Dark Command
When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It's just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.
Cast
Claire Trevor
as Miss Mary McCloud
John Wayne
as Bob Seton
Walter Pidgeon
as William 'Will' Cantrell
Roy Rogers
as Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud
George 'Gabby' Hayes
as Andrew 'Doc' Grunch
Porter Hall
as Angus McCloud
Marjorie Main
as Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams
Raymond Walburn
as Judge Buckner
Joe Sawyer
as Bushropp
Helen MacKellar
as Mrs. Hale
Reviews
John Chard
On to Kansas we go. Loosely based around a true story, Dark Command sees John Wayne play Bob Seton, an uneducated cowboy from Texas who wins around the people of Lawrence, Kansas to become their town Marshall just prior to the outbreak of the civil war. This angers the previously respectful town...
