When transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the place, especially Mary McCloud, daughter of the local banker. Politics is in the air however. It's just prior to the civil war and there is already a sharp division in the Territory as to whether it will remain slave-free. When he gets the opportunity to run for marshal, Seton finds himself running against the respected local schoolteacher, William Cantrell. Not is what it seems however. While acting as the upstanding citizen in public, Cantrell is dangerously ambitious and is prepared to do anything to make his mark, and his fortune, on the Territory. When he loses the race for marshal, he forms a group of raiders who run guns into the territory and rob and terrorize settlers throughout the territory. Eventually donning Confederate uniforms, it is left to Seton and the good citizens of Lawrence to face Cantrell and his raiders in one final clash.
Acting
Walter Pidgeon's surprisingly sinister turn as wolf-in-sheep's-clothing Cantrell.
Direction
Raoul Walsh keeps the Raoul Walsh energy: efficient, muscular, no fat.
Director
Raoul Walsh
Claire Trevor
Miss Mary McCloud
John Wayne
Bob Seton
Walter Pidgeon
William 'Will' Cantrell
Roy Rogers
Fletcher 'Fletch' McCloud
George 'Gabby' Hayes
Andrew 'Doc' Grunch
Porter Hall
Angus McCloud
Marjorie Main
Mrs. Cantrell / Mrs. Adams
Raymond Walburn
Judge Buckner
Joe Sawyer
Bushropp
Helen MacKellar
Mrs. Hale
J. Farrell MacDonald
Dave
Trevor Bardette
Mr. Hale
Ernie Adams
Townsman
Richard Alexander
Phil - Guerrilla Guarding Seton
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Roy Rogers appears in a rare non-singing role as Mary's brother, three years before becoming 'King of the Cowboys.'
Released during Hollywood's 'Golden Age' Western boom, it sanitizes the brutal 1863 Lawrence massacre that Quantrill's Raiders actually committed—Cantrell is a fictional composite.
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