User reviews

Those who are not used to classic Hollywood productions will probably shun this picture if only because the plot is somewhat complex and there are some glaring mistakes. Nevertheless, the simple fact that Errol Flynn is the lead role makes up for many of the shortcomings and makes this yet another solid production featuring Flynn and director Michael Curtiz.

In a story somewhat reminiscent of Gone With the Wind and Flynn's previous film Dodge City, Union captain Bradford (Flynn) escapes with his two sidekicks (the same in Dodge City) and travels to Virginia City to try and stop a group of Southerners from bringing $5 million in gold back from the mines of Nevada in order to fund the war which they are badly losing. This creates for some great tension scenes which I found very provocative between Flynn and Randolph Scott as the leader of the Southerners. Miriam Hopkins plays the role usually reserved for Olivia de Havilland, and although she isn't as personable or warm as her, Hopkins holds her own with both Scott and Flynn.

As for Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican bandit, he is highly miscast, but still a solid part of this strong cast that all comes together in the end in a final shootout in the desert. Curtiz certainly knows how to stage action scenes and those here are some of his best. Of course, like most others, this film belongs to Flynn. He is one of the most charismatic and likable leading men ever and his talents are at their best here. He is one of the very few actors who can make a film better simply with his presence. This one is no exception.

Firstly, it should be pointed out, that many of the reviews here, contain definite spoilers, with no warning. Shame on them.

Then, all of these movie review wannabes, who parrot words of Hopkins and Bogart being " miscast" are cute little homilies that serve no purpose, and are wholly incorrect.

These studios were adept at all matters of film production, and they knew what they were doing. This cry of "miscast", makes people not want to watch a great movie. Bogart is great as the bandit, and is cast correctly. For goodness sake, it's not really a Mexican role, and so what if it was? There were many people who associated with Mexicans then, or had mixed ancestry. Anyway, he did fine.

And Hopkins has one, not two love interests.

But the story is brilliant, acting superior, and a very happy and rewarding resolution.

Errol Flynn, is sheer genius here.

Errol Flynn (Bradford) and Randolph Scott (Irby) are on opposite sides of the American Civil War. Both end up in Virginia City to get their hands on a consignment of gold that could influence the outcome of the war. Miriam Hopkins (Julia) provides the romantic interest for these two men to fight over, while Humphrey Bogart (Murrell) heads a gang of bandits who also go after the gold. Who gets the gold?

This is an interesting western in that, even though Flynn and Scott are pitted against each other, neither is clearly identified as a goodie or a baddie. The bad guys are Bogart and his mob. Whilst many reviewers point out that Bogey and Hopkins are miscast, I say "so what?" They are not bad, apart from Hopkins' singing. Ouch! Bogey is one of the film's highlights, with every appearance bringing on an "Oh good, he's back" reaction. I find him a very likable bad guy. I far prefer him in this type of role to a leading good guy character, when I find he never quite wins me over. Errol Flynn has star quality but it is Randolph Scott that surprised me and does the best job of actually acting. Unfortunately, we also have the comedy characters as played by Alan Hale (Olaf) and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (Marblehead) for Flynn's sidekicks – not needed. Cast some credible sidekicks, please! Flynn is very capable of passing off his own type of humour if that's what the director thinks is needed.

The film has a rather far-fetched, cop-out ending that includes Abe Lincoln and while I'd say that the film is a little too long, it has a cast of 3 leading men that keep you watching. Essentially, it's a spy story with an honourable message.

"Virginia City", released in 1940, is a film that could have been rated as a western classic, because of the cast members alone. Against the backdrop of the American Civil War, Errol Flynn, Union Captain, was up against Randolph Scott, Confederate Colonel, with Miriam Hopkins supplying the love interest between the two. Flynn breaks out of a Confederate prison commanded by Scott during the latter days of 1864, a period that saw the South's dwindling resources virtually shrink to nothing. There is a slim chance to smuggle a multi-million gold shipment from Virginia City, Nevada, to the South. Scott is given the assignment, and Flynn, hearing of the plan, is given the job by the Union to prevent the smuggled gold from reaching the Confederacy. There's the overview. The weakness comes in casting Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican-American bandit whose main interest in the gold is to steal it for himself. Bogart's miscasting really distracts from the film, even though it is no fault of his own.

