The Painted Desert (1931)

Two men find an abandoned baby and fight over the ownership of the child resulting in lifelong rivalry.

Directors:

Howard Higgin, Tom Buckingham (uncredited)

Writers:

Tom Buckingham (story), Howard Higgin (story)

Stars:

William Boyd, Helen Twelvetrees, William Farnum

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Boyd	...	Bill Holbrook (as Bill Boyd)
Helen Twelvetrees	...	Mary Ellen Cameron
William Farnum	...	Cash Holbrook
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Jeff Cameron
Clark Gable	...	Rance Brett
Charles Sellon	...	Tonopah
Hugh Adams	...	Dynamite
Wade Boteler	...	Bob Carson
Will Walling	...	Kirby
Edmund Breese	...	Judge Matthews
Edward Hearn	...	Tex (as Guy Edward Hearn)
William Le Maire	...	Denver (as William LeMaire)
Richard Cramer	...	Provney

Storyline

Western pardners Jeff and Cash find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants' camp, and clash over which is to be "father." They are still bitterly feuding years later when they own adjacent ranches. Bill, the foundling whom Cash has raised to young manhood, wants to end the feud and extends an olive branch toward Jeff, who now has a lovely daughter. But during a mining venture, the bitterness escalates. Is Bill to be set against his own adoptive father?

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Plot Keywords:

arizona desert | arizona | arizona territory | frame up | mining | 

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 March 1931 (USA)

Also Known As:

Feindschaft

Filming Locations:

Blue Mesa Badlands, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé Exchange

Technical Specs

Runtime:

79 min 85 min (copyright length) 75 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clark Gable couldn't ride a horse when he made this film.

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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.

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Connections

Featured in Stars of the Silver Screen: Clark Gable (2011)

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Soundtracks

Trail to Mexico (Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie)
Traditional ballad
Sung a cappella by Charles Sellon

User Reviews

Incomplete But Still Good

Two men traveling west find a baby boy in the desert and quarrel over which one will raise him. One steals away with the boy and becomes a wealthy rancher while the other stays put beside a waterhole and remains an impoverished homesteader.

Years later the boy has grown up to become a fair-minded man who tries to reconcile the two bitter enemies, partnering with his father's old friend in a mining operation beset by mistrust due to unexplained sabotage.

The Painted Desert is mostly remembered nowadays for featuring future Hopalong Cassidy star William Boyd and the first talking performance by Clark Gable.

Though undoubtedly harmed by having nearly all it's action sequences carved up as stock footage for later films, it's still worth watching and has a nice Hollywood sheen not seen in later B-westerns.