The Santa Fe Trail (1930)
Directed by Otto Brower / Edwin H. Knopf
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Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein
Paramount star Richard Arlen heads a strong cast in this early talkie western about a sheepherder falsely accused of killing an Indian. Luckily for the hero, two little children (Mitzi Green and Junior Durkin) witnessed the murder and can point the sheriff in the direction of the true culprit. The film was unusual in that Mexican characters were allowed to speak Spanish. Reviewers at the time, however, didn't buy it and pointed out that leading lady Rosita Moreno quite obviously "had a good knowledge of English." Both Mitzi Green and Junior Durkin were admired child stars at the time; the latter, who portrayed Huck Finn in both Tom Sawyer (1930) and Huckleberry Finn (1931), sadly lost his life at the age of 19, the victim of a car accident near San Diego, California that also claimed the lives of producer-director Robert J. Horner and the father of child star Jackie Coogan.
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Keywords
bad-guy, cowboy, good-guy, land-scheme, land-war, ranch, romance