The buzz on the internet is that Warner Home Video is working on a new Errol Flynn box set. The only two titles said to be on this set so far are the World War II films Desperate Journey and Edge of Darkness. One film that would be a major addition to the set is Santa Fe Trail. Viewing various comments around the web, it seems to me that this may be the most desired Flynn film that WHV has yet to release on DVD. Given how much it has going for it, it is not hard to see why. It was directed by Michael Curtiz, and it was released right before the release of The Sea Hawk. It has great repartee between Flynn and Ronald Reagan as they compete for the affections of Olivia de Haviland. Its score is credited to Max Steiner. It has fine comic support from Alan Hale and Guinn Williams. It contains one of Raymond Massey’s best performances as John Brown, and a young Van Hefflin also does a fine job as a villainous former schoolmate of Flynn’s. Santa Fe Trail is one of Flynn’s best known films and the only action film from what I view as Flynn’s classic period (that ended with They Died with Their Boots On) that WHV has yet to release on DVD. Santa Fe Trail is often knocked for its more far fetched historical elements (Flynn is Jeb Stuart and Reagan is George Custer among others), but it should be remembered that Hollywood circa 1940 did not care at all for realism or historical accuracy (e.g., They Died with Their Boots On).
A big obstacle to getting this on DVD is that Santa Fe Trail has fallen into the public domain, and studios often will not release public domain films on DVD. When it comes to high demand titles like Santa Fe Trail, I think that this view is mistaken. Currently, I have a copy of Santa Fe Trail taped off of TCM. The print quality on it is poor, and I would love to be able to have a copy on DVD with a picture quality close to WHV’s other Flynn releases. For myself, and many others, the inclusion of Santa Fe Trail would be the number 1 reason to buy a new box set. Moreover, the inclusion of Santa Fe Trail in a box set would solve one of the main obstacles studios have to making releases of public domain films financially viable. Today’s classic movie audience is more selective than in the past and is more willing to pay extra for quality releases of favorite films (e.g., Criterion). As I see it, a big obstacle that studios have is that customers have a hard time discerning quality releases from the many low quality budget releases that popular public domain films receive. As an example, I can point to my experience with Vincent Price’s House on Haunted Hill. A few years ago, I bought a budget copy of it for $2.00. The image quality was terrible, so I looked on Amazon.com to see if a better copy had been released. When I searched on Amazon, my search generated a large number of editions of the film, and it was only by accident that I noticed that one of the editions had been released by WHV (you could not tell from the cover). The WHV edition is terrific, but I can see how the sales figures for it would be reduced by people ignorantly buying other editions. Putting Santa Fe Trail in another Signature Collection will solve much of that problem as it will be an easy way for customers to know that they are getting a quality product. If WHV is going to put five films in a new Flynn box set, I would recommend Santa Fe Trail, Silver River, Desperate Journey, and Northern Pursuit. If they might put more than five films in a set, or two box sets, other possibilities would be Uncertain Glory, Footsteps in the Dark, Never Say Goodbye, and The Master of Ballantrae (released as a single and now OOP). Whatever WHV decides, the sales of any box set are certain to be enhanced by the presence of Santa Fe Trail!
