DVD 1 in the four-disc Warner Brothers Errol Flynn western collection ($20 on Ebay). Awesome.
Errol Flynn. Randolph Scott. Together in a western. With, da da da da... Humphrey Bogart! As a half-breed Mexican bandit. Horribly miscast. Ah, Hollywood.
1940. Errol at his height. In between Elizabeth and Essex and The Sea Hawk. Randolph Scott was fully at his professional stride as a western movie icon (echoes of Blazing Saddles "Randolph Scott!"). And, ahem, Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican outlaw with a bad accent and a pencil-thin mustache. This was Bogart's last year a a B-star actor. Though he got wide acclaim in 1936 in Petrified Forest, his roles from 1936 through the end of 1940 were largely forgettable (The Return of Dr X) and playing a second-fiddle gangster to James Cagney. In less than a year, though, he would make High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon in 1941, and go from the second string to superstar. Virginia City might well have not only been Bogart's last western, but also his last salute before moving into the big leagues. In Virginia City, Bogart had fourth billing, under Flynn, Scott, and Miriam Hopkins. Would that ever happen again?
And, yes, Miriam Hopkins. By 1940, her career in movies, which had peaked in the mid-1930s, was petering out, and she devoted more time to the theater later in the 40s. Why? Well, lets be honest here. He was pretty homely. Better at a distance on the stage than in movie close-ups. Of all the beautiful actresses at Warner Bothers in 1940, she was the best they could do? Too bad. It would have been nice to see Flynn with, say, Patricia Neal. Ah, but to dream.
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