Santa Fe Trail (film)
| Santa Fe Trail | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Curtiz |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis Robert Fellows |
| Written by | Robert Buckner (screenplay) |
| Starring | Errol Flynn Olivia de Havilland Raymond Massey Ronald Reagan |
| Music by | Max Steiner |
| Cinematography | Sol Polito |
| Editing by | George Amy |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 28, 1940 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1 million[1] |
Santa Fe Trail is a 1940 western film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film was one of the top-grossing films of the year, being the seventh Flynn-de Havilland collaboration. The film also has nothing to do with its namesake, the famed Santa Fe Trail, except that the trail started in Missouri. Instead, it follows the life of J.E.B. Stuart, a cavalry commander (and future Confederate Army general).
The outdoor scenes were filmed at the Lasky Movie Ranch in the Lasky Mesa area of the Simi Hills in the western San Fernando Valley.[2] One can visit the film location site, now in the very large Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (a.k.a. Ahmanson Ranch), with various trails to the Lasky Mesa locale.[3]
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[edit] Plot
The film purports to follow the life of J.E.B. Stuart (Errol Flynn) before the outbreak of the American Civil War. Among its sub-plots are a romance with the fictional Kit Carson Holliday (Olivia de Havilland), friendship with George Armstrong Custer (Ronald Reagan), and battles against abolitionist John Brown (Raymond Massey).
The movie significantly differs from the actual details of Stuart's life. For instance, Stuart is depicted as having been classmates at West Point Academy with Custer and others, who on graduation were appointed to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In reality, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, four years after Stuart graduated in 1854. Custer graduated in 1861 after the Civil War had begun. A later scene in Kansas, where an Indian woman predicts the future, suggests that these West Point officers, once friends, would be divided against each other in a conflagration unimaginable. They laugh uncomfortably at such a prospect. The conflagration foretold, of course, is the impending Civil War, yet to begin.
[edit] Depictions
Massey's John Brown eagerly endorses breaking apart the union of the United States. The movie was made on the eve of 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 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/anti-slavery states had reached a boiling point.[citation needed]
[edit] Production
The film is frequently confused with the Raoul Walsh movie They Died With Their Boots On released the following year, in which Flynn replaces Reagan in the role of Custer and also features de Havilland as Flynn's leading lady.
[edit] Vitasound
In its initial release, Warner Brothers premiered this film in some large cities with an experimental sound system called Vitasound. Not a stereophonic system as sometimes reported, Vitasound was intended to create a greater dynamic range in the reproduced sound in the theatre for battlefield scenes etc., or for dramatic music.
Vitasound employed a second, control, track along the line of the sprocket holes on the soundtrack side of the film. This control track consisted of a clear line on a black background that varied in width. If the width was greater than 0.04" then the soundtrack played as normal. At a width of 0.04" a relay operated connecting left and right speakers in parallel with the normal center speaker. As the control track width reduced further playback volume would be increased up to a maximum of 10dB at a zero control track width.
(Source: IMDb) This system was unrelated to Disney's Fantasound system which had just been used for roadshow engagements of Fantasia, released 13 November 1940.
[edit] 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
- Erville Alderson as Jefferson Davis
[edit] Availability
Santa Fe Trail entered the public domain in 1968, after United Artists Television - then the owners of the pre-1950 WB library - failed to renew the copyright. As a result, the film has been widely available on VHS, LaserDisc and DVD, with picture and sound quality varying. A colorized version was produced in the 1980s, which was released on VHS. In the 1990s, Turner Entertainment through MGM/UA Home Video released a VHS version using the original negatives; no such authorized release has been available on DVD or Blu-Ray Disc. The film is also free to watch and download on YouTube and the Internet Archive.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Glancy, H. Mark. "Warner Bros film grosses, 1921-51." Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. March 1995.
- ^ oxy.edu. access date:5/15/2010. 'Lasky Movie Ranch' set photos
- ^ http://www.lamountains.com/pdf/Ahmanson_History_movies.pdf www.lamountains. "Ahmanson: filming location history." access date: 5/11/2010.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Santa Fe Trail (film) |
- Santa Fe Trail at the Internet Movie Database
- Santa Fe Trail is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more] (alternative link)
- Santa Fe Trail at the TCM Movie Database
- Complete film at Google video
