Change Your Image
Prescott-4
Reviews
The Golden West (1932)
Grey's "To The Last Man" filmed on an impressively pictorial epic scale.
Zane Grey's "To The Last Man" ("The Golden West" was supposedly based on his "The Last Trail") has been expanded to include all of the historic elements of the American westward expansion movement. Pictorially impressive mainly due the the inclusion of much stock footage from the earlier silent film collaborations of John Ford/ George O'Brien "The Iron Horse" and "Three Bad Men" (the Grand Tetons and the Nevada desert) and scenes from the 1930 "The Big Trail."
I have hunted for this movie as various sources indicated that it had scenes filmed in Sedona, AZ. Unfortunately, the copy I found was made from a poor print (missing 6 minutes of footage) and an absolutely horrible video transfer. I am unable to be sure if the Indian encampment was filmed in Sedona due to the murkiness and fuzziness of the background scenery. The same is true of the scene where Motano presents Betty's daughter with his only former life's possession-the music box. It may have been filmed on Oak Creek. Other new footage appears to have been filmed at the upper Iverson Ranch, and definitely at Vasquez Rock.
There is almost too much movie for its 74 minute running time. The silent footage is edited into the production in a nearly seamless fashion. The usual self deprecating O'Brien humor is evident throughout, as are the many Americana vignettes. The movie is interesting for early performances by Hattie McDaniel and Onslow Stevens. Bert Hanlon makes for an amusing itinerant Jewish Irishman Dennis Epstein.
Rainbow Over the Range (1940)
Tex Ritter comes to Prescott, Arizona
An above average Tex Ritter vehicle featuring his future wife Dorothy Fay (a Prescott native.) The movie was filmed in and around Prescott, AZ, including Watson Lake, Granite Dells, and the movie studio Producers Pictures Corporation (soon to be PRC) built at what is now Watson Lake Park. After making only two pictures at their new Prescott studio, PPC first rented it to Monogram, and then sold it to the City of Prescott. Listed third billing on the title credit is Warner Richmond, yet he is barely in the beginning of the movie. During early shooting he was thrown by his horse, landing on the granite rocks, suffering a fractured skull. Catchy tune under the credits: "My Tonto Basin Home" by Garland Edmundson.