Those three actors would headline and carry their own movies to great success for Warner Brothers. James Cagney in YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942). Erroll Flynn in CAPTAIN BLOOD and THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1939). Humphrey Bogart in CASABLANCA (1942) and THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE (1948). Coincidentally, all of those films except one were directed by one of Warner's best directors under contract Michael Curtiz (TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE was directed by John Huston). Occasionally, the three Warner stars would even appear in a film together (although Cagney and Flynn never did). Cagney and Bogart in Curtiz's ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES (1938) and Raoul Walsh's THE ROARING TWENTIES (1939). Or Flynn and Bogart in a western adventure (directed by Curtiz) that I had not seen before with a good supporting cast called VIRGINIA CITY (1940).
One of the many intriguing aspects of VIRGINIA CITY is that it's the 2nd and last western that Bogart would appear in. Previously, he played bad guy Whip McCord in Lloyd Bacon's THE OKLAHOMA KID (1939) which also starred James Cagney. Bogart was just on the cusp of coming out under the shadow of Cagney and Flynn to become a major star. Director Curtiz had just made the beautiful, boisterous Technicolor western DODGE CITY (also 1939) with Flynn, Olivia DeHavilland, and Ann Sheridan. Reports are that VIRGINIA CITY was going to be a sequel to DODGE CITY as Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland discuss heading to Virginia City at the end of DODGE CITY. VIRGINIA CITY has the same director and writer and many of the same actors from DODGE CITY (although DeHavilland dropped out and Miriam Hopkins took over her role). Somewhere along the creative process different characters were developed and a different plot emerged. VIRGINIA CITY is shot in black and white not color. It's loaded with Civil War intrigue, double and triple crosses, and a Confederate plot to steal $5 million in gold from the raucous, pro-Union mining town of Virgina City, Nevada to help the struggling Confederate army purchase weapons and continue fighting the war.
With an original screenplay by Robert Buckner (and an uncredited Howard Koch) and directed by the versatile Michael Curtiz, VIRGINIA CITY begins in December 1864 as the Civil War rages and the South struggles to keep up the fight. Confederate spy (and later we learn saloon singer) Julie Hayne (Miriam Hopkins) travels from Virginia City, Nevada to Richmond, Virginia to suggest a plan to her former beau Captain Vance Irby (Randolph Scott). Vance is currently commander of Libby Prison (nicknamed "the Devil's Warehouse") holding Union prisoners. Trying to escape from the prison are Union intelligence officers Captain Kerry Bradford (Erroll Flynn), Olaf "Moosehead" Swenson (Alan Hale), and Marblehead (Guinn "Big Boy" Williams). Vance discovers the secret tunnel the men are burrowing to escape (he's actually known about it since the three were incarcerated). He confronts the men, wishes them well in their efforts, and warns them they will never escape. Vance returns to his office where Julia is waiting. She knows the South is losing the war. She proposes Vance and his men come to Virginia City and take $5 million in gold from the mines and bring it back to Richmond to fund the Confederate army. Vance introduces Julia to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (Charles Middleton) and his cabinet who greenlight her plan.
As Vance and Julia gaze out at the Richmond night skyline, a huge explosion in the distance at the prison ruins their moment. Bradford and his cohorts have used makeshift explosives to escape. After eluding their pursuers, Bradford and friends make it to General George Meade's Union headquarters at Seven Pines to report Confederate spies are headed to Virginia City to steal gold to fund the Rebels. Southern sympathizers own the Comstock mines. Meade orders them to catch the Rebel infiltrators and stop the gold heist. Bradford, Moosehead, and Marblehead catch a stagecoach to Virginia City where the passengers include the beautiful Rebel spy Julia; Mr. Upjohn (Frank McHugh), an insurance salesman, and the mysterious gun salesman John Murrell (Humphrey Bogart with a thin black moustache and Mexican accent that comes and goes). Murrell tries to rob the stagecoach with his band of cutthroats following known as Murrell's Marauders. Bradford with the help of his buddies manages to thwart Murrell who escapes by leaping from the stagecoach into a river below. Bradford begins to fall in love with Julia during the rest of the journey. When they arrive in Virginia City, Julia gives Bradford the slip with the help of young Cobby Gin (Dickie Jones).