Besides the stars in the film, there's good support cast members from Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Alan Hale, Sr., John Litel, and Moroni Olsen, all veterans of the Western genre. Add a stirring music score by Max Steiner, plus sweeping vistas of the West, and the struggles of the Confederate sympathizers in their efforts to succeed in their task, and you have a film that could have been great, but one that falls short. It is worth watching, however. 7/10

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The only regret that I have is that I had never saw it up until 2 years ago. The movie does not take sides and gives you a neutral, fly on the wall view of a story unfolding. Randolph Scott plays a Southern officer who is sent to Virginia City, NV to obtain gold so that the South can finance the Civil War. They need to do this simply because this late in the war and with the South losing, the Confederacy no longer has financial credit with foreign powers. Errol Flynn is a Northern officer sent to stop Scott from completing his mission. There is a back story concerning these two men which adds to the tension. I left out much of the details because I do not want to ruin it for anyone who checks it out. This movie proves that who is the "bad guy" depends on which side you are on as both the main characters and those associated with them are simply doing what they feel is right. Great action, great building of the characters and you wind up not sure who to root for. Two great main actors, great supporting cast and even Bogart is here, showing that westerns should have been added to his studio lineup more often, minus the whole half-Mexican bandito thing. This movie should be given a chance and is just as good today as it was in 1940.

Imagine the opportunity to see a completely different (and better) cast of Gone With the Wind. Randolph Scott, Margaret Mitchell's personal choice for Ashley Wilkes and Georgia-born Miriam Hopkins, who had her heart set on Scarlett O'Hara, star in Virginia City, alongside my personal favorite contender for Rhett Butler: Errol Flynn. The cast is reason enough to rent this old western, because it's not often you get three "cast-offs" in one picture.

The plot is quite interesting, too. Errol is a Union soldier who escapes from a Confederate-run prison, run by Randolph Scott, the most famous Southerner of the silver screen. On his way to Virginia City, Errol meets and is enchanted by Miriam Hopkins. He thinks she's a great lady, but she's actually a saloon girl and a Confederate! The fly in the ointment is Humphrey Bogart, who plays a Mexican bandit. This is Humphrey Bogart, folks. Even his mustache doesn't seem Mexican.

Besides that, this is an entertaining movie, and well timed. Those of you disappointed by the casting of the 1939 epic can sooth their disappointments with this 1940 western. By itself, it's not really my favorite of its genre, but I really enjoyed seeing all three of them together. The only thing cuter would have been if Errol and Scottie played brothers, since they look so much alike! If you like this one, try So Red the Rose, a Gone With the Wind precursor with Scottie playing the Ashley Wilkes character and Margaret Sullavan as the flirty Southern belle.

This is a follow up (but not a sequel) to Dodge City (1939). That movie had ended with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland's characters leaving for Virginia City. Next year, the director Michael Curtiz and leading actor Errol Flynn are back together to film Virginia City, but the characters are different and de Havilland has been replaced by Miriam Hopkins.

This movie, unlike Dodge City, is black & white, but it does have stunning cinematography, with exteriors filmed in Painted Desert among other places. I thought it had a very good story, only slightly spoiled by a corny ending. It is a western and also a spy story, with a union agent (Errol Flynn) and a confederate one (Randolph Scott), who have a history together, competing to get the gold that was meant to help the Confederacy maintain the war effort.

Flynn and Scott did a good job. As in Dodge City, Flynn does not completely convince me as a cowboy. He is a bit too refined for that. But he has such a great camera presence that I don't mind. That guy was born to be a movie star. Hopkins is fine, but she is no de Havilland, and her singing scenes in the saloon are just OK. Then we have Bogart as the evil outlaw who is also after the gold. Much as I like Bogart, he is kind of ridiculous here, between that moustache and the weird accent. I liked him much better as a western villain in The Oklahoma Kid, where he was suitably menacing.

All in all, a very entertaining story. That ending could have been polished a bit more, though.

Errol Flynn reteams w/his steady director in crime Michael Curtiz to tell this Civil War story where a band of Union soldiers are on the hunt of some Rebs who have stolen some gold w/the explicit intention of shoring up the coffers for the Confederacy. The off beat tale works due its hunter/hunted paradigm w/the action sequences shot w/flavor & zest. Look for Gilligan's Island Skipper's father (Alan Hale) & the baddie played by Humphrey Bogart (sporting a Mexican accent).

