Dodge City (1939)

The year after The Adventures of Robin Hood, Warner Bros. wanted another Technicolor picture directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. But to call it a companion piece or a spiritual successor would be a stretch. Flynn, at least, had never done a western before, nor had he practiced much with an accent appropriate for one. Nevertheless, the formula intrigued me.

Wade Hatton (Flynn), a cowhand and comrade of Col. Grenville M. Dodge (Henry O'Neill), visits the young namesake town for the first time in years, partly to escort westward settlers, including Abbie Irving (de Havilland). Little did he know that the gang of Jeff Surrett (Bruce Cabot) effectively runs the place. It takes a few tragic violent crimes to convince Wade to put on a sheriff badge and deputize his buddies, Rusty (Alan Hale) and Tex (Guinn "Big Boy Williams"), aware that things didn't work out for the last few guys who tried it. (Ann Sheridan gets third billing, but her character does little more than sing and dance on a stage.)

The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939)

I realize it hadn't been long since the last movie I saw to include heavy focus on a British royal -- indeed, Queen Elizabeth I in particular. But this one is 32 years older, so I figured it would feel rather different.

Robert Deveraux, 2nd Earl of Essex (Errol Flynn), has had a victory in the Anglo-Spanish War, but not enough to satisfy Her Majesty (Bette Davis). Insulted and sensing support only from Sir Francis Bacon (Donald Crisp), he leaves the court and doesn't return until ordered back for more military expertise in the Nine Years' War. In truth, that's largely an excuse for Elizabeth to be close to the man she craves. But Sir Robert Cecil (Henry Daniell), Sir Walter Raleigh (Vincent Price), and Lord Burghley (Henry Stephenson) see an opportunity to get him out of the way of her favor once again.

The Prince and the Pauper (1937)

After a few unhappy movies, I decided that my best bet was to pick a story I already knew to have a happy ending. At the same time, it had to be a story I didn't know too terribly well -- no more A Christmas Carol versions for me. Not having read the Mark Twain book, I relied on vague memories of capsulized kiddie adaptations and parodies. The gist was that the strangely identical young title characters who happened to meet were tired of their lots in life, traded places on purpose, and learned the hard way that they preferred their previous stations (a questionable lesson indeed if it equates the travails of monarchy with those of poverty), right?

Well, not exactly. In this telling, the boys don't even realize how alike they look until they've swapped outfits for fun, and they have no intention of fooling anyone; but the prince (Bobby Mauch) injudiciously exits the room alone, and you can guess what happens next. Both boys insist on their true identities, even as their insistence mostly makes matters worse for them. Sure, pauper Tom Canty (Billy Mauch) enjoys some luxuries and a lack of beatings by guards or his irredeemable father (Barton MacLane), but he can't help worrying, not least as the Earl of Hertford (Claude Rains), the prime courtier who knows Tom's not mad, plots to manipulate him -- and end the threat of the real prince returning -- when the old king (Montagu Love) dies. The moral has more to do with recognizing how little separates the highest from the lowest, with a hint that this could duly increase the elite's sympathy for common folk.