Linda Darnell

MY DARLING CLEMENTINE

20th Century Fox, 1946.  Directed by John Ford.  Camera:  Joe MacDonald.  With Henry Fonda, Linda Darnell, Victor Mature, Cathy Downs, Walter Brennan, Tim Holt, Ward Bond, Tim Holt, Alan Mowbray, John Ireland, Roy Roberts, Jane Darwell, Grant Withers, J. Farrell MacDonald, Russell Simpson, Don Garner, Francis Ford, Ben Hall, Arthur Walsh, Louis Mercier, Mickey Simpson, Fred Libby, William B. Davidson, Earle Foxe, Aleth "Speed" Hansen, Dan Borzage, Charles E. Anderson, Duke Lee, Don Barclay, Harry Woods, Charles Stevens, Frank Conlan, Robert Adler, Margaret Martin, Frances Rey.

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While driving their cattle through Arizona on the way to California, the Earp brothers, Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil and James, encounter Old Man Clanton and his son Ike, who offer to buy the cattle from them.  Wyatt turns down their offer and, later that night, the three older brothers ride into the nearby town of Tombstone, leaving James behind to guard the cattle.  After Wyatt subdues the drunken Indian Charlie, he is offered the marshal's job, but declines.  When the brothers return to their camp, however, they discover that the cattle have been rustled, and James has been killed.  Wyatt then pursues the marshal's job, determined to avenge his brother's death.

Later, in the saloon, Wyatt encounters gambler Doc Holliday, who tries to provoke a confrontation with the new marshal.  When he learns that he is surrounded by Wyatt's brothers, however, Doc relents and buys Wyatt a drink.  Wyatt discovers that Doc is well educated and, when his recitation of Hamlet's soliloquy is interrupted by a fierce fit of coughing, also deduces that he has consumption.

One morning, the stagecoach delivers a well-dressed woman named Clementine Carter, Doc's former fiancée, to town.  Her sudden appearance stuns Doc, who advises her to return to Boston.  When she begs him to accompany her, he angrily informs her that if she does not go, he will leave town himself.

Later, when a drunken Doc goes looking for a fight, Wyatt knocks him unconscious and takes him to his room.  The following day, saloon singer Chihuahua, Doc's girlfriend, tells the disappointed Clementine about her relationship with Doc.  While waiting to pay her hotel bill, Clementine meets Wyatt, who is somewhat enamored of her.  Together they attend a dance to raise money to build a church in Tombstone.

Afterward, at a dinner at the hotel, Doc comes upon Wyatt and Clementine.  Furious that she is still in town, Doc leaves the next day on the afternoon stage to Tucson.  This angers Chihuahua, who had hoped Doc would take her to Mexico and marry her, and she storms into Clementine's hotel room to help her pack.  There Wyatt notices that she is wearing a necklace that James had bought to give to his girlfriend.  Chihuahua claims that Doc gave it to her, and Wyatt takes off in pursuit of him.  After Doc returns with Wyatt, however, he demands to know who really gave her the necklace.  At first Chihuahua sticks to her story but, when she learns that the necklace was stolen by the man who killed Wyatt's brother, she admits that it was a gift from Billy Clanton.  Billy, who is waiting outside Chihuahua's room, then shoots her.  While Virgil chases Billy, Doc reluctantly agrees to operate on Chihuahua with the help of Clementine, who is a nurse.

Meanwhile, Virgil chases Billy to the Clanton ranch and is killed by Clanton after Billy dies of gunshot wounds.  The Clantons ride into town and, after dropping Virgil's body at Wyatt's feet, announce that they will be waiting for the Earps at the O.K. Corral.  That night, Doc reports that Chihuahua has died, despite his surgical efforts, and he joins the Earps in their fight against the Clantons.

The gunfight begins at sunup and, by the end, all the Clantons, except the father, are dead, as is Doc.  Rather than kill Clanton, Wyatt turns him loose to wander and suffer from the deaths of his sons.  Before he can get far, however, Morgan kills him.

Later, Wyatt and Morgan leave town.  Clementine says goodbye to Wyatt and, explaining that she intends to remain in Tombstone, asks him to stop by if he is ever in the area again.

Notes
The film is based on the book Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal by Stuart N. Lake (Boston, 1931), and the book was based on four articles that originally appeared in SEP on October 25, 1930, November 1, 1930, November 8, 1930 and November 15, 1930.  Wyatt Earp (1848 - 1929) was made Assistant Marshal of Dodge City, Kansas in 1878.  While there, he became friendly with Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, among others.  In 1879, he moved to Tombstone, Arizona, where his brother Virgil was deputy U.S. Marshal.  Shortly after, they were joined by their brothers Morgan and James.  After Marshal Fred White was shot, Wyatt arrested Curly Bill Brocius for the crime and Virgil became town Marshal.  This began a feud between the Earps and local cowboys led by "Old Man" Clanton and his sons Ike, Phin and Billy.  On October 26, 1881, Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil and Doc Holliday faced Ike and Billy Clanton and Frank and Tom McLaury in a gunfight at the O.K. Corral.  (Some sources state that Holliday was not at the O.K. Corral.  Old Man Clanton died before the famous gunfight occurred.)  The McLaurys and Billy were killed.  Later, Virgil was dismissed from office and, two months later, was shot and wounded in an ambush.  In 1882, Morgan was killed and Wyatt shot Frank Stilwell and Florentino Cruz, whom he suspected of Morgan's murder.  Near the end of his life, Wyatt moved to Hollywood.  Director John Ford met with him and claimed that he filmed the gunfight just as Earp described it.

Studio press material announced that Jeanne Crain and Vanessa Brown had been signed for the film, but neither appears in the completed picture.  Much of the film was shot in Monument Valley, Arizona on the Navajo reservation, where the studio constructed a replica of Tombstone, and other scenes were shot in Kayenta, Arizona.  Grant Withers was borrowed from Republic for the production.  A March 21, 1946 HR news item announced that the film would be shot in Technicolor.  According to information in the Twentieth Century-Fox Records of the Legal Department, located at the UCLA Arts - Special Collections Library, Ronald "Jack" Pennick was contracted to play the "Stage Driver," but CBCS credits Robert Adler with that role.

According to modern sources, Darryl Zanuck cut thirty minutes from Ford's version, clarifying the exposition and story line.  In 1995, the UCLA Film Archives released a 102 minute print struck from original nitrate master positives, which restored some of the excised footage.  The first reel of the film remained the same as the released print, but the ending differs.  In the released print, Earp kisses Clementine goodbye, while in the original Earp shakes Clementine's hand.  The 1995 version also contains extra dialogue and shots and drops the frequent playing of the song "My Darling Clementine" from the soundtrack.

On April 28, 1947, Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs were joined by Richard Conte in performing a Lux Radio Theater version of the film.  Stuart Lake's book was also the basis of the 1934 Fox film Frontier Marshal, starring George O'Brien and directed by Lewis Seiler, and the 1939 film of the same title, directed by Allan Dwan and starring Randolph Scott and Cesar Romero.  In 1953, Lake's book provided the source material for the film Powder River, directed by Louis King and starring Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet and Cameron Mitchell.

Music includes:  "Ten Thousand Cattle," traditional, arranged by Fred K. Huffer; "Oh, My Darling Clementine," music and lyrics by Percy Montrose; "The First Kiss Is Always the Best, From Under a Broad Sombrero," composers undetermined.

American Film Institute Catalog

Poster artwork courtesy of Pete, and additional photos courtesy of Gary