At the end of Michael Curtiz's enormously successful Dodge City in 1939, Olivia DeHavilland decides she's married a professional lawman after all so Guinn Williams ends the film with a resounding, 'Virginia City here we come' as Errol Flynn will now take the job offer of marshal.

Too bad that they didn't make a sequel with those same characters. A year later when Virginia City was made it was a fanciful Civil War out west tale about a Confederate scheme at the last minute to smuggle several millions in gold bullion into the South for supplies to keep the war going. And what happens in the end strains credulity to say the least.

Carried over from the cast of Dodge City are Errol Flynn, Guinn Williams, Alan Hale, and Ward Bond. Olivia DeHavilland chose not to make the trip. At that point in her career she was fighting with Jack Warner to not keep playing crinolined heroines. So Miriam Hopkins was the leading lady here.

Other reviewers have said how lousy Miriam Hopkins was as a singing saloon chanteuse. In fairness to Miriam I have to point out that she's a Confederate spy singing a Union song, The Battle Cry of Freedom with about as much enthusiasm as she can muster. And she's also in that establishment the Sazerac saloon, not being paid for her voice.

Errol Flynn, a former prisoner at the Confederacy's Libby Prison, after an escape gets an assignment to check out rumors that Southern sympathizing mine owners are going to smuggle their find into the Confederacy. At the same time the former commandant of Libby, Randolph Scott, gets an assignment to bring the gold out.

Of course when they meet at the Sazerac all pretense to undercover is out the window. But Scott's got an ace up his sleeve in Miriam Hopkins who Flynn is kind of sweet on. She leads Errol astray and into the Confederate hands. Talk about true life casting, Errol being led astray by his hormones.

There's a third player in this game and that's Humphrey Bogart who plays the Mexican bandit leader Murrell with an accent like the Frito Bandito's. Bogey was also fighting for some better roles and in fact he got one the same year in High Sierra that would turn his career around. What possessed Jack Warner to cast him in this role, God only knows. Bogey's looks dumb in this part and he knows it. Why couldn't they just get someone like Gilbert Roland for the part?

There's quite a shootout in the desert over the gold. What happens to it is rather unbelievable, let's just say that Errol Flynn took a great deal upon himself and he was quite the lucky fellow to get the fate he got.

Virginia City is entertaining enough in a B western sort of way. But if I had three film icons like Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott, and Humphrey Bogart in my film, I'd sure have looked for a better property, pardner.

After escaping from a Confederate prison, Union officer Errol Flynn is sent to Virginia City, Nevada, on a mission to prevent a gold shipment from making its way to the Rebels. But in charge of the gold shipment is Confederate officer Randolph Scott, the same man who was in charge of the prison Flynn escaped from. Complicating matters further is Scott's sister and Rebel spy Miriam Hopkins. She meets Flynn and, well, you know. Also muddying the waters is Mexican bandit Humphrey Bogart (!!!), who Scott enlists to help get the gold past Flynn without ever thinking what would happen when you wave a shipment of gold in front of an outlaw.

Decent western with a Civil War backdrop directed by Michael Curtiz. It has a little bit of everything but not enough of anything of merit. It's a long movie for its time; an early example of Hollywood's wrong-headed "longer is better" approach to filmmaking that we still deal with today (it's even worse today). Flynn goes through the motions with his usual roguish charm. Miriam Hopkins has poor chemistry with him and honestly drags the movie down. But I'm not a fan of hers in general. Scott does fine in a sympathetic quasi-villain role. One of the more interesting things about the movie is its reluctance to paint either the North or South in a completely bad light, just some 75 years removed from the Civil War. The funniest part of the movie, and probably what gets it any attention today, is the miscasting of Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican, complete with a laughable accent that comes & goes and a Cesar Romero mustache. Hilarious stuff. Curiously Bogart's character shares a name with real-life bandit John Murrell, who died two decades before this movie takes place and, to my knowledge, was as white as Cool Whip.

It's not a bad movie by any means. No picture can be bad with this director and these stars, as well as a supporting cast that includes Alan Ladd, Frank McHugh, John Litel, Douglas Dumbrille, Charles Middleton, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams. There are some nice actions scenes and some good dramatic ones. The ending is also a pip. It's just a bit overlong and feels like it was made just to mimic the success of previous Curtiz/Flynn classic Dodge City. But it's definitely worth a look for fans of the stars or director.

