HERITAGE OF THE DESERT

US, 1939, 73 minutes, Black-and-white.
Donald Woods, Evelyn Venable, Russell Hayden, Robert Barrett, Sidney Toler, C.Henry Gordon, Willard Robertson, Paul Guilfoyle, Paul Fix.
Directed by Lesley Selander.

This is a Zane Gray story, the prolific writer of westerns in the 1930s, many of which were filmed. In fact this story was filmed in 1932 under the same title, an initial star vehicle for Randolph Scott.

The settings are familiar but interesting nonetheless. Donald Woods, perhaps a bit too charming as a city slicker and less convincing as a hero of the West, leaves Chicago after studying geology to investigate the family company which is now bankrupt. There is an attempt on his life on the way.

The villain of the piece, played by C.Henry Gordon, has been controlling the company and making demands on the cattle ranchers roundabout, not hesitating in killing the sons of a prominent leader, played by Robert Barrett. The hero survives the attempt on his life, is looked after by the ranchers, falls in love with the daughter, Evelyn Venable, who is the object of desire of one of the farmhands who is in league with the villain.

The film is particularly interesting to see Sidney Toler in a western rule, the shrewd bold ranch hand, quite prominent in this story on the ranch, training the hero to shoot, intervening in the action. This film was made at the time that he was beginning his long series as Charlie Chan.

There is the inevitable buildup to a confrontation, the hero meeting the villain who had made the attempt on his life and shooting him, the heroine persuaded by Sidney Toler to elope at the time of her wedding, her being captured by the villain and taken to his hideout, leading to a pursuit by the hero and Toler and then by the whole wedding party.

A variation on the stories of the range wars.