1939 and '40 saw Henry Fonda involved in his greatest string of classic biops and classic novel film adaptations, though not always the lead character nor most remembered character. This includes "Jesse James". "Young Mr. Lincoln", "Drums along the Mohawk", and "The Story of Alexander Graham Bell" in '39, followed by the '40 "The Grapes of Wrath", as well as the present film, where he reprises his role as Frank James, in a sequel to "Jesse James", his brother having been killed at the end of the previous film, and he out to do justice to his brother by assassinating the killer. While this film scores significantly lower mean rating at this site than these other films, I find it the most entertaining of the bunch, having seen it numerous times over the years. Never mind the gross historical inaccuracies and many contrivances of the screenplay. Like "Jesse James", it was a rare film of the times shot in Technicolor. It makes sense that Frank might try to kill the assassin of his brother. Historically, it just didn't happen that way. Incidentally, this site has it wrong that the Ford brothers died within a few months of killing Jesse. Brother Charlie killed himself 2 years later while suffering from terminal TB. Brother Bob lived another 10 years, moving around to several parts of the West, but not Denver, as portrayed in the film. However, at one point in the film, Frank and adopted son Clem(Jackie Cooper) are riding to catch Bob(John Carradine) in the mining town of Creede, CO, to which Bob fled after Frank and Clem chased him out of Denver. Historically, this is where Bob was finally assassinated, after setting up a business there. However, that's not how the screenplay tells it. Also, the theatrical play in Denver, in which the James brothers hold up a woman, to be thwarted by the Ford brothers, alludes to the historical fact that Bob did stage reenactments of his killing of Jesse, in the early years after the deed. Frank's appearance in the balcony induces Bob to flee, Frank jumping to the stage, Booth-like, in pursuit.
Gorgeous Gene Tierney has her first film role, as leading lady Eleanor Stone: the late teen daughter of the editor of a Denver newspaper. She seems a tad formal in her demeanor and deliveries, perhaps due to her scripted finishing school training. Also, I see what she meant when she reportedly began smoking to hopefully lower her voice, as it does sound a bit like Minnie Mouse here, at times. ..The original idea was that she and Frank would form a romantic pair. However, due to outside considerations, it was decided to tone down this romance, resulting in an awkward goodbye scene, to end the film.
Although Frank was involved in 3 gun battles that resulted in 3 deaths, the screenwriter was careful not to implicate a bullet from Frank's gun as being directly responsible for any of these deaths. During his night robbery of the Midland Express office, a bullet fired from outside into the building was shown as causing the death of the watchman, blamed on Frank. During a gun battle with Charlie Ford, Charlie slipped on a high ledge to his death. The final drama of the film has Frank engaged in a hide and seek shootout with Bob in a dark livery stable. Bob had just engaged in a gun battle with Clem, outside the courtroom, immediately after Frank was acquitted of charges. As it turned out, the wounds Bob and Clem inflicted on each other proved fatal within a short time, Bob dying from Clem's bullet while engaging Frank(at least, it's fairly novel).
Humor is mainly concentrated in 2 segments. First, Clem's fanciful story about how Frank died in a gun battle in Mexico, which Eleanor(Gene) has printed in the newspaper, to her later embarrassment. Also, the related tying up of bespeckled railroad detective Runyan in their hotel room, stuffing him in their closet, to be discovered by the freaked-out maid....But the major theatrics are provided by Henry Hull, in part, in bits here and there, but concentrated during Frank's trial, in which he serves as the defense council, attacking the prosecution and defending his client with all the awesome fury of an enraged pit bull, injecting bits of sarcasm and humor here and there. This is what you will most remember about this film! Fonda occasionally adds his own dose of laconic sarcasm, in remembrance of the rather similar court scene in the previous year's "Young Mr. Lincoln". In that scene, Fonda was the defense attorney, and Donald Meek, who has a subsidiary role in the court scene in the present film, was the prosecuting attorney. Fonda played Lincoln's laconic self: very different from Hull's continuously bombastic performance. Tall, imposing, Russell Hicks takes the place of short, balding, Meek, as the prosecuting attorney in the present film. Although, like John Carradine, he played a role in several hundred films, this is the only one I remember him in. The trial nearly turns into a reenactment of the Civil War, as Hull recounts, in dramatic fashion, the probable killings of Yankees by Frank's revolver('weepin'), and the depredations of the blue coats and other Yankees on the local southern sympathizers. Despite Frank's admitted guilt in robbing the Midland office, not to mention forcing another railroad watchman to flag down an express train so Frank and Clem could hurry to KC to hopefully prevent the execution of their innocent friend Pinky, the jury incredulously declares Frank not guilty of all charges. This dramatically shows the still very anti-Yankee feeling of the people in this region. Historically, Frank was acquitted of the several charges relating to the robberies of the James Gang, although he spent a year in jail, awaiting trial.