As if to signal that the plot of VIRGINIA CITY would be borrowing many elements from previous Warner westerns, this one begins with stock footage from other studio westerns before settling down to tell a story that goes off in several different directions but remains in desperate need of a cohesive plot.

The first plot involves the greed for gold that has a Mexican bandit (HUMPHREY BOGART) interfering with the plans of ERROL FLYNN and RANDOLPH SCOTT involving the shipment of gold from Virginia City to aid the losing Southern cause during the Civil War. The second, is a lame romantic trio wherein Flynn and Scott are vying for the affections of a dance hall girl who is really a Southern spy (MIRIAM HOPKINS). The third plot concerns subsidiary characters, including a little boy (DICKIE JONES) who is aiding the rebels and meets an untimely death--just like the little boy in DODGE CITY, Flynn's bigger and better western.

So many remarks here comment on Max Steiner's score, but most of it includes snippets of Southern folk tunes for the Confededracy and/or Northern tunes for the Union music and very little of the score is original background material. Only the main theme heard over the credits is the single original composition for the whole film. The score, in other words, has tough competition from the lusty music he wrote for DODGE CITY, a far more complex and memorable score.

But the film's main drawback, aside from a very busy plot that takes two hours to unravel, is the miscasting of Miss Hopkins as singer and dancer at a saloon wherein the stage looks suspiciously like the same one used for Ann Sheridan's saloon gal in DODGE CITY. Hopkins can barely carry a tune and is clearly a bit over-aged for this kind of role. The other unfortunate miscasting is Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican bandit giving accented orders to his henchmen in an accent that barely conceals his Brooklynesque speech. Bogie looks extremely uncomfortable in the role.

Flynn is fine, managing to disguise the fact that there is absolutely no chemistry between him and Hopkins, who eyes him with cold disdain for the climactic close-up of the two holding hands. What were they thinking? The usual Warner stable of contract players delivers their lines on cue with panache but it's really no use. It's all been done before and doesn't even have the benefit of Technicolor to make good use of those striking outdoor location sites.

Only die-hard fans of Flynn and Scott will worship this one.

Wagon's ho! Errol Flynn plays a union officer named Captain Kerry Bradford who tries in vain to escape out of Libby prison, Richmond Virginia. Captain Bradford is supported by the great and natural acting talents of Alan Hale who plays Olaf 'Moosehead' Swenson. Adding to the strong cast are veteran actors Randolph Scott (Mr. Cowboy himself) a Confederate officer named Vance Irby, and Humphrey Bogart, a thief and robber, named John Murrell. No western would be complete without a fair haired damsel and that character is filled by actress Miriam Hopkins as Julia Hayne, who has two love interests, both Randolph Scott, and Errol Flynn.

Julia is tasked with moving five million dollars in gold to Virginia City to help the Confederate cause win the war and she asks Vance be the trusted man to safely get the gold to Richmond, Virginia City.

Now we have all the makings of a great western. The Civil War, Union soldiers breaking out of prison. And a notorious thief and gunmen who also want that five million dollars in gold bullion.

And so the "gold bullion wagon ho's" and the chase begins as does the chase for the lovely Julia Hayne, daughter of Confederate Colonel Hayne. A good western watch for a weekend or late night watch.

I give it a 6 out of 10 IMDB rating.

All the components are in place for a rollicking good yarn for this prestige production from Warners, but for some reason it never quite clicks. Part of the problem can be put down to a lack of chemistry between Errol Flynn and Miriam Hopkins, and part of it is due to the fact that there are no bad guys to speak of (Randolph Scott's Confederate soldier is every bit as noble and honourable as Flynn's Irish Yankee). It's solid enough, but not the spectacular that was expected.

