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Frontier Marshal (1939)
By admin | September 29, 2011
Randolph Scott plays Wyatt Earp and Cesar Romero is Doc Holliday in this superior B western expertly directed by the great Allan Dwan. Wyatt Earp helps to civilize Tombstone after eliminating a murderous gang in the OK Corral. The film was based on the novel Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake and John Ford’s 1946 film My Darling Clementine was wholly drawn from this film.
Fox mogul Darryl Zanuck, insisted the actual name of Wyatt Earp be used in this production, which caused the studio to pay $5,000 to an Earp relative for the use of the name; the relative still sued after the film was released. The film provides historical background including references to Jennie Lind, Lillie Langtry and Eddie Foy (played here by Eddie Foy, Jr. whose father really was kidnapped and forced to perform his act), but it is mostly legend and fiction.
As Allan Dwan said, “It was never meant to BE Wyatt Earp. We were just making Frontier Marshal and that could be any frontier marshal.” With Ward Bond, John Carradine and Binnie Barnes.