They Died with Their Boots On Raoul Walsh (U.S., 1942)

Forget the history books and thumb through to the action: Walsh’s sweeping bio-pic of General Custer’s tragic trajectory may be factually false, but when it comes to grand Union assaults at Gettysburg and cavalry charges at the Little Big Horn, he certainly gets it right. Errol Flynn, as a quickly rising West Point grad, never looked better in a buckskin tunic, good enough to attract Beth soon-to-be Custer, the adoring warrior wife (played by Olivia de Havilland) with Hattie McDaniel in tow. We know the ending well, but Walsh leads a very cinematic charge that makes the rush toward massacre marvelous.

• Written by Wally Kline, Aeneas MacKenzie. Photographed by Bert Glennon. With Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony Quinn. (138 mins, B&W, 35mm, From Warner Bros.)