VIRGINIA CITY, the "non-sequel" to Errol Flynn's big 1939 hit, DODGE CITY, gives the impression that the Warner Brothers were suffering from a shortage of good Western scripts in 1940. The film 'borrows' much of Max Steiner's DODGE CITY musical score, reunites Flynn with DODGE CITY costars (and friends) Alan Hale and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams (playing virtually the same characters, with different names), and attempts the visual 'sweep' of DODGE CITY, in black and white, with a smaller budget. What is most memorable about the film, however, are two truly offbeat casting choices; Humphrey Bogart as a half-breed Mexican bandit, and tone-deaf Miriam Hopkins as a saloon singer. Bogart did NOT want to do the film (he felt himself miscast in westerns), but faced suspension if he didn't 'show up' for work, and his unconvincing Mexican accent and forced performance give clear evidence to his unhappiness with the role. Hopkins, whose reputation had been established in pre-Production Code sex comedies and dramas of the early thirties, was, at 38, already past her prime, and unbelievable as a love interest for either Flynn, or Randolph Scott. As a 'sexy' chanteuse, her singing is so incredibly bad that it must be heard to be believed!

The plot, of an undercover Union captain (Flynn) attempting to wrest a shipment of southern gold from a wagon train headed by the Confederate colonel (Scott) who had run the prison camp he'd previously escaped from, gets bogged down in subplots, and, in trying to appease viewers from both sides of the Mason-Dixon line, makes everyone so noble that you wonder why there was a Civil War! Certainly, in Randolph Scott's case, the role wasn't much of a stretch, and would be one he would repeat frequently, with minor variations, for the next twenty years. Tasmanian Flynn, however, appears more comfortable in the Western genre than he had in DODGE CITY, and, after the on and off-screen battling with Bette Davis in his previous film, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH AND ESSEX, it must have felt like a vacation (even with hated director Michael Curtiz helming the project!)

VIRGINIA CITY is, ultimately, a 'B' movie with an 'A'-list cast and crew, and while the end result isn't terrible, it isn't a film that either Flynn or Bogart would list as among their best efforts.

With the success of Dodge City still fresh, Virginia City was a natural sequel. Flynn's his usual dashing self plus fires off some great romantic lines but the omission of Olivia De Havilland in favor of Miriam Hopkins was a misfire. Not only can't she sing, she doesn't look that good either! Humphrey Bogart, on the eve of stardom is more a curio with his awful accent but he's still fun to see.

It was also rare to pair Flynn with another leading man, this time: Randolph Scott! Both handle their duties with aplomb. Flynn's on and off-screen drinking buddies, Alan Hale and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams provide comedic relief. Michael Curtiz directs so plenty of heavy-hitters make this Western better than most. It does drag on a little too long but on a rainy or sick day, sit back and enjoy. Filmed in the Painted Desert and at Calabasas Ranch. Of note: made famous in the film Stagecoach, there's still a great runaway US Mail stagecoach scene with Flynn jumping from horse to horse plus Williams sliding along the bottom then climbing back up.

I SAW the film. was excited to see flynn scott and bogie together. it turned out to be a good movie but when i saw MYRIAM HOPKINS....i went beserk. the role was not for her and she was not even gorgeous. her voice is like fingers on a blackboard. i cant believe flynn kissed her....i dislike her so much i even hoped he would kiss randolph scott or even a horse instead of her. mind you i saw many of her films and i still think she is poison.....sorry to her fans

The Confederacy is on the run because they're out of phony-baloney money to fund the war to enslave bl@ck people. Miriam Hopkins is sent to Virginia City to help Randolph Scott secure gold bullion to keep the war going.

Errol Flynn, along with sidekicks Alan Hale and Guinn Williams, escapes a Confederate prison and after re-connecting with the nearest Union camp is sent to Virginia City to intercept that gold shipment.

Scott is a worthy foe for Flynn, but Humphrey Bogart as a Mexican bandit is both superfluous and laughably bad. So bad that this movie, where he's up against Flynn, sort of, should put to rest once and for all who was the bigger stud and greater actor. They should have hacked him out, re-written it to tighten up on the Scott-Flynn-Hopkins triangle and trimmed this thing to 90 minutes. I also suggest Hopkins is too much of a stiff and way too big a mutt to be a credible love interest for Flynn.

Unfortunately, despite a lot of exciting stunt work, the movie as a whole is languidly directed and surprisingly inert. Well, director Michael Curtiz gets to satisfy his sadism for horses. Knowing Flynn hated his guts makes me admire Flynn even more.

Of course, the most objectionable part of the movie is that it ultimately panders to toothless, cousin-marrying hillibillies who think the South was noble when, hey, read a history book, home-schoolers, they were fighting to KEEP SLAVES.