Action & Adventure

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The Santa Fe Trail (1940)

Director: Michael Curtiz
Actors: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Ronald Reagan, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale, Van Heflin
Runtime: 110 min.

A cavalry officer (Errol Flynn) graduates from West Point and is sent to Kansas, where clashes over slavery threaten to ignite civil war. There he meets a spirited woman (Olivia de Havilland), whose charm sparks a romantic rivalry with his fellow officer, the future general George Custer (Ronald Reagan). As their personal tensions rise, both men are drawn into a broader struggle against the radical abolitionist John Brown, whose violent crusade pushes the nation closer to conflict.

Trivia: The Santa Fe Trail was the seventh on-screen pairing of Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland, a duo who became one of Hollywood's most popular screen couples of the era. Ronald Reagan (Custer) became the 40th President of the United States and this role added to his rising fame. Raymond Massey's intense performance as John Brown was so memorable that he later reprised the role on stage and television. Like many Hollywood productions of its time, the movie is less concerned with historical accuracy and more with delivering entertainment and a patriotic narrative. Its slant on this story reflects the prevailing attitudes of the time it was made.