Wallace Beery is Sgt. Barstow, a Union soldier who finds himself in the Confederate prisoner of war camp on Belle Island.
Two of his superiors, including Lt. Oliver Clark (John Howard), learn of a Rebel battle plan and want to get word to Gen. Grant. They also want Barstow to go along as their scout.
Barstow has no interest in going anywhere until the war ends. After all, he has 14 months back pay coming to him.
The escape attempt fails. The Union major is killed; Lt. Clark barely escapes with his life.
Soon after, when the Confederates show up looking for Union prisoners to nurse Rebel soldiers stricken with smallpox, Lt. Clark senses another opportunity.
And this time, Barstow will have no choice in the matter. He’s volunteered for service and Lt. Clark will tag along as the second volunteer.
He rigs the medical wagon so it will wreck, and this time the escape goes better than he ever could have hoped.
Not only do he and Barstow get away unwounded, they rescue a damsel in distress (Dolores Del Rio as Jenny Sanford), whose companion is carrying a map showing the deployment of all Rebel forces in the area.
One problem: It’s written in Russian. Which means the two Union soldiers will have to take Jenny along as they try to make their way back to the Union lines.
Wallace Beery as Sgt. Barstow, showing no interest in an escape attempt in The Man from Dakota (1940)
John Howard as Lt. Oliver Clark, trying to prod Barstow into action in The Man from Dakota (1940)
Review:
A Hollywood star after winning a best actor Oscar for The Champ (1931) and starring in Treasure Island (1934), Beery spent much of the 1940s making Westerns.
This is not one of his better outings. He spends most of the film looking for ways to fill his gut while avoiding work and avoiding the war, only to be dragged reluctantly into action by Lt. Clark.
Meanwhile, Dolores Del Rio, a Mexican actress, plays a Russian beauty, not very convincingly.
Oh, the beauty part isn’t a problem, though Del Rio had started her career in the mid-1920s and was 35 when this film was made.
The problem is her overacting. Check out the scene when she’s screaming hysterically one minute, translating the map for Clark the next.
Dolores Del Rio as Jenny Sanford, the Russian girl fleeing to safety with Sgt. Barstow and Lt. Clark in The Man from Dakota (1940)
Donald Meek, the Union sympathizer who wants the map on The Man from Dakota (1940)
Directed by:
Leslie Fenton
Cast:
Wallace Beery … Sgt. Bar Barstow
John Howard … Lt. Oliver Clark
Dolores Del Rio … Jenny Sanford
Donald Meek … Mr. Vestry
Robert Barrat … Parson Summers
Addison Richards … Conf. Provost Marshal
Frederick Burton … Religious leader
John Wray … Mr. Carpenter
William Haade … Union soldier
Runtime: 75 min.
Robert Barrat as Parson Summers, who points Clark and Barstow to a Union sympathizer in The Man from Dakota (1940)
Wallace Beery as Sgt. Barstow and John Howard as Lt. Oliver Clark in The Man from Dakota (1940)
ADD MEMORABLE LINES
Dolores Del Rio as Jenny Sanford, John Howard as Lt. Oliver Clark and Wallace Beery as Sgt. Barstow in The Man from Oklahoma (1940)
Wallace Beery as Sgt. Barstow, trying to avoid a hangman’s noose in The Man from Dakota (1940)
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