"Dark Command", is a film I can recommend as a good example of the Western genre, and stars some of film Western's icons plus Walter Pidgeon, a solid professional actor, but not one usually associated with Westerns...As others have commented on the strengths/weaknesses/history, I'd like to confine my comments to some of the actors and their portrayals.
In order of Billing:
Claire Trevor as Miss Mary McCloud. Ms. Trevor was a fine actress and a beautiful lady, and here, Ms. Trevor gives a solid and respectable effort as a haughty lady brought down by the circumstances of her seeing the folly of her rejection of the suit of principled, Bob Seton (John Wayne), for the superficially charming, but fatally ambitious and unprincipled William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon). Ms. Trevor speaks with her normal New York accent.
John Wayne as Bob Seton. Mr. Wayne has the role of hayseed drifter/hero here. Mr. Wayne does as well as he can with this role. By nature, Heroes are almost always more bland and limited than are Villains. Here, Mr. Wayne projects solidness, forthrightness, honesty, social clumsiness, and an intellectual awkwardness, that is countered by a native shrewdness. What color he adds to his portrayal, much like Jimmy Stewart's in "Destry Rides Again", are the homespun anecdotes he tells of life in Texas. Wayne uses his normal manner of speaking with a touch of western drawl.
Walter Pidgeon as William Cantrell. Mr. Pidgeon was on loan from MGM for this film. Pidgeon is the villain of the piece, beginning as merely a romantic rival, and escalating to full-blown vindictive monster. Pidgeon textures his role by starting as a charming, decent, even good natured, fellow with dreams of improving his station in life. He even offers to educate Wayne's Seton, to level the field for their suit for Ms. McCloud's hand. But with his defeat in the election for Sheriff, to that same uneducated "cowboy", his shattered dreams turn bitter and vindictive, as he starts down the road to his destruction, although it is his plan to take as many as he can along that same road. IMO, Pidgeon is pitch perfect in his characterization. He speaks with his normal, rich, voice.
Spoiler Warning!
Roy Rogers as Fletcher "Fletch" McCloud. Mr. Rogers plays Mary McCloud's good natured (almost goofy) cowboy wannabe brother. After the truly out of character gunning down of a man with differing political outlook, the Fletch McCloud character forces a crisis of conscience for John Wayne's Bob Seton, as Trevor's Mary McCloud pleads with Wayne to abandon his principles and allow the clearly guilty Fletch McCloud to escape punishment. Later, as second in command of Cantrell's raiders, Fletch has an unexplained change of heart about the "low-down bushwhacker's" he has fallen in with. Basically, I felt that this character and his motivations were too arbitrary and underdeveloped...basically Roger's McCloud was a Deus ex Machina when the screenwriters had no clear path to continue the narrative. In the role, Mr. Rogers seems "lightweight" when compared to the other leads. Ultimately, unsatisfyingly (and I don't know how this got by the Board of Film Review), McCloud, never has to pay for his crimes. (note: this is not to always agree with the heavy handed Review Board, just a comment that it was unusual for a period film to allow a character to "get away with murder"...however, I was so annoyed by Rogers in this performance, having him self-sacrifice to allow Bob/Mary's escape would not have been unwelcome.) Throughout this film Rogers speaks with a "Hey Howdy!" affected Texas accent...Incongruent with his sister's Northern accent or his father's Scot's accent.
George "Gabby" Hayes as "Doc" Gunch, practitioner of Arts both Dental and Medical. Plays his archetype as an irascible, shrewd, slightly clumsy, comic-relief sidekick. He has the sidekick camaraderie thing down with Wayne, as they had played friends and sidekicks from long before George became "Gabby". For instance, see the Lone Star film, "Blue Steel", to see Hayes playing a role as sidekick "pre-Gabby", others have mentioned Tall in the Saddle for classic Wayne/Gabby. Here Hayes is a little more grounded as a reasonable, intelligent Gabby type. Hayes routinely was a scenery chewer, but, here he is second place to...
Another SPOILER WARNING!
Porter Hall as Angus McCloud, banker, and father to the hero's love interest. I can see where Alan Young and the Disney Cartoon studio got the idea for "Scrooge McDuck". Hall's grasping banker with a tremendous Scot's accent was completely over the top...including a death scene that Burton or Olivier would have a hard time outdoing. Hall demands attention when he is on screen, and this, IMO, to the movie's detriment. I mentioned before my observations on the accents that the actors chose to use, perhaps it is just me, but the scenes with the three McCloud family members together are marred by Hall's and Roger's battling accents next to Trevor's completely unmatching manner of speech.
LAST SPOILER WARNING!
Marjorie Main as Mrs. Adams, William Cantrell's Housekeeper. Others have noted that this character plays William Cantrell's missing conscience, as his mother that he presents as his Housekeeper for reasons of pride and vanity that are only briefly touched upon early in the film. Main plays it somber and sober as a disappointed mother, who sees her last child, who she had hopes would rise above unnamed sibling's disappointments, choose his ultimately destructive path. Main is the also screenwriter's answer to the final climax with an unexpected solution to the final Cliffhanger where the now completely evil and unbalanced Cantrell has the drop on Seton and Mary McCloud Cantrell, with no apparent way to escape. Dark and brooding, Main makes the most of her small, vital, part.