Bradford checks in with the Union Army garrison just outside of town. Vance is already in town making gold bars with the help of his co-conspirator Gaylord (Russell Simpson). Their plan is to take the gold bars back East via an immigrant wagon train. Bradford and the boys check out the Sazerac Saloon where Bradford finds Julia singing on stage. Moosehead and Marblehead run into Vance. Everyone has a drink and plays nice. Vance leaves the saloon and Bradford follows him back to a barn where the wagons are ready to leave. A gunfight breaks out as the wagons haul out of town. Bradford orders all town exits to be blocked. Vance hides out at the office of Doc Cameron (Moroni Olsen), one of the mine owners and Southern sympathizers. Murrell shows up at Cameron's office injured from his earlier stagecoach escape. Vance hires Murrell and his Marauders to cause a diversion so his wagons can leave Virginia City. Julia returns to her room to find Vance waiting for her. He asks Julia to lure Bradford back to her room so Vance can arrest Bradford as a Union spy and take him back to Richmond. The plan works. Vance, Julia, and a captured Bradford head out East after Murrell's diversion works. Moosehead and Marblehead find Bradford missing and ride out to find the gold train.
Vance pays off Murrell and his Marauders just outside Virginia City. The wagon train approaches a Union Fort. They almost pass inspection when the officers notice the wagons are weighted down. A shoot out breaks out. Bradford escapes and young Cobby is wounded. Bradford comes across a deserted outpost where he's reunited with his buddies Moosehead and Marblehead. Bradford telegraphs Major Drewery (Douglass Dumbrille) for reinforcements. Vance splits the wagon train into two groups to make it harder to track them. A dried-up riverbed and the death of young Cobby slows Vance down. Murrell and his Marauders show up again. Murrell wants more gold. They attack the wagon train forcing Vance, Julia, and the group to circle the wagons. Julia helps reload the rifles. Bradford and his men ride in to rescue them. Vance is mortally wounded. He turns over command of the wagons to Bradford before dying. Bradford won't take the gold bullion to the South, but he won't let Murrell and his Marauders have it either. He takes the wagons into a cave and blows it up, burying the $5 million in gold. Drewery arrives with his regiment. Murrell is killed. Bradford won't reveal the whereabouts of the gold to Drewery. Bradford is court martialed and sentenced to hang. Julia travels back to Washington D.C. and visits President Abraham Lincoln (Victor Kilian) where she requests a stay of execution for Bradford. Will her request be granted?
VIRGINIA CITY is not as good as DODGE CITY, but it has some interesting elements to it. Errol Flynn's Union Captain Bradford and Randolph Scott's Confederate Captain Irby are two sides of the same coin. As Bradford tells Irby at the Sazerac Saloon, "Too bad you and I had to be on opposite sides of the fence in this. I think we might have been friends." The Civil War has made these two similar men enemies. They both love the same woman. They both strongly believe in their cause. Vance dares Bradford to try and escape Libby Prison which Bradford manages to do. Later, Bradford dares Vance to leave Virginia City with his caravan of gold. Vance pulls it off with the help of Murrell. Bradford and Vance will team up to defeat their common enemy John Murrell (and to protect their mutual love interest Julia).
One of the clever twists in VIRGINIA CITY is that it's a woman (and a Confederate spy no less) who devises the plot to steal the gold to keep the South's war machine funded. Saloon singer Julia Hayne (played by Miriam Hopkins) travels from Virginia City, Nevada in the West all the way to Richmond, Virginia to hatch her plan with the assistance of former lover and now Commander of Libby Prison Vance Irby. It's a dangerous mission that Julia pulls off. Vance agrees to help with the mission. Julia is greeted like a princess by Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet. Even after Julia begins to fall for Union Officer Kerry Bradford (Errol Flynn), she helps Vance capture Bradford to take back to prison. Her loyalty for most of VIRGINIA CITY is to her beloved South. Julia is a strong female character, not just window dressing to Bradford and Vance. In the end, she'll have to use her power of persuasion a second time to convince President Abraham Lincoln to save the man she loves.
Director Curtiz was never, in my opinion, a great visual director. Curtiz excelled in creating different worlds within a studio soundstage or backlot whether it be the markets and cafes of Casablanca in CASABLANCA or the Caribbean waterfront of Port Royal in CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935). In VIRGINIA CITY, Curtiz ventures outdoors and into John Ford territory with some dramatic vistas and rock formations courtesy of Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona. It opens up the film nicely as the second half of the film is the pursuit of the wagon train filled with Rebel gold. Curtiz also gives his main character Errol Flynn some buddies in Alan Hale and "Big Boy" Williams for comic relief which may have inspired Ford to cast Victor McLagen and Ward Bond (who has a quick appearance in VIRGINIA CITY as a Confederate Border Sentry) as John Wayne's sidekicks in FORT APACHE (1948). Curtiz was a master at big fight scenes. The attack by Murrell and his Marauders on the wagon train and Bradford and his men riding to the rescue is shot and edited dramatically with lots of quick cutting and close ups of the men on horses almost colliding with one another in battle. It reminded me of Curtiz's battle scenes in THE SEA HAWK (also made in 1940) only with pirates and swords replacing horses and guns. Until the penultimate shootout between Bradford/Vance against Murrell, the second half of VIRGINIA CITY drags a bit even with the beautiful outdoor scenery. A group of wagons bumping along toward Texas is not the sexiest image to watch for thirty minutes.
VIRGINIA CITY may have been Warner Brothers counter punch to MGM's big budget Civil War themed epic GONE WITH THE WIND (1939) directed by Victor Fleming that had come out the year before. VIRGINIA CITY has two roguish characters similar to Clark Gable's Rhett Butler with Errol Flynn's Union Captain Kerry Bradford and Randolph Scott's Confederate Captain Vance Irby. Olivia DeHavilland dropped out of VIRGINIA CITY possibly because she was appearing in GONE WITH THE WIND. Miriam Hopkins (who was born in Savannah, Georgia) was one of numerous actresses who auditioned to play Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND. Hopkins and other would lose out to Vivian Leigh for the coveted role. Hopkins would replace DeHavilland and get her chance to play a southern lady (and Rebel spy) in VIRGINIA CITY.
The number of films that Warner Brothers would have their contract stars make in one year was incredible. In 1940, Errol Flynn would have three films released including VIRGINIA CITY, Humphrey Bogart would appear in 5 films (he appeared in seven in 1939), and James Cagney three films. Bogart was still working his way up to leading man status. Although he had good notices and performances in films like Archie Mayo's THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1936) and Raoul Walsh's HIGH SIERRA (1940), Bogart also appeared in lesser Warner films like Vincent Sherman's horror film THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X (1939) or supporting roles in westerns as the bad guy in THE OKLAHOMA KID and VIRGINA CITY. It's a bit of a stretch believing Bogart as Mexican outlaw John Murrell in VIRGINIA CITY. Bogart tries a Mexican accent at times only for it to disappear in other scenes. Bogart's character John Murrell was a real-life outlaw born in Virginia and raised in Tennessee. He was not Hispanic. Other historical figures that appear in VIRGINIA CITY include Confederate President Jefferson Davis, Union General George Meade, and the President of the United States Abraham Lincoln. Bogart would cement his leading man status and stardom in 1941 when he played gumshoe Sam Spade in John Huston's THE MALTESE FACLON based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett.
VIRGINIA CITY would be one of the first films where leading man Errol Flynn would be sharing screen time with another leading man type in co-star Randolph Scott. Previously, Flynn had been the solo leading star followed by his love interest (Olivia DeHavilland, Bette Davis or Miriam Hopkins) and supporting cast (Alan Hale, Patric Knowles, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Basil Rathbone, etc.). After VIRIGINA CITY, Flynn would be teamed with another young up-and-coming leading man by the name of Ronald Reagan in Curtiz's SANTE FE TRAIL (1940) and Raoul Walsh's DESPERATE JOURNEY. With World War II kicking into high gear, Flynn's western days would give way to a series of World War II themed movies including Lewis Milestone's EDGE OF DARKNESS (1943), Walsh's NORTHERN PURSUIT (1943), and Walsh's OBJECTIVE, BURMA! (1945). Flynn's stardom would begin to fade in the mid-40's and 1950s. Randolph Scott's career would rise in the late 40s and 50s. The good-looking Scott would appear almost exclusively in westerns, making him the second most popular western star after John Wayne. Scott appeared in several well received westerns directed by Budd Boetticher including THE TALL T (1957) and DECISION AT SUNDOWN (also 1957). Scott would cap off a successful career in his final film before retiring, Sam Peckinpah's acclaimed RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962) co-starring Joel McCrea.
I was smitten with Miriam Hopkins several years ago after watching her in the pre-code horror film DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1931) with Fredric March as London prostitute Ivy Pearson. With her blonde locks and velvety voice, it's hard to miss her. In VIRGINIA CITY, Hopkins role as saloon dancer and Rebel spy Julia Hayne is a fun turn for her. She's the catalyst for the whole operation to bring the gold back to Richmond from Virginia City. Like a good spy, she's planted in a pro-Union town. She risks her life to return back East to unveil her plan to Vance. The diminuitive Hopkins did not have a prolific career or make multiple film each year like her co-stars. Her other notable movies include Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy caper TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) with Herbert Marshall; Howard Hawks BARBARY COAST (1935) with Edward G. Robinson and Joel McCrea; and one of her last good big screen performances in William Wyler's THE HEIRESS (1949) starring Olive DeHavilland and Montgomery Clift.
Errol Flynn had sidekicks in a good number of his films. VIRGINIA CITY provides Flynn with his old friend and co-star Alan Hale (they made 13 films together) as "Moosehead" Swenson. For the second time, Flynn and Hale are joined by the interestingly named Guinn "Big Boy" Williams who plays Marblehead. Flynn, Hale, and Williams were first a trio in DODGE CITY. A former cowboy and rodeo rider, the sturdy Williams began in silent films like LUCKY STAR (1929) with Janet Gaynor and transitioned easily to talkies. Williams would become another key Warner Brothers player. Flynn, Hale, and Williams would make a third film together with SANTE FE TRAIL. Williams would continue to make westerns for most of his career. He would reunite with Flynn in William Keighley's ROCKY MOUNTAIN (1950) and appeared with Randolph Scott in Roy Huggins HANGMAN'S KNOT (1952).
Some final VIRGINIA CITY fun facts. When VIRGINIA CITY was re-released in 1956, Randolph Scott (who was now a bigger star than Errol Flynn) and Humphrey Bogart (who was an international star) got top billing instead of Flynn and Hopkins. Flynn and Hopkins names came beneath the film's title as their star power had dimmed. VIRGINIA CITY is full of supporting actors who were also in DODGE CITY. Frank McHugh as insurance salesman Mr. Upjohn, John Litel as a U.S. Marshal, Russell Simpson as Confederate sympathizer Gaylord, and Ward Bond as a Confederate Border guard all appeared in DODGE CITY in different character roles. Actor Charles Middleton who had played Abraham Lincoln in several films was cast as Confederate President Jefferson Davis in VIRGINIA CITY. Victor Kilian played Lincoln this time.
Although not as rousing as its counterpart DODGE CITY, VIRGINIA CITY is another example of the studio system (Warner Brothers) turning out an entertaining adventure story, partly based on historical fact (a wagon train did undertake a journey in 1864 from Virginia City heading east), mostly made up with creative license. It's the only pairing of Errol Flynn with Miriam Hopkins. Humphrey Bogart, and Randolph Scott. Warner Brothers maestro Michael Curtiz was just a few years away from directing his most well-known feature film CASABLANCA which would further cement the leading man status of Humphrey Bogart. VIRGINIA CITY is a crossroads film for all these creative talents and worthy of two hours of a movie lover's attention.
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