Dark Command 1940 123movies

Watch: Dark Command 1940 123movies, Full Movie Online – When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It’s just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash..
Plot: When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It’s just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.
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Ratings:

	6.7/10 Votes: 2,758
	100% | RottenTomatoes
	N/A | MetaCritic
	N/A Votes: 34 Popularity: 4.904 | TMDB

Reviews:

Duke in ‘Bloody Kansas’, in his first Republic ‘A’-List Feature!
After the spectacular success of John Wayne in “Stagecoach”, Republic realized they actually had an ‘A’-list star…still making ‘B’ movies! While Duke was on loan to RKO for “Allegheny Uprising” (continuing to ‘farm out’ their biggest star out to major studios would provide a MAJOR source of cash for the small studio), Republic worked on creating their first ‘major’ western, borrowing MGM’s Walter Pigeon, top Warner director Raoul Walsh (who’d directed Wayne’s failed initial ‘starring’ role, “The Big Trail”, ten years earlier), Claire Trevor (in what would be her third teaming with Wayne in two years), rising star Roy Rogers (who’d inherited the “Singing Cowboy” roles a dubbed Wayne had played in the thirties), and ever-popular Gabby Hayes (a frequent Wayne co-star for nearly a decade).

The result of all the assembled talent was a well-crafted, if still modestly-budgeted film, showcasing Duke’s charisma and ‘star’ quality. As an illiterate but straight-talking Texan in Lawrence, Kansas, Duke wins the hearts of the townspeople and (eventually) banker’s daughter Trevor, over intellectual schoolteacher William Cantrell (Pidgeon, playing a variation of infamous Southern guerrilla fighter William Quantrell). With the beginning of the Civil War, Cantrell, showing the signs of insanity his mother (the ever-wonderful Marjorie Main) had warned him of inheriting, recruits an ‘army’ of mercenaries, dons a stolen Rebel uniform, and burns and pillages, with Duke in pursuit, climaxing in a last-ditch defense of Lawrence.

While very ‘fast and loose’, historically, “Dark Command” is great fun, and the Wayne/Trevor chemistry was never more enjoyable!

Bleeding Kansas
Although the American Civil War officially broke out in 1861, armed hostilities between supporters and opponents of slavery had been going on for several years prior to that in some parts of the USA, especially in Missouri and Kansas, which became known as “bleeding Kansas”. “Dark Command” is a film which explores this period of American history.

The main character is a young man named Bob Seton who arrives in the town of Lawrence, Kansas some time in the late 1850s. The first part of the film is dull and slow-moving, dealing with Seton’s unsuccessful courtship of Mary McCloud, the pretty daughter of the town’s Scottish- born banker, and his attempt to start a political career by running for Marshal. He also makes the acquaintance of the local schoolmaster William Cantrell who is his rival in both love and politics. Things start to get more exciting when Seton wins the election; John Wayne was always more convincing as an action hero than as a screen lover and as Marshal Seton has plenty of work on his plate. Disappointed by the failure of his hopes for a career in law enforcement, Cantrell decides to take up a career in law breaking and forms his own gang of outlaws to terrorise the district. He is careful, however, to ensure that his identity is never discovered so remains a mild-mannered teacher by day, an audacious bandit chief by night. (Cantrell, as his name might suggest, is based on a real historical figure, William Quantrill).

The area is sharply divided between pro-Northern and pro-Southern factions, and matters come to a head when Mary’s hot-headed pro-slavery brother Fletcher shoots a man dead in an argument about politics. Mary offers to marry Seton if he will grant her brother bail, but he has too much integrity to agree, knowing that Fletcher will abscond if given the chance. In desperation Mary turns to Cantrell who manages to secure Fletcher’s acquittal, partly through his eloquence but mostly through the simpler expedient of intimidating the jurymen.

Most films from this period with a Civil War theme tended to sit on the fence politically in order to avoid alienating either Northern or Southern audiences; an exception is “Belle Starr” from the following year which is quite disgracefully pro-Southern. “Dark Command” is never quite as biased, but even so the film-makers tend to distort history to make their film more acceptable south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The real Quantrill was a Rebel guerrilla whose activities were initially sanctioned by the Confederate high command. (They eventually disowned him because of his brutal methods). Here Cantrell is simply an opportunist robber with no connection to the Confederate forces but who dresses his men in stolen Confederate uniforms as a disguise. The murderous Fletcher McCloud, who for a time joins Cantrell’s gang, is allowed to redeem himself by joining the good guys. (A rare example, during the Production Code era, of a murderer getting away with his crime unpunished and a rare example of the normally clean-cut Roy Rogers playing a criminal). The hero Seton himself turns out to be from Texas, although Wayne does not attempt a Texan accent. (Rogers does give Fletcher a Southern accent, but his efforts are undermined by the fact that Claire Trevor as his supposed sister sounds Northern and Porter Hall as their father Angus is definitely Scottish).

This was the only film which Wayne and Rogers, both major Western icons, made together. It was also the only film Wayne made with director Raoul Walsh apart from “The Big Trail”, Wayne’s first leading role, from ten years earlier. It has its moments such as the scene near the end when Cantrell’s gang attack the town of Lawrence, recreating an actual attack by Quantrill’s Raiders. Too much time, however, is taken up with the romantic subplot, especially as Mary never seems a very sympathetic character. Seton may be prepared to overlook her obvious flaws such as her blatant attempts to pervert the course of justice to save her worthless brother or the lack of judgement which leads her to accept Cantrell as a husband. Audiences may be less charitable. In my view this will never really count as a major entry in Wayne’s filmography. 5/10

Other Information:

Original Language en
Runtime 1 hr 34 min (94 min), 1 hr 30 min (90 min) (UK)
Budget 0
Revenue 0
Status Released
Rated Approved
Genre Western
Director Raoul Walsh
Writer Grover Jones, Lionel Houser, F. Hugh Herbert
Actors Claire Trevor, John Wayne, Walter Pidgeon
Country United States
Awards Nominated for 2 Oscars. 2 nominations total
Production Company N/A
Website N/A

Technical Information:

Sound Mix Mono (RCA “High Fidelity” Recording)
Aspect Ratio 1.37 : 1
Camera N/A
Laboratory Consolidated Film Industries (CFI), Hollywood (CA), USA
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Spherical
Printed Film Format 35 mm