The Painted Desert (1931)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Howard Higgin

Writers:

Tom Buckingham (story) &
Howard Higgin (story)

Release Date:

7 March 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Western pardners Jeff and Cash find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants' camp, and clash over...

Plot Keywords:

Baby | Foundling | Feud | Mining | Loan

Cast

William Boyd	...	Bill Holbrook (as Bill Boyd)
Helen Twelvetrees	...	Mary Ellen Cameron
William Farnum	...	Bill 'Cash' Holbrook
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Jeff Cameron
Clark Gable	...	Rance Brett
Charles Sellon	...	Tonopah
Hugh Adams	...	'Dynamite'
Wade Boteler	...	Bob Carson - Ore Wagon #1 Driver
Will Walling	...	Kirby
Edmund Breese	...	Judge Matthews
Edward Hearn	...	Tex (as Guy Edward Hearn)
William Le Maire	...	Denver (as William LeMaire)
Richard Cramer	...	Provney - Ore Wagon #1 Shotgun Rider

Runtime:

79 min | USA:85 min (copyright length) | 75 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Pathé Exchange

Trivia:

William Boyd and Clark Gable, during the making of the film (11 October 1930), narrowly escaped serious injury from falling rock after two tons of explosives went off with considerably more force than planned in Dinosaur Canyon, some 70 miles northwest of Flagstaff, Arizona. While Boyd and Gable were 200 feet from the blast, rocks and boulders rained down between where they were standing. Not so lucky were a number of technicians, some 15 of whom were taken to hospitals in Flagstaff and Tuba City, and director Howard Higgin, who suffered a broken ankle and various cuts. The female lead, Helen Twelvetrees, had already returned to Los Angeles, as most of the principal photography was completed. Dynamite and black powder had been placed in the face of a 400-foot cliff and in an old mine tunnel, the explosion being expected to crumble the cliff. Unexpected presence of hard rock lent the blast violence that had not been anticipated, and showered rock and stone over an area of nearly half a mile.

Quotes:

Rance Brett: Miss, I'm from Montana and I'm headin' New Mexico way.
Jeff Cameron: What was your name in Montana?
Rance Brett: Brett - same as here! And I'm headin' New Mexico way. At least I was
[glances at Mary Ellen]
Rance Brett: while I had a horse.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Going Hollywood: The '30s (1984)

Soundtrack:

Oh! Susanna

A different but interesting western

It's a different kind of western, with little action, all right, but it has a good plot and excellent performances, especially from the veterans William Farnum (Cash) and J. Farrel MacDonald (Jeff). Their interpretation of two friends turned into enemies because of a baby boy they found in the desert is wonderful. Helen Twelvetrees (Mary Ellen) is a flesh and blood Betty Boop and shows with her faces the transition from silent film heroines to those of the sound era. The plot has a simple, but coherent structure that leads to a happy ending. In the whole, "The Painted Desert" has not much of action but it's an enjoying western movie to watch.