Dodge City (Warner Bros.) (1939)

=: * “ . PUBLICITY Prepared Review; Opening Day Story; Olivia de Havilland Plays 1872 Gal Reporter; Errol Flynn Averts A Catastrophe ERROL FLYNN Al STRAND THEATRE IN “DODGE GIIY” Errol Flynn comes to the screen of the Strand Theatre today in a role that is, on the surface, altogether unlike any he has ever played before, for he is the straight-shooting hero of “Dodge City,” a film about the period when the little Kansas town of that name was the roughest and wickedest community of the old west. Produced by Warner Bros. in Technicolor, “Dodge City” is a spirited and authentic re-creation of those hectic days in the 1870’s when the coming of the railroad te the little town at the northern end of the famed Chisholm Trail made it the leading cattle shipping center of that era. And its authenticity is lessened no whit by the fact that the obviously British Errol Flynn is ‘depicted as the trail boss who Mat 106—15c ERROL FLYNN plays a dashing gunfighter in “Dodge City," Technicolor epic opening today at the Strand. has driven a huge herd of Texas longhorns up the Chisholm Trail and then, after his arrival in Dodge City, becomes the sheriff who cleans up the wild and wicked town. He is explained as an Irish soldier-of-fortune who had become a Texas cowboy after fighting for the South in the Civil War, and the history of the old west contains several notable examples of adventurous Britons who became men to be feared in that virile era. The story, which is an original screen play by Robert Buckner, revolves about the war to the death between Flynn and the murderous gang of gun-fighters who have been in control of the town until his arrival, and it is replete with hair-raising ineidents. Notable scenes in the picture include the stampede of a big herd of longhorns, a brawl involving more than a hundred men in the biggest saloon and gambling hall of Dodge City — which is easily the most spirited battle of the sort ever filmed — and a tense and suspenseful gun battle in a railway mail ear which ends with Flynn and two companions being locked in the car as it is set in flames. How Flynn manages to get out of the flaming railway car, rescue his companions and then turn the tables on the outlaws is a climactic scene with a terrific impact of turbulent action. In the brilliant cast which supports Flynn are Olivia de Havilland, Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale, John Litel, Henry* Travers, Henry O'Neill, Victor Jory, William Lundigan and Guinn “Big Boy” Williams. The production was directed by Michael Curtiz. (Review) Errol Flynn Daring Gunfighter In Epic Western, ‘Dodge City’ The brawling, turbulent, sudden-death milieu of the toughest, roughest town in the cattle country of the 1870’s is the background against which Errol Flynn ‘projects his virile, adventurous personality in ‘Dodge City,” the Warner Bros. Technicolor production which opened yesterday at the Strand Theatre. Dealing with the most turbulent era of the old west, it is a production of a scope and authenticity that may well make it remembered as a milestone in motion picture history. Making the unmistakably British Errol Flynn its hero may seem a novelty to the casual film-goer but it will require no stretching of credibility on the part of those who are steeped in the history of the period and the region which are covered in “Dodge City.” For there were a number of adventurous young Britons who became well-known figures in the pioneer days of the west and it is easy to believe that such a fellow as Flynn is in actuality could well have been one of them. With this blessing of historical authenticity, Flynn makes an ideal figure as a venturesome young Irish soldier of fortune who has become a cowboy in Texas after having fought in the army of the Confederacy during the Civil War. The story of the picture picks him up when he has become the trail buss of an outfit driving a huge herd of Texas longhorn steers up along the Chisholm Trail to Dodge City, the little town in southwestern Kansas that had become the largest cattle shipping center in the west after the Santa Fe Railway had been extended to what had merely been a drinking and carousing center for the soldiers from nearby military post, Fort Dodge. Glamour, apparently, is to be found in newspaper offices, for in recent months many of the screens’ most fascinating actresses have become girl reporters, the list including Glenda Farrell, Joan Blondell, Rosalind Russell, Rosella Towne and even little Bonita Granville at the Warner Bros. Studio, Betty Grable and Frances Farmer at Paramount, and Claire Trevor and Gloria Stuart at Twentieth Century-Fox. Whether it was the girls themselves or their scenarists who reached the mass decision that fascination could be demonstrated by beautiful young ladies who could consistently outwit policemen, politicians, and more slow-witted male reporters, no one can authoritatively state, but the fact remains that film reporting has taken on a keener and more genteel edge since the beginning of the new era which, for want of a more expressive word, can be called the ‘‘ Torchy Blane era.’’ Every studio now has its ‘*Torchy,’’ and most of them model their fast-talking, omniscient feminine headline sniffers after Warner Bros.’ long popular Torchy (Glenda Farrell). The newest addition to the ranks of girl reporters, however, is one who is a bit different. She is Olivia de Havilland. Instead of tapping cigarettes on the desk of some dull but goodhearted police sergeant, or disguising herself in a swell-looking bathing suit to gain the confidence of Of 1872 Mat 205—30c ERROL FLYNN with OLIVIA De HAVILLAND, left, and Ann Sheridan, right, head the cast of the smash hit, "Dodge City," a drama of the west in Technicolor, which made its local bow yesterday at the Strand. In the sereen play written by Robert Buckner, events are contrived to get Flynn to accept the post of sheriff of the wicked town where the six-shooter was the final arbiter of all arguments. He sets about cleaning up the town, and this he finally succeeds in doing. There are many impressive and hair-raising scenes in the produc tion, but those that the spectator is most likely to remember iorgest are a cattle stampede ‘n the early part of the picture, a rousing saloon brawl in which more than 100 men make a veriiadle shambles of the place, and a elimactic pistol battle in a railway mail car which is given a sndden Olivia De Havilland Plays ‘Sob Sister’ In Colorful ‘Dodge City’ the millionaire playboy, or chartering a plane with Confederate money to overtake the eloping heiress and the maharajah, as_ the other actress reporters so often do, Olivia plays her role a new way. She puts on sleeve protectors Mat 109—15¢ ERROL FLYNN and OLIVIA De HAVILLAND are teamed again in “Dodge City,” Warner Bros., Technicolor film now at the Strand Theatre. made out of brown paper, takes a little desk in the corner of an ink-smeared, old-style, printing office, puts up her hair in a pompa and horrible twist when the car bursts into flames. Flynn, of course, dominates the action of the piece throughout, but he is given valiant assistance by a very expert ensemble of supporting players. Notable among them are Olivia de Havilland, as a pioneer newspaper girl who falls in love with the sheriff and helps him in his campaign to clean up the town; Ann Sheridan, Bruce Cabot, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale and others. All that really need be said about the direction is that it was handled by Michael Curtiz, for he has long since established himself as the best director in Hollywood for large-scale pictures. dour, sharpens a pencil, and sets to work laboriously, writing ‘‘personal items’’ about Sunday school picnies for a women’s page. Olivia’s newspaper job was obtained when she was put into the cast of ‘‘ Dodge City,’’ the Warner Bros. picture in Technicolor, starring Errol Flynn, which is currently showing at the Strand Theatre, and she writes her ‘‘personals’’ for the ‘‘Dodge City Star’’ of 1872. The fact that some of her efforts to live up to the newly born newspaper of that wicked cow town, in its most dangerous era of sudden death, results in the shooting of her kindly editor, Joe Clemens, played by Frank McHugh, provides one of the turning points in a highly dramatic story. Olivia, as Abbie Irving, lady reporter of 1872, provides quite a contrast with her sister reporters of the Warner lot and other studios, Olivia wears gingham, a bustle, rides side saddle, and goes through most of her scenes with a demure and downward glance, Instead of using a typewriter, Olivia writes in longhand. Olivia turns her back and busies herself with her sheets of paper when Errol Flynn, the young town marshal, comes in to eall at the newspaper office hoping to talk to her, and she blushes when Errol says ‘‘Good mornin’ ma’am.’’ And, instead of sitting on desks and swinging her legs, Olivia not only conceals these shapely extremities but also refers to them only as ‘‘limbs.’’ IRISH STAR AVERTS DISTORTION OF U.S. AL HISTORY It took an Englishman to avert a glaring “movie boner” in a typically American motion picture, The Englishman was Errol Flynn, Irish by birth but a citizen of the United Kingdom. The motion picture was “Dodge City,” the Warner Bros. production in Technicolor opening today at the Strand Theatre, which marks Flynn’s debut as a western star. Out near the tiny hamlet of Warnerville, Calif. — and the studio didn’t name it that, either — the company was preparing to film a sequence depicting the driving of a golden spike symbolizing the extension of the Santa Fe Railway’s tracks from Wichita to Dodge City, Kansas, way back in 1872, The huts that comprised the Dodge City of the period, the railway water tank in the background and many foreground objects were decorated with bunting and American flags. Flynn turned to Director Michael Curtiz just about the time filming was scheduled to start. “If I know my American history,” he commented, “those flags are all wrong.” “Wrong?” demanded Curtiz. “Yes,” Flynn explained. “I don’t think there were forty-eight states in the United States in 1872. And those flags all have forty-eight stars.” Curtiz called his prop man, told him Flynn’s observation and, while Curtiz filmed another scene, the prop man telephoned the publie library in Modesto, the nearest city, for information. Sure enough, there were only 37 states in the Union in 1872. Having no substitutes, the prop man arranged his flags so the number of stars couldn’t be counted and Curtiz returned to film his original scene. Besides Flynn, the cast of the big Technicolor production also includes Olivia de Havilland Alan Hale, Bruce Cabot, Henry Travers, Guinn (“Big Boy”) Williams, Victor Jory, Ann Sheridan and a host of other famous names. BRUCE CABOT LOST BROWS IN FLAMES Bruce Cabot wore a pair of false eyebrows during the final weeks cf filming of the Warner Bros. western, ‘‘Dodge City,’’ which is now showing at the Strand Theatre. They substituted for the real ones Cabot lost during the making of a spectacular scene for the layish Technicolor drama. Cabot playing the villain in the picture, supposedly was making an escape from a burning railway baggage car in which he had locked Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. Inasmuch as there is no way to simulate flames in motion pictures, the baggage car had to be actually set afire. While Cabot crouched on a, platform between the baggage ear and the following passenger coach, the flames were started. Fed by pipes of artificial gas, the flames spread more rapidly than technicians had anticipated, and before Cabot could leap to the ground, he had lost most of his eyebrows. § Pere Westmore, head of the studio’s makeup department, quickly supplied a pair of substitutes which Cabot wore until his own grew out.