Filming “San Antonio”: Hopefully Tom Tyler got the afternoon off

Sometimes the most interesting production notes of a particular movie can be found within the marketing tool known as the pressbook. In the case of the 1945 Warner Brothers western “San Antonio” starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith, there is one such article regarding the filming of the scene where Tom Tyler gets shot by Flynn. Tom of course had the opportunity to execute his famous long, drawn out walk before finally collapsing onto the wooden platform surrounding the building across the street. In this western, Tom has a supporting role as Lafe McWilliams, a henchman for cattle rustler Paul Kelly who is hot on the trail of cattleman Flynn, who is attempting to lay low until he can locate Stuart and turn him in to the authorities.

On the second page of the pressbook the article titled “Special Effects Department Busy on ‘San Antonio’ Set”, detailed information is given to the rip roaring shoot out scene between Tyler and Flynn, which originates as an exchange between the two men in the dance hall. According to the article, director David Butler, who, like Tom, had a career dating back to the silent film era, the scene was lined up by Butler, and with the aid of the special effects man Fred Ponedel, set off the powder and smoke, which produced the resulting effects when Flynn shoots a blank at Tom.

Ever eager and ready to learn every aspect of what his role requires, Tom stood by and observed everything. What is interesting about the entire scene is that the set was built to resemble the 1870 to 1880 years of San Antonio. When the set was built, it was done from photographs supplied by San Antonio Mayor Maury Maverick. Once completed, the set occupied an entire sound stage. 

Finally ready to complete his last scene of filming in “San Antonio” which took place in the morning, Tom remarked to present crew members that hopefully the scene would be done filming by lunchtime so he could have the afternoon off. Knowing just how efficiently Tom Tyler could execute a scene according to direction, chances are he took the hit from Flynn before dying off according to the script so that he could enjoy his afternoon off from work. 

Yes, that is the director of "San Antonio" with Tom Tyler on an ESCO arcade card from 1929!