In summary ,a film that is worth viewing, yet, does contain some flaws in plot and characterization.
In order of Billing:
Claire Trevor as Miss Mary McCloud. Ms. Trevor was a fine actress and a beautiful lady, and here, Ms. Trevor gives a solid and respectable effort as a haughty lady brought down by the circumstances of her seeing the folly of her rejection of the suit of principled, Bob Seton (John Wayne), for the superficially charming, but fatally ambitious and unprincipled William Cantrell (Walter Pidgeon). Ms. Trevor speaks with her normal New York accent.
John Wayne as Bob Seton. Mr. Wayne has the role of hayseed drifter/hero here. Mr. Wayne does as well as he can with this role. By nature, Heroes are almost always more bland and limited than are Villains. Here, Mr. Wayne projects solidness, forthrightness, honesty, social clumsiness, and an intellectual awkwardness, that is countered by a native shrewdness. What color he adds to his portrayal, much like Jimmy Stewart's in "Destry Rides Again", are the homespun anecdotes he tells of life in Texas. Wayne uses his normal manner of speaking with a touch of western drawl.
Walter Pidgeon as William Cantrell. Mr. Pidgeon was on loan from MGM for this film. Pidgeon is the villain of the piece, beginning as merely a romantic rival, and escalating to full-blown vindictive monster. Pidgeon textures his role by starting as a charming, decent, even good natured, fellow with dreams of improving his station in life. He even offers to educate Wayne's Seton, to level the field for their suit for Ms. McCloud's hand. But with his defeat in the election for Sheriff, to that same uneducated "cowboy", his shattered dreams turn bitter and vindictive, as he starts down the road to his destruction, although it is his plan to take as many as he can along that same road. IMO, Pidgeon is pitch perfect in his characterization. He speaks with his normal, rich, voice.
Spoiler Warning!
Roy Rogers as Fletcher "Fletch" McCloud. Mr. Rogers plays Mary McCloud's good natured (almost goofy) cowboy wannabe brother. After the truly out of character gunning down of a man with differing political outlook, the Fletch McCloud character forces a crisis of conscience for John Wayne's Bob Seton, as Trevor's Mary McCloud pleads with Wayne to abandon his principles and allow the clearly guilty Fletch McCloud to escape punishment. Later, as second in command of Cantrell's raiders, Fletch has an unexplained change of heart about the "low-down bushwhacker's" he has fallen in with. Basically, I felt that this character and his motivations were too arbitrary and underdeveloped...basically Roger's McCloud was a Deus ex Machina when the screenwriters had no clear path to continue the narrative. In the role, Mr. Rogers seems "lightweight" when compared to the other leads. Ultimately, unsatisfyingly (and I don't know how this got by the Board of Film Review), McCloud, never has to pay for his crimes. (note: this is not to always agree with the heavy handed Review Board, just a comment that it was unusual for a period film to allow a character to "get away with murder"...however, I was so annoyed by Rogers in this performance, having him self-sacrifice to allow Bob/Mary's escape would not have been unwelcome.) Throughout this film Rogers speaks with a "Hey Howdy!" affected Texas accent...Incongruent with his sister's Northern accent or his father's Scot's accent.
George "Gabby" Hayes as "Doc" Gunch, practitioner of Arts both Dental and Medical. Plays his archetype as an irascible, shrewd, slightly clumsy, comic-relief sidekick. He has the sidekick camaraderie thing down with Wayne, as they had played friends and sidekicks from long before George became "Gabby". For instance, see the Lone Star film, "Blue Steel", to see Hayes playing a role as sidekick "pre-Gabby", others have mentioned Tall in the Saddle for classic Wayne/Gabby. Here Hayes is a little more grounded as a reasonable, intelligent Gabby type. Hayes routinely was a scenery chewer, but, here he is second place to...
Another SPOILER WARNING!
Porter Hall as Angus McCloud, banker, and father to the hero's love interest. I can see where Alan Young and the Disney Cartoon studio got the idea for "Scrooge McDuck". Hall's grasping banker with a tremendous Scot's accent was completely over the top...including a death scene that Burton or Olivier would have a hard time outdoing. Hall demands attention when he is on screen, and this, IMO, to the movie's detriment. I mentioned before my observations on the accents that the actors chose to use, perhaps it is just me, but the scenes with the three McCloud family members together are marred by Hall's and Roger's battling accents next to Trevor's completely unmatching manner of speech.
LAST SPOILER WARNING!
Marjorie Main as Mrs. Adams, William Cantrell's Housekeeper. Others have noted that this character plays William Cantrell's missing conscience, as his mother that he presents as his Housekeeper for reasons of pride and vanity that are only briefly touched upon early in the film. Main plays it somber and sober as a disappointed mother, who sees her last child, who she had hopes would rise above unnamed sibling's disappointments, choose his ultimately destructive path. Main is the also screenwriter's answer to the final climax with an unexpected solution to the final Cliffhanger where the now completely evil and unbalanced Cantrell has the drop on Seton and Mary McCloud Cantrell, with no apparent way to escape. Dark and brooding, Main makes the most of her small, vital, part.
In summary ,a film that is worth viewing, yet, does contain some flaws in plot and characterization.