WALTER PIDGEON - DARK COMMAND 1940 - Screen Worn Coat & Trousers - JOHN WAYNE

Description

WALTER PIDGEON - DARK COMMAND 1940 - Screen Worn Coat and Trousers - JOHN WAYNE / REPUBLIC PICTURES
Offered here is a unique Civil War era type costume frock coat and pants set from the Golden Age of Hollywood. This Old West style coat and pair of trousers were worn by actor
Walter Pidgeon
in his co-staring turn with John Wayne and Claire Trevor in the Republic Pictures production of
DARK COMMAND (1940)
.  Pidgeon plays against type as notorious outlaw William Quantrill. His character is arguably the most complex of this film.  John Wayne is the sheriff who stands up to Quantrill and his guerillas who are pillaging the countryside in Civil War-torn Kansas. Actress Claire Trevor is the strong woman torn between the two leading men.
Coat and pants are in Very Good- /Good+ condition
with fraying and a few small holes and especially wear to the surface wear of the left shoulder (as seen in supplied photo).  Pidgeon wore the coat in his moving scene with Claire Trevor as they discuss their crumbling relationship.  The pants were worn in different scenes of the film as seen in the screen grabs.  Both coat and pants bear the vintage labels of the
Western Costume Company
with Pidgeon's name and measurement information written in black steel-tip fountain pen ink.  All original buttons are present in the pair.  Interestingly enough, as can be seen in the screen grabs, the collar of Pidgeon's coat is a bit off in size on either side.
Old West and certainly Civil War era costumes from Hollywood's Golden Age are very difficult to locate. This is primarily owed to the fact that they would be used over and over in subsequent western films and T.V. programs after the initial film they were tailored for and would see heavy action oriented wear and tear over the years of use before the cameras.  This handsome 80+ year old surviving set from this classic Civil War era western would make an historic addition to any classic film buff's collection.
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DARK COMMAND
is a 1940 Western film starring
Claire Trevor, John Wayne
and
Walter Pidgeon
that is
loosely based on Quantrill's Raiders during the American Civil War.  Pidgeon gives a nuanced performance in the picture as a basically good man who falls into some very bad activity and his personality begins to change as a result. Directed by Raoul Walsh from the novel by W. R. Burnett, Dark Command is the only film in which western icons John Wayne and Roy Rogers appear together, and was the only film Wayne and Raoul Walsh made together since Walsh discovered Wayne working as a prop mover, renamed him, and gave him his first leading role in the epic widescreen western
THE BIG TRAIL
(1930).