Errol Flynn Western Collection

Errol Flynn movies are at once deeply enjoyable and completely disposable: you groove heavy behind them while watching only to forget which adventure was which when you piece one together in your head. This four-film collection is dedicated to a cache of his Westerns, all of them fun and only one of them particularly differentiated from the others. Virginia City is probably the most craftsman-like, a Michael Curtiz opus with Flynn as a Union officer undercover on a mission to stop a gold shipment. There’s a nice supporting turn by Flynn’s superior, Randolph Scott, a pervasive sense of tension and a nice, goes-down-easy feeling that makes you forget that it could be fifth century Rome or the planet Mars just as easily as the Civil War. Humphrey Bogart is very funny in one of his pre-stardom second-banana roles. Two films follow with largely the same plot: Montana features our man as a sheep-herder who defies cattle barons and their grazing laws, while San Antonio pits him against rustlers who have infiltrated power. Both pretty much have him doing undercover reconnaissance and both have him romancing Alexis Smith- as a befuddled showgirl and a half-smitten/half-brutal cow baroness, respectively. A few details stand out but both have the same structure and the same motives — they’re fun to watch but you can flip a coin should you have to choose just one. The last film is also Flynn’s final western, Rocky Mountain, set in the twilight of the Civil War. The Union Army is a problem close to the end but the two sides have to put aside their differences to deal with the issue of menacing Shoshones. This is the least distinguished of the bunch, a little drag-y and a little preachy when it should be getting down to business. But it’s not bad and it won’t kill you if you’re watching TCM one lazy Sunday. Extras include the full Warner Night at the Movies treatment. Trailers, short subjects, cartoons and newsreels re-create the movie going experience of the day, while an expert, probing commentary graces Virginia City and featurettes fill in production background on the main program. Of special interest: three "Santa Fe Trail” short subjects on the Montana disc, which give more modest ballast to the Western mythos explored in the features.