Dark Command

Kansas, 1861. Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence from Texas and finds two things worth staying for, a woman and a job, so he runs for marshal. His opponent is the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Losing the election turns Cantrell bitter and ambitious at once: he assembles a band of raiders, runs guns into the territory, robs the settlers, and eventually dresses his men in Confederate uniforms. Raoul Walsh adapted a novel by W. R. Burnett, with Cantrell standing in for the real Quantrill. It was the most expensive film Republic had made and its biggest hit, and it is the only picture in which John Wayne and Roy Rogers appear together.