attack on a freight wagon under the protection of the U.S. Army, Stuart and Custer capture Brown's injured son Jason and, before he dies, the troubled boy informs them about his father's hideout at Shubel Morgan's ranch in Palmyra. In disguise, Stuart rides into Palmyra, the center of the Underground Railroad, but Brown's men spot his horse's army brand. He is captured and taken to Brown at gunpoint. Attempting to escape, Stuart is trapped in a burning barn but is saved as Custer leads the cavalry to the rescue, driving Brown into seclusion.
Three years later, in 1859, believing that Brown's force has been broken, Stuart and Custer are sent back to Washington, D.C., where Stuart proposes to Kit. However, Brown is planning to re-ignite war by raiding the arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. When Brown refuses to pay Rader for his services, Rader rides to Washington to alert Stuart of Brown's plans, and the troops arrive just in time to crush the rebellion. Brown is then tried for treason by the state of Virginia and hanged. The movie ends with the marriage of Stuart and Kit.
Cast
- Errol Flynn as James "Jeb" Stuart
- Olivia de Havilland as Kit Carson Holliday
- Raymond Massey as John Brown
- Ronald Reagan as George Armstrong Custer
- Alan Hale as Tex Bell
- William Lundigan as Bob Holliday
- Van Heflin as Carl Rader
- Gene Reynolds as Jason Brown
- Henry O'Neill as Cyrus K. Holliday
- Guinn Williams as Windy Brody
- Alan Baxter as Oliver Brown
- Moroni Olsen as Robert E. Lee
- Ward Bond as Townley
- Erville Alderson as Jefferson Davis
- David Bruce as Phil Sheridan
- Spencer Charters as Conductor
- Creighton Hale as Telegraph Operator
- Jack Mower as Surveyor
- Ward Bond as Townley
Production
Casting
The film was based on a script by Robert Buckner. At one stage Randolph Scott was mentioned for the lead. However, by April 1940 it had become a vehicle for Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland.Raymond Massey signed to play John Brown in June.
John Wayne was mentioned as a possibility for Flynn's costar. Dennis Morgan was originally announced for the role of George Custer. Morgan was borrowed to appear in Kitty Foyle and was replaced by Ronald Reagan shortly before filming began. Van Heflin was signed to play the villain following his success on Broadway in The Philadelphia Story; it was his first movie since 1937.
Shooting
In June 1940 Warners announced the film as part of its slate. It was one of five films the studio announced for Flynn, the others being The Constant Nymph, Captain Horatio Hornblower, Shanghai and Jupiter Laughs.Filming started in July 1940, delayed by a recurrence of Flynn's malaria.
Outdoor scenes were filmed at the Lasky Movie Ranch in the Lasky Mesa area of the Simi Hills in the western San Fernando Valley, California.
Historical accuracy
Massey's John Brown eagerly endorses breaking apart the union of the United States. The movie was made on the eve of the United States' entry into World War II, and its tone and political subtext express a desire to reconcile the nation's dispute over slavery which brought about the American Civil War and appeal to white moviegoers in both the Southern and Northern United States. The American Civil War and abolition of slavery are presented as an unnecessary tragedy caused by an anarchic madman. The heroic protagonists such as Flynn's Jeb Stuart and Reagan's Custer seem unable to conceive how the issue of slavery could place them at odds in the near future, even though by 1859 hostility between the pro- and anti-slavery states had reached a boiling point.Sometimes the black people appear to be passive and clueless; slaves brought by John Brown's Underground Railroad to the North seem to just be following orders of the abolitionists, without any motive to flee slavery. They muse about the good old times when they lived happily in the South. Trapped in a burning shed, they are rescued by a white man. But during a scene at around 1:11:00 a female escapee confidently boasts to Jeb Stuart as she's bandaging his wounds. Jeb whelps: "Ouch, that's too tight, Mammy." Mammy retorts: "Don't tell me how to do this, boy! I've been wrapping white folks all my life. When they was babies, I wrapped one end, and when they growed-up and took on too much corn liquor, then I wrapped t'other end!" Jeb laughs: "Ah, what made you leave home?" Mammy: "Well, Old John Brown said he's gonna give us freedom, but shuckins, if this here Kansas is 'freedom', then I got no use for it."
This film takes substantial liberties with the historical facts:
- Stuart and Custer did not attend West Point at the same time and were never personally acquainted.
- Jason Brown was not killed in Kansas. One of Brown's other sons, Frederick, was shot by Reverend White.
- Stuart served in the 1st Cavalry Regiment and Custer served in the 2nd and 5th Cavalry Regiments.
- Custer was never in Kansas Territory.
- Carl Rader did not exist.
- The US Cavalry did not assault the Harper's Ferry engine house which was occupied by John Brown; it was taken by US Marines who incurred two casualties
- The railroad into New Mexico was not begun until 1879, twenty years after the fictional events in the film.
- The characters in the film carry Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army revolvers, which did not exist in 1859.
Release
Premiere
The film was premiered in Santa Fe over a three-day festival, featuring a large number of celebrities, including Flynn, De Havilland, Rudy Vallée and Wayne Morris. Rita Hayworth performed a "welcome dance". There were 250 guests and two special trains, one from Hollywood and one from the East, for a total cost of $50,000 — shared between Warners and Santa Fe Railroad De Havilland was stricken with appendicitis during the trip and had to be flown home.Box office
According to Warner Bros records, the film made a profit of $1.48 million. It made $1,748,000 domestically and $785,000 foreign.The film was released in France in 1947 and recorded 2,147,663 admissions.