Overlooked Classics: Dark Command (1940)

 Having John Wayne and Roy Rogers in the same movie, would be enough to make this film an interesting curio for fans of old westerns. To be honest with how this was made before either became iconic images of western movies, I expected little more than a movie that was historically fascinating but critically not that good. However this film instead managed to be an excellent film in its own right.

A cowboy named Bob Seaton (John Wayne) comes to a town in Kansas. A naïve young southern gentleman named Fletch (Roy Rogers) is taken with the newcomer wanting to become a cowboy himself. The two start up a fast friendship, that is not hurt at all by Bob being in love with Fletch's sister, Mary (Claire Trevor). When Bob decides to run for Marshall his competitor is a man named William Cantrell (Walter Pigeon), who is also his rival for Mary's love. However it turns out that Cantrell despite his appearance of a good hearted school teacher is actually a man who plans to get what he wants through the most sinister means possible.

This film was made at a turning point for the careers of both of its stars. The year before John Wayne had made his first film with director John Ford and the movie that many consider Wayne's first great film, Stagecoach (1939). With this film John Wayne was starting to finally be taken seriously as an actor. In fact with the success of Stagecoach, Republic Pictures (known for cheap B films) actually made this a much bigger budget film than normal for them. In 1938 Roy Rogers received his first starring role in a feature film. Around this time Roy would no longer be a country singer who was also an actor, but instead an actor who was also a country singer.

John Wayne is unquestionably the star of this film, but the actor who impresses the most would be Roy Rogers. I love Roy Rogers movie as I am sure many of my readers do. However it is no secret that Roy played basically the same role in almost all his films. This causes many of Roy critics to state that he was only capable of playing one role. This movie is definite proof that such a statement is false. Roy plays a very different role here. We are used to seeing him as a hero with zero to little faults and who is always smart enough to be one step ahead of the villains. This could not be further from the truth here. Fletch is not always in the right and can sometimes do things that we would not consider morally right. Though he has more book learning than John Wayne's character, he does not possess the same maturity to handle himself in the outside world. He is essentially still a kid in many ways. He can lose his temper at the worst times, he has a hero worship of Bob similar to the type many young boys would later have for Roy Rogers, he has a childlike and romanticized view of what cowboys are and he is easily outsmarted by the movie's villain. Roy plays this part excellently turning in one of his finest performances. He even makes us fans of his many B-westerns and his classic TV show, forget we are watching Roy Rogers and instead only see the character he is portraying. Considering the icon of good and purity Roy represents to us classic movie fans this is no small feat. He truly was a great actor and I would have liked to see him be given more roles like this. I would have also liked to see him in more movie with John Wayne. The two had perfect chemistry with each other and it is a joy to watch them share the screen. Speaking of John, he plays a part much more similar to what we except from him. Even at this early stage this film shows the John Wayne persona almost fully formed. He plays the part here with the same charm and charisma that one should except from him. The supporting cast is also fantastic. Standing out is one of the great character actors, Gabby Hayes. Gabby made a career playing sidekicks to western heroes and here he plays a sidekick to John Wayne. He plays this part to perfection getting plenty of good laughs into this more serious story. However he also gets some chances to play dramatic scenes (a rarity for him). He does just as excellent of a job at these scenes.

As well as having a great cast in front of the camera this film also had a great director behind the camera. This was the one and only Raoul Walsh. This man's excellent filmography includes The Thief of Bagdad (1924), What Price Glory (1926), Sadie Thompson (1928), The Roaring Twenties (1939), High Sierra (1941) and White Heat (1949). He does an incredible job directing this movie giving us some fast paced action scenes (which he was always very good at ), great use of montage and an incredible sense of atmosphere. Writers Grover Jones, Lionel Houser and F. Hugh Herbert provide us with a smart and literate script that doesn't forget to also be entertaining.

A review in Modern Screen magazine stated "If all doses of history were as easy to take as this, there would be fewer kids playing hooky from school - and more adults reading history books." A review in The Film Daily stated "Few historically dramas in film annuals have packed more popular appeal." Other critics were just as positive when talking about this film. The movie also proved to be a Boxoffice success, helping John Wayne and Roy Rogers to grow even more in popularity.

Appropriate for a movie with two of the stars of Stagecoach (John Wayne and Claire Trevor) and actual stagecoach was driven down the streets of Fall River, Massachusetts to advertise the film's opening at the Empire Theatre. The theatre's manager, Bill Canning and assistant manager, Tommy Dries rode in this stagecoach.

This is a delightful movie that deserves to be better known or appreciated today.

-Michael J. Ruhland