Virginia City

Directed with the usual gusto by director Michael Curtiz who despite detesting Flynn personally always managed to extract fine work from him, "Virginia City" has an involved and indeed complicated story placed in the period of the American Civil war. It tells the story (based on an actual incident), of Captain Kerry Bradford (Flynn) a "yankee" who after escaping from a southern prison is sent south to Virginia City to hinder an essential shipment of $5,000,000 worth of gold secretly gathered by southern sympathisers from reaching the south's base of defence without which the war effort cannot be continued. Along the way he locks horns in a battle of wits with former goaler Captain Vance Lurby (Randolph Scott) who is determined to see that this secret shipment goes through via wagon train to Richmond to aid the cause. Also complicating Bradford's orders is the alluring dance hall singer come confederate spy Julia Hayne/Julie Adams (Miriam Hopkins) with whom he promtly falls in love and finds himself in a dilemma of mixed loyalties. Much attention has been focused on the miscasting of Miriam Hopkins in this role that perhaps required a more "sassy" type of female in the role. Hopkins always a fine actress as can be seen by her sterling work in "The Old Maid", "These Three", and "Old Acquaintance" does good work here despite being in a role not entirely suited to her screen persona. Her work in the trek on the wagon train and in particular during the spectacular attack on the wagon trains in the conclusion is excellent and goes some way toward improving her role and giving her some dramatic potential from the earlier largely unsatisfactory dance hall scenes where she does appear out of place. Humphrey Bogart also appears in the film as the villian of the piece half breed Mexican John Murrell who is determined to get his hands on this shipment of gold by fair means or foul. He is badly miscast here playing a Mexican bandito and in 1940 was only just pulling himself out of the second string villian roles which were his forte during the 1930's. He obviously still had little say in the choice of his roles which would change very quickly after his wonderful performances in films like "The Maltese Falcon". Flynn "sidekicks", Alan Hale and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams round out the cast and bring some humour to their roles as Bradford loyal friends who seem to just turn up when he most needs their support. Their easy rapport with Errol Flynn is a strong point of the film and is a real pleasure to see in "Virginia City", based no doubt on the fact that they worked more often with Errol Flynn on screen than with anyone else.

"Virginia City", an "A" class production for 1940 benefits greatly from some beautiful location photography and the camerawork and staging in particular around the scenes of the wagon train attack cannot be bettered. Perhaps this type of film cries out for technicolour which had been used to such great effect in Errol Flynn's western effort of the previous year "Dodge City", however it is still effective in the beautiful shades of black and white photography. The obvious care and attention to detail are very evident here and they are the elements that lift this film up a notch or two above your average western of the time. Indeed no Errol Flynn film in this period could ever be classed as average as he was one of Warner Bros top Box Office stars and his films brought in guaranteed fortunes upon release.

"Virginia City" with its off beat casting, unusual conclusion which I wont give away for the benefit of those who haven't seen it yet, and the chance to see Errol Flynn ideally cast in his absolute prime, has indeed much to recommend it as entertainment from this period. Not the best western ever made but still a well put together production which despite its flaws makes great viewing. Enjoy Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins in their only performance together in Warner Bros. "Virginia City".