Directed By Michael Curtiz
SYNOPSIS
Union Officer Bradford (Errol Flynn ) escapes from a Confederate prison with knowledge of a Confederate plot to ship gold to bolster their war-torn nation and leads a mission to stop it. Confederate Captain Irby (Randolph Scott) is leading the secret mission that will ship the gold from Virginia City, Nevada to the south. Both sides must contend with a dastardly Mexican bandito (Humphrey Bogart) who will stop at nothing to get the gold.
An entertaining B-movie... except it's an A-picture.
Michael Curtiz was well versed in action films, having directed all of Errol Flynn's 'swashbuckling films' like The Sea Hawk, Charge Of The Light Brigade and The Adventures Of Robin Hood (among others.) The action of a western is only a little bit different and he excels at this as well. The action looks great making the film look a lot better than it actually is.
The script is less as exciting. It's another very routine and predictable good conquering bad story. There are a few surprises along the way (like Flynn's prison sentence at the end,) but those are quickly tidied up.
Errol Flynn lacks the charm that made him a star and comes across rather bland. The character is a fairly bland one to begin with, so there was little for him to spice up... especially the romance.
Flynn's character's romance with Miriam Hopkins completely lacks the spark and chemistry of his several onscreen parings with Olivia De Havilland. The film would have done alright completely jettisoning this subplot and further developing the main plot to create something more original than a tacked-on romance to interest female viewers (who probably wouldn't be keen on seeing a western anyway.)
Surprisingly, Humphrey Bogart does OK as a Mexican. He's got the accent down pat but sadly doesn't have the menace or the screen time that even his basic supporting gangster characters did at the time. This was one of his final supporting roles and would soon graduate to lead roles by the end of the year.
The film makes great use of the many familiar faces of the Warner Brothers stock company who all shine in brief roles.
Virginia City is an entertaining and serviceable western but lacks much spark or originality.
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