Santa Fe Trail (1940)

strange strange fruit

A truly strange movie...slavery is ok, and the South will "sort it out" in good time. Movies like this built racism and made lynchings possible. Slavery itself isnof course absent from the movie, except for a scared family trying to escape. But never mind, some people will never care. Avoid. December 15, 2008

A Hollywood History of Bleeding Kansas

The film begins in 1854 at the West Point Military Academy. [The names of the cadets will be famous in the War Between the States.] There is political conflict between some cadets. Should the southern plutocrats continue to rule? The Commandant warns them against lying to benefit a friend, a danger even in peacetime. Rader is discharged for his abolitionist propaganda. Upon graduation some will be sent to Fort Leavenworth. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis tells them of the importance of defending the nation. Will Kansas join the nation as a free state? On the train some men try to abduct some passengers! The slavery conflict is the cause of "Bleeding Kansas".

Fort Leavenworth is the beginning of the trail to Santa Fe and its lucrative trade. The Army escorts wagon trains. The happy workers sing as they leave. John Brown organizes his supporters to abolish slavery. Will they attack a wagon train like robbers? Brown collects the boxes of "bibles" for his missionary work. There is a running chase with gunfire. The Army will search for John Brown's gang and attack them. A prisoner tells where the gang is located. A shipload of "salt pork" arrives in Palmyra. Rader provides military training to Brown's men for a price. Will Brown's gang attack another town? Will JEB Stuart scout the town of Palmyra, the terminal of the Underground Railroad? Will his horse tell on him? John Brown explains his strategy to abolish slavery through bloodshed.

Stuart escapes from Brown's gang while the barn catches fire. The Cavalry rides to the rescue. Brown and a few of his men escape. Are they finished? The Army officers are recalled to Washington. An Indian prophet predicts their future: they will become enemies in a war that has already begun. They laugh! John Brown has a new plan for a glorious end. He will attack the Arsenal at Harper's Ferry and use the arms to free the slaves. Will John Brown pay his debts to Rader? Historical figures are used in the story. Will somebody squeal? The last part of the film recreates John Brown's raid. [Did Brown have that many supporters?] Brown's promised support didn't show up, but US armed forces did. Guns neutralized the brick walls. The defenders are overwhelmed. JEB Stuart personally captures John Brown. Brown is tried and condemned for treason. Brown predicts a coming storm and the film ends.

Hollywood produces entertainment, not history. George Armstrong Custer is one of the most famous Americans, in the mid-1850s he was a school teacher in Ohio and didn't graduate from West Point until 1861.
November 10, 2008

One film rather good quality for public domain, the other not so good...

When buying public domain movies, one must rate on a totally separate scale. Santa Fe Trail is actually not a bad-looking transfer. Of course as you know PD companies generally don't have access to anything even remotely close to an original camera negative, so naturally this isn't as crisp and sparkling as it would be should Warner Brothers ever decide to remaster it, but it is certainly miles above the other versions floating around out there. As for the second feature, Abilene Town, it is a typical shabby print. I guess Marengo just considers it a bonus, so nothing has been done to clean it up. It's watchable, but little else. The purchase price is worth it for what is probably the best looking Santa Fe Trail out there. November 7, 2008

interesting look at pre civil war history

At first, since this was deemed a "Western" I was sort of surprised to find this was more of a history about some events that led to the civil war. It suddenly got very interesting for that reason alone. The dating of events in the movie is non existant because I just found out that the movie covers a period from 1854-1859, but one gets the impression that all the events transpired quickly and all in 1854.

I did enjoy the movie and it was in essence my first peek at this curious charchter in US history named John Brown. Some of his writings were quoted in the movie and they were very intreaguing bits to say the least, making me quite curious to find out more about him. Little did I realize the movie would do that for me...or at least the producers version of this mans legacy was played out.
Thus, as the movie went along I could clearly see this movie was playing up one opinion over the other, and it was a strange angle indeed, as it was not whether slavery was right or wrong, but rather a tendancy to encourage people to obey government. I supect the motivation was agreeing that slavery was wrong, but portraying this John Brown as an extreme religious psycopathic unscrupulous fanatic, tended to cast a dispariging light on people that hold to a Biblical faith,(..something Hollywood has been doing from day one.)Though admittedly from what little I have gleaned about John Brown, this may be the case.

What the charachter (played by Errol Flynn) said to John Brown (Raymond Massey) was quite interesting and makes one wonder what might have happened had Brown listened to reason. But clearly some further investigation of just who and what this John brown might have been is reccomended.
But it was also a fun interesting story all the same with a fun romantic angle tossed in with Ronald Reagan as one of the participants. It was suspencful in some ways as it was something of a war against civil, or uncivil unrest as the case may be in which no one can know the results. And it was also humorous in some parts. October 10, 2008

Classic Movie

My husband is a western fan and he just had to have this classic DVD, so when I saw it for sale on Amazon I purchased it for him. He loves the movie and the enhanced quality that has been captured on DVD. May 14, 2008

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