Virginia City *** (1940, Errol Flynn, Miriam Hopkins, Randolph Scott, Humphrey Bogart, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale) – Classic Movie Review 11,094

‘Go West!.. .to Virginia City… for excitement, for adventure, for primitive romance!!!’

Director Michael Curtiz’s 1940 Warner Bros American black and white historical Western action drama Virginia City is an always lusty but sometimes struggling big-budget B-movie (on a $1,000,000 budget) about three different gangs going after a treasure trove during the US Civil War.

Errol Flynn stars as Captain Kerry Bradford who leads the Union Army, Randolph Scott plays Confederate Captain Vance Irby who heads the Confederates and a ludicrously accented Humphrey Bogart with a moustache plays the chief Mexican bandito John Murrell.

Bradford escapes from Confederate prison and is sent with two men to Virginia City in Nevada, where he finds that Vance Irby, the former commander of his prison, is planning to send $5 million in gold to save the Confederacy. On the stage to Virginia City, Bradford meets and falls for Julia Hayne (Miriam Hopkins). Bandit John Murrell is also after the gold.

Virginia City is overblown and overlong with too many interiors and stage-set exteriors, and a script that trots out one cliché to the next, but it still entertains very well sporadically.

The three male stars are always good to watch (though Bogart is terribly miscast), Miriam Hopkins (as Julia Hayne) makes an effective rebel spy, there is enjoyable work from the Warner Bros stock company support cast, there is great action, Yakima Canutt handles the stunts with style, and Curtiz handles the movie with his customary enthusiasm.

It is made by the same team – Curtiz, cinematographer Sol Polito, writer Robert Buckner and star Flynn – responsible for the previous year’s Dodge City.

Also in the cast are Frank McHugh, Alan Hale Sr, Douglass Dumbrille, Russell Hicks, Moroni Olsen, John Litel, Guinn ‘Big Boy’ Williams, Dickie Jones, Frank Wilcox, Russell Simpson, Victor Kilian, Charles Middleton, Trevor Bardette, Hank Bell, Ward Bond, Lane Chandler, Spencer Charters, Harry Cording, Claire De Brey, Tom Dugan, Jim Farley, Paul Fix, Roy Gordon, George Guhl, Henry Hall, Thurston Hall, Charles Halton, Howard C Hickman, Max Hoffman Jr, Robert Homans, William Hopper, Reed Howes, Edward Keane, Wilfred Lucas, Sam McDaniel, Walter Miller, Frank Mills, Shirley Mills, Monte Montague, Philip Morris, Jack Mower, Wedgwood Nowell, Bud Osborne, Eddie Parker, George Reeves, George Regas, Albert Russell, Georgia Simmons, Charles Trowbridge, Brandon Tynan and Norman Willis.

It is one of only two films Bogart had a moustache, preceded by Isle of Fury (1936).

Look how star status changes. For the 1957 Dominant Pictures Corporation theatrical re-release in the US, Randolph Scott and Humphrey Bogart were given top billing and Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins were demoted beneath the title.

It is shot at Warner Brothers Burbank Studios, 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California.

Virginia City is directed by Michael Curtiz, runs 121 minutes, is made by Warner Bros (A Warner Bros-First National Picture), and released by Warner Bros (1940) (US) and Warner Bros (1940) (UK), is written by Robert Buckner (original screenplay), Howard Koch (uncredited) and Norman Reilly Raine (uncredited), is shot in black and white (Sepiatone) by Sol Polito, is produced by Hal B Wallis and Robert Fellows, is scored by Max Steiner, and is designed by Ted Smith.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,094

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