Review: Dark Command


Set in the 1860s, John Wayne and dentist pal George ‘Gabby’ Hayes (!) have a sweet deal going where Wayne knocks people’s teeth around, sending them to Hayes’ dentist chair. They end up in Lawrence, Kansas where Wayne falls for pretty Claire Trevor (who co-starred with Wayne previously in “Stagecoach”), who is being courted by schoolteacher Walter Pidgeon. Due to recent violence, the town decides to elect a marshal, with Pidgeon being nominated, but Wayne also steps up to the plate to impress Trevor. When Pidgeon loses and Wayne gets the girl too, he becomes embittered and goes the outlaw way of his no-good kin (gun-running, mostly), despite promising devoted mother Marjorie Main that he wouldn’t end up like his brothers. Roy Rogers is Trevor’s brother, who gets himself into some trouble over a shooting, which Pidgeon uses to his advantage to woo Trevor back.


Pretty enjoyable, surprisingly mature 1940 Raoul Walsh (“Gentleman Jim”, “White Heat”) western features OK work by The Duke (as an illiterate cowboy turned politician- prescience, perhaps?), but the big surprise is Pidgeon playing a baddie. I usually can’t stand him and his annoyingly pursed lips, but he’s excellent here as he steals the picture from big-time stars Wayne and Rogers. It’s a role unlike any I’ve seen him in, and I think he ought to have played more shady parts. Hayes and Main are also terrific, but veteran western star Rogers is a bit of a tough sell, he was never really much of an actor per se.


It’s all quite entertaining, but gets a little less plausible as it moves along (I didn’t buy gentleman Pidgeon’s sudden transition into lawlessness, fine as Pidgeon is here). The screenplay is by Grover Jones (“Abe Lincoln in Illinois”), F. Hugh Herbert (“The Moon is Blue”), Jan Fortune, and Lionel Houser (“Christmas in Connecticut”, “Courage of Lassie”), from a W.R. Burnett (“Asphalt Jungle”, “Little Caesar”, “The Great Escape”) novel which has loose connections to real-life (principally with Pidgeon’s character).


Rating: B-

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