Sante Fe (1951)

Randolph Scott plays Britt Canfield, a former Confederate officer who heads West to start a new life after the Civil War.

His three brothers tag along. But while Britt’s willing to put the war in the past, his brothers cling to their hatred of everything North.

And when Britt joins the effort to make the Sante Fe Railroad a success, that hatred stems to it because the company is owned by a northerner and the project is being headed by another (Warner Anderson as Dave Baxter).

Britt proves indispensable as Baxter’s right-hand man, helping him cross Kansas in time to earn a large land grant, then winning a race to Raton Pass that will ensure the Sante Fe can continue its trek West.

In the process, he earns the affection of Judith Chandler (Janis Carter), the woman Baxter hoped to marry. She lost her husband in a Civil War charge led by Canfield’s Confederate guerillas.

Two obstacles threaten their future happiness. Canfield and his brothers are still wanted for killing a Union soldier in self-defense during a barroom dispute before they split ways.

And with railroad employees balking at overdue pay, his brothers are blackmailed into helping Cole Sanders (Roy Roberts) attempt to rob the train delivering a hefty payroll, not realizing its a trap set by Baxter.

Randolph Scott as Britt Canfield, a man who wants to put the Civil War behind him and help build a railroad in Sante Fe (1951)

Warner Anderson as Dave Baxter, the man trying to build a railroad from Kansas to New Mexico in Sante Fe (1951)

Review:

A railroad film that winds up being one of the least memorable of Scott’s Westerns, in part because he does everything possible to bail his brothers out of trouble, but they just can’t keep from running afoul of the law and stealing from his railroad when one would think there would be plenty of opportunities to steal from someone else.

Janis Carter is unconvincing as the widow of a northerner who quickly forgets her prejudice against everything South when she meets Britt. This and 1952’s “The Half-Breed” marked two of her final films in a career that started in the early 1940s.

The film’s worst scene sees Britt end the Indians’ objections to the railroad by letting their chief drive an engine.

The best scene is the final showdown between Britt and the baddies, featuring a brawl on a moving train and a final shootout momentarily hidden from the viewer by steam from the train’s engine.

Future Western star Jock Mahoney has a substantial part as Sanders’ henchman.

Janis Carter ad Judith Chandler, book keeper for the railroad, getting good news for a change in Sante Fe (1951)

Roy Roberts as Cole Sanders, butting heads with Britt Canfield while brother Clint (John Archer) looks on in Sante Fe (1951)

Directed by:
Irving Pichel

Cast:
Randolph Scott … Britt Canfield
Janis Carter … Judith Chandler
Jerome Courtland … Terry Canfield
Peter Thompson … Tom Canfield
John Archer … Clint Canfield
Warner Anderson … Dave Baxter
Allene Roberts … Ella Sue Canfield
Roy Roberts … Cole Sanders
Billy House … Luke Plummer
Olin Howard .. Dan Dugan
Jock Mahoney … Crake
Harry Cording … Moose Legrande
Sven Hugo Borg … Swede Swanstrom
Frank Ferguson … Bat Masterson
Irving Pichel … Harned
Harry Tyler … Rusty
Chief Thundercloud … Chief Longfeather
Paul E. Burns … Uncle Dick Wootton

Runtime: 89 min.

John Archer as Clint Canfield, listening to concerns from brother Britt in Sante Fe (1951)

Jerome Courtland as Terry Canfield, introducing new wife Ella Sue (Allene Roberts) to older brother Britt in Sante Fe (1951)

Memorable lines:

Terry Canfield: “We’re the Canfields. And we owned the biggest plantation in Virginie.”
Britt Canfield: “Doesn’t matter what we owned. We don’t have it now.”

Clint Canfield to Britt: “The farther you get from the South, the shorter your memory becomes … They used their crooked Yankee laws for their own gain. To sell everything the Canfields had. You saw what it did to father. His heart couldn’t stand that. You stood there, along with all of us, and watched him die … They killed him. If what they did was no crime, then what we did today was no crime either. Maybe you can forgot all that, but I can’t.”

Judith Chandler: “Nothing must stop this railroad from going forward. It’s bigger than any one person, Britt, even a brother.”

Peter Thompson as Tom Canfield, enjoying working in a gambling tent in Sante Fe (1951)

Allen Roberts as Ella Sue, Terry Canfield’s wife, about to deliver distressing news in Sante Fe (1951)

Billy House as Luke Plummer, one of the Sante Fe railroad engineers in Sante Fe (1951)

Olin Howard as Dan Dugan, one of the railroad workers in Sante Fe (1951)

Jock Mahoney as Crake, henchman for Cole Sanders, a fly in the railroad’s oinment in Sante Fe (1951)

Randolph Scott as Britt Canfield trying to keep brothers Tom (Peter Thompson) and Clint (John Archer) out of trouble with Union soldiers in Sante Fe (1951)