Arizona Mahoney
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
James Hogan
Joe Cook
Robert Cummings
Larry Crabbe
Marjorie Gateson
June Martel
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
When Kirby Talbot robs a stagecoach, he not only ends up with the express box, but also a box of candy belonging to passenger Sue Bixby, who has come to take over her deceased father's ranch. Kirby finds $10,000 in gold certificates in the express box, which was payment for the sale of 500 head of cattle from the Bixby ranch. Kirby reads in a letter contained in the express box that the payment is for cattle that were stolen from Sue's ranch by Cameron Lloyd and Gil Blair's gang of rustlers. After Kirby leaves the scene of the crime, circus performer Arizona Mahoney arrives on an elephant named "Jenny," with his assistant, Phil Randall, and helps the stagecoach passengers out of their predicament. Phil immediately falls in love with Sue, but because he is too shy to express his admiration, Arizona speaks for him. Meanwhile, Kirby counts the robbery money with his cohorts, Smoky and Flit Smith, at the Bixby ranch. Sue arrives, and as Kirby was in disguise during the robbery, does not recognize him when he says that he is the ranch foreman. When Sue asks about her cattle, Kirby tells her that they are on the range. That night, he and his men steal the cattle back from Blair and Lloyd. Kirby then brings an invitation to dinner from Sue to Phil, but he and Phil are trapped in a store when Lloyd and Blair enter to discuss a plan to kill Kirby. Kirby is sighted in the store and during the ensuing gunfight, Phil is wounded. Kirby escapes with Phil and takes him to Sue, who removes Phil's bullet and nurses him. Kirby then confesses to Sue that he was never her father's friend or foreman, and when uncovers the candy box, he admits to the stagecoach robbery as well. Showing her the letter he found in the express box, Kirby explains that after her father's death, her land was occupied by strangers who stole the cattle. Kirby adds that before she arrived, he planned to leave the country with the stolen money. Sue asks Kirby to stay until she sells the ranch and he agrees. Later, Kirby holds Lloyd at gunpoint in his general store and demands he turn the deed over to him. Phil recovers, but Lloyd and his men attack the ranch. Arizona offers to help and brings "Jenny." During the fight, Kirby shoots Blair and Lloyd. Arizona arrives in time to blow up the bunkhouse with his cannon, saving everyone.
Director
James Hogan
Cast
Joe Cook
Robert Cummings
Larry Crabbe
Marjorie Gateson
June Martel
Dave Chasen
John Miljan
Fred Kohler Sr.
James Burtis
Richard Carle
Irving Bacon
Billie Lee
Frank Mayo
Jack Perrin
Charles Williams
Frank Mcglynn Jr.
P. E. "tiny" Newland
Johnny Eckert
Al Burk
Frank Cordell
Bill Hurley
Spike Spackman
Cecil Kellogg
Si Jenks
Vic Potel
Ricardo Mandia
Anna Demetrio
Charlene Wyatt
Dot Farley
Jimmy Conlin
James C. Morton
John "skins" Miller
Harry Tyler
Chester Gan
Crew
Stuart Anthony
A. M. Botsford
George Clemens
Fritz Collings
John Cope
Hans Dreier
A. E. Freudeman
Daniel Keefe
William Lebaron
Harry Mills
Boris Morros
Robert Odell
James Smith
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
This film is presumed lost. Please check your attic.
Notes
Paramount story files at the AMPAS library include an early script titled Stairs of Sand, written by Madeleine Ruthven and James Burtis. Their contribution to the final