Santa Fe Trail (1940)

My Review

“Santa Fe Trail” tells the tale of abolitionist John Brown and U. S. Army officers Jeb Stuart and George Armstrong Custer commissioned to hunt him down and stop his unauthorized raids. Director Michael Curtiz (“Noah’s Ark” 1928) put together an exciting western movie which is highly fictionalized and had little to do with the Santa Fe Trail. The script was written by Robert Buckner.

The stars of the show include Errol Flynn as Jeb Stuart, Ronald Reagan as George Custer, Olivia de Havilland as the love interest, Raymond Massey as John Brown, Moroni Olsen as Robert E. Lee, Alan Hale, Van Heflin, and Ward Bond. This was one of eight films in which Flynn and de Havilland appeared in together. “The Santa Fe Trail” was the ninth highest grossing film of 1940 for producer Hal B. Wallis and Warner Bros. Pictures. It was filmed in California.