In his very first starring western Randolph Scott plays an easterner. He's one who learns the western ways very fast because of the trouble he's walking into.
Heritage Of The Desert one of the many Zane Grey novels that Paramount was filming during these years casts Randolph Scott as an eastern surveyor hired by J. Farrell MacDonald to get an accurate read on his boundary. That's something that neighboring rancher David Landau doesn't like probably because the result he knows would go against him.
Landau's our villain of the piece and is cut from the Snidely Whiplash mold which becomes abundantly clear when toward the end of the film he decides that he ought to marry Sally Blane who has no interest in him believe me. In fact that's the second part of the trouble Randy's walked into.
Blane is the daughter of MacDonald's late partner and she has a piece of the MacDonald spread outright. It's been assumed that she'd be marrying Gordon Westcott who is MacDonald's son. But Westcott's a weak sort who Landau has taken much advantage of. And until Scott arrives on the scene looking at what else was around, Blane probably thought she was getting a bargain.
So mix the elements of love and land feud and the answer is all's fair in love and range war.
It's very apparent that even cast as a somewhat green easterner Randolph Scott would have a good future in westerns. Blane's resemblance to her more well known sister Loretta Young is unmistakable and Landau is his usual villain, mean and tough and he does work through the more old fashioned aspects of his stock villain character.
And for double historical interest, Heritage Of The Desert is the first feature film directed by Henry Hathaway who was contracted to Paramount for many years starting with this film.
I'm sure the Saturday matinée crowd delighted in this one.
Heritage Of The Desert one of the many Zane Grey novels that Paramount was filming during these years casts Randolph Scott as an eastern surveyor hired by J. Farrell MacDonald to get an accurate read on his boundary. That's something that neighboring rancher David Landau doesn't like probably because the result he knows would go against him.
Landau's our villain of the piece and is cut from the Snidely Whiplash mold which becomes abundantly clear when toward the end of the film he decides that he ought to marry Sally Blane who has no interest in him believe me. In fact that's the second part of the trouble Randy's walked into.
Blane is the daughter of MacDonald's late partner and she has a piece of the MacDonald spread outright. It's been assumed that she'd be marrying Gordon Westcott who is MacDonald's son. But Westcott's a weak sort who Landau has taken much advantage of. And until Scott arrives on the scene looking at what else was around, Blane probably thought she was getting a bargain.
So mix the elements of love and land feud and the answer is all's fair in love and range war.
It's very apparent that even cast as a somewhat green easterner Randolph Scott would have a good future in westerns. Blane's resemblance to her more well known sister Loretta Young is unmistakable and Landau is his usual villain, mean and tough and he does work through the more old fashioned aspects of his stock villain character.
And for double historical interest, Heritage Of The Desert is the first feature film directed by Henry Hathaway who was contracted to Paramount for many years starting with this film.
I'm sure the Saturday matinée crowd delighted in this one.