Dark Command

{{Infobox film

| name = Dark Command

| image = Dark Command 1940.jpg

| caption = 1940 film poster

| based_on = {{based on|The Dark Command
1938 novel|W.R. Burnett}}{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MgteCgAAQBAJ&q=The%20Dark%20Command%20by%20W.%20R.%20Burnett&pg=PA88 |title = The John Wayne Filmography|isbn = 9780786432523|last1 = Landesman|first1 = Fred|date = 2007-07-11| publisher=McFarland }}

| writer = {{plainlist|

F. Hugh Herbert
Lionel Houser
Grover Jones
Jan Isbell Fortune (adaptation)

}}

| starring = {{plainlist|

}}

| music = Victor Young

| cinematography = Jack A. Marta

| editing = William Morgan

| studio = Republic Pictures

| distributor = Republic Pictures

| released = {{film date|1940|04|15|United States}}

| runtime = 94 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $750,000{{cite web |url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/title.jsp?stid=72283 |title=Notes for Dark Command (1940) |publisher=Turner Classic Movies |access-date=2007-11-10}}{{dead link|date=April 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

}}

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

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

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction by John Victor Mackay.{{cite web |url=https://movies.nytimes.com/movie/12241/Dark-Command/details |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121017170013/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/12241/Dark-Command/details |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-10-17 |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |date=2012 |title=NY Times: Dark Command |access-date=2008-12-13}}

Plot

Mary McCloud marries the seemingly peaceful Kansas schoolteacher William Cantrell, before finding out that he harbours 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 joins what he believes is a Rebel guerrilla force. Meanwhile, Cantrell's stern but loving mother refuses to accept any of her son's ill-gotten loot.

A former suitor of Mary's, Union supporter Bob Seton, 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

W.R. Burnett's novel was published in 1938 and became a best seller.{{cite news|title=THE BEST-SELLING BOOKS|work=New York Times|date=May 1, 1938|page=109}} It was a rare historical novel from Burnett, who was better known for modern day crime stories.{{Cite news|title=Burnett Publishes 20th Novel, The Tale of an Irish Bravo: Tireless Author, Bel-Air Resident, Shuns Publicity|author=Smith, Cecil.|date=Sep 19, 1954|work=Los Angeles Times|page=D4}} Film rights were purchased by Republic Pictures who announced the film in May 1939 as part of their slate for 1939–40.{{cite news|title=REPUBLIC TO MAKE 50 FEATURE FILMS: 'Seven Million Dollars,' 'The Dark Command' and 'Wagons Westward' Top List FOUR SERIALS SCHEDULED Other 1939–40 Pictures Will Be Based on Jack London and Mark Twain Tales|work=New York Times|date=Apr 6, 1939|page=34}}

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 70 mm Grandeur 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.

The film was financed on a larger budget than Republic normally provided. It was a similar scale to a successful historical drama they had made the year before, Man of Conquest. Walter Pidgeon was borrowed from MGM.{{Cite news|title=DRAMA: 'Boom Town' Looms for Gable and Tracy|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=Nov 18, 1939|work=Los Angeles Times|page=A7}} Filming started November 1939.{{Cite news|title=Of Local Origin|work=New York Times|date=Oct 26, 1939|page=31}}

Dark Command was the second film John Wayne made with Claire Trevor after Stagecoach, the other being Allegheny Uprising (1939).

Roy Rogers was given a key support role in Dark Command, the only time John Wayne and Roy Rogers made a movie together.{{Cite news|title=SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD|author=DOUGLAS W. CHURCHILL|date=Nov 27, 1939|work=New York Times|page=13}}

Historical inaccuracies

The pistols used by some of the cast are Colt single action army, SAA guns, not made until 1873. The movie is set at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860 when cap and ball pistols were used such as the Colt 1851 Navy. John Wayne carries a Colt Peacemaker not made until 1873.
The famous frontier towns of Newton and Dodge are repeatedly mentioned; However, neither town was founded until years after the Civil War.
Southern audiences were distanced from Cantrell's atrocities as Cantrill's force is portrayed as a false flag. Quantrill and his Raiders were in fact inducted into the Confederate Army before the Lawrence Massacre.{{Citation needed|date=January 2025}}

Release

Dark Command premiered in Lawrence, Kansas.{{Cite news|title=Astaire-Zorina Duo Bright New Dance Idea: Film Ingenue Grows Up O'Brien Budgets Raised Mexican Actress Tested Veterans to Team Again Premiere Due in Kansas|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=Apr 3, 1940|work=Los Angeles Times|page=13}}

It received favourable reviews and box office, and encouraged Republic to continue to allocate more money for John Wayne films.{{Cite news|title=John Wayne Wins Star Role in 'Big Bonanza': New Series for O'Brien Switch in Spy Yarns R.K.O. Signs Blackmer Sanders to Play Sleuth Pangborn Air Spieler|author=Schallert, Edwin|date=June 4, 1940|work=Los Angeles Times|page=13}}