A grab bag of pre-Civil War historical characters are lumped together in a single West Point graduation class for narrative convenience and to battle the notorious abolitionist John Brown. A young Errol Flynn is J.E.B. Stuart, and his action buddy partner Ronald Reagan is George Armstrong Custer, and they fight together in Kansas, romance Olivia de Havilland, and attack John Brown at Harper's Ferry. In reality, Custer was not in Stuart's class, never went to Kansas, and did not confront Brown. Raymond Massey steals this unbalanced film with his intense and polarizing portrayal of the God-fearing Brown. A performance that contrasts heavily with the forced romance and peppering of cheap comedy here and there.
Review of Santa Fe Trail
