Errol Flynn is Mike McComb, a Union officer ordered to guard a payroll wagon carrying $1 million during the action around Gettysburg.
When Jeb Stuart’s Confederate cavalry shows up, McComb burns the money rather than letting it fall into Rebel hands. Problem is, just as the money is going up in flames, his own cavalry shows up to save the day.
The result: McComb is court-martialed. And from that day on he vows to make his own rules and look out for one person — himself.
He goes into the gambling business and heads to Silver City, where he begins amassing a fortune entertaining the men who work in the nearby silver mines.
Slowly, he worms himself into the mining and banking business as well until he’s the richest and most powerful man in Silver City. Old war buddy Pistol Porter (Tom D’Andrea) is his sidekick, Plato Beck (Thomas Mitchell) is the drunk who sobers up to become his lawyer.
But there’s one thing that McComb wants that isn’t readily available — Georgia Moore (Ann Sheridan), wife of Stanley Moore (Bruce Bennett), owner of one of the biggest mines in Silver City.
McComb winds up owning a piece of that too. And when Moore approaches him with a plan to check out new land where silver might be located, McComb encourages him, even though he knows Indians in that vicinity are on the warpath.
Sure enough, Stanley Moore winds up dead. Georgia winds up in McComb’s arms, then in the castle he builds.
But the treachery causes Plato Beck to turn against his boss. And the other mine owners have had enough of being trampled and ordered around by Mike McComb.
Errol Flynn as Mike McComb, arriving in the silver fields and commandeering Georgia Moore’s freight wagons in Silver River (1948)
Ann Sheridan as Georgia Moore, eventually succumbing to Mike McComb’s advances in Silver River (1948)
Review:
Probably the least entertaining of Flynn’s many Westerns. He’s simply much better as the charming, swash-buckling hero than as the bitter man who will stoop to any device to get what he wants.
Part of the film’s failure lies in the performance of Ann Sheridan. Sure, she’s attractive. But she seldom smiles. She seems cold and aloof. There seems to be little chemistry between her and Flynn, particularly odd since they were rumored to be lovers while making “Edge of Darkness” together a couple of years earlier.
The film’s best role belongs to Thomas Mitchell as Plato Beck, the lawyer who finds someone to believe in again when Mike McComb plucks him out of a barroom. That is until McComb betrays his faith, prompting Plato to become the first of many to turn against him.
Ann Sheridan has supporting roles in two other Westerns, “Cowboy from Brooklyn” (1938) and “Dodge City” (1939) and also starring Errol Flynn. She was starring as Henrietta Hanks in her own Western TV series, “Pistols and Petticoats” (1966-67) when she died of cancer at age 51.
Thomas Mitchell as Plato Beck, the drunk who becomes Mike McComb’s legal advisor and conscience in Silver River (1948)
Bruce Bennett as Stanley Moore, Georgia’s husband and the biggest obstacle to Mike McComb’s romantic intentions in Silver River (1948)
Directed by:
Raoul Walsh
Cast:
Errol Flynn … Mike McComb
Ann Sheridan … Georgia Moore
Thomas Mitchell … Plato Beck
Bruce Bennett … Stanley Moore
Tom D’Andrea … “Pistol” Porter
Barton MacLane … “Banjo” Sweeney
Monte Blue … “Buck” Chevigee
Jonathan Hale … Major Spencer
Al Bridge … Sam Slade
Arthur Space … Major Ross
Runtime: 110 min.
Tom D’Andrea as Pistol Porter, getting a bugle call order from Mike McComb (Errol Flynn) in Silver River (1948)
Monte Blue as ‘Buck’ Chevigee, one of Mike McComb’s rival mine owners in Silver River (1948)
Memorable lines:
Mike McComb: “You look pretty smart in those pants.”
Georgia Moore: “I’d look pretty silly without them.”
Mike McComb: “What kind of man is your husband?”
Georgia Moore: “He’s a gentleman.”
McComb: “That’s a shame.”
Mike McComb: “A man is only lonely when he depends on other people, Mr. Beck. I don’t.”
Surveyor: “Do you think a castle will blend with this landscape?”
Mike McComb: “Blend with landscape? Look, Edwards, I don’t intend to blend with any landscape. I intend to fill it.”
Errol Flynn as Union officer Mike McComb, who burns a payroll to keep it from falling into Confederate hands and gets courtmartialed for his efforts in Silver River (1948)
Barton MacLane as Banjo Sweeney, running afoul of Mike McComb again in Silver River (1948)
Tom D’Andrea as ‘Pistol’ Porter, chatting with President Grant (Joseph Crehan) during a visit to the silver fields in Silver River (1948)
Al Bridge as Sam Slade, the owner of a freight business who loses it to Mike McComb in Silver River (1948)
Ann Sheridan as George Moore, the woman who catches the eye of Mike McComb on a riverboat in Silver River (1948)
Errol Flynn as Mike McComb, standing up to Banjo Sweeney in Silver River (1948)
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When Errol Flynn told the screenwriter he didn’t understand where his story was going, that should have been a warning sign to the director that “Silver River” was going off the mine car rails. Despite its flaws, the big budget Warner Western has its high points including several good performances as you note. Flynn and Sheridan apparently liked each other (as much as the vodka), so its surprising there wasn’t more chemistry on screen. Flynn looks puffy, pickled, even tired in places. For me, this 1948 film is the top of a roller coaster. Flynn began his long slide, through the next decade, to his death in 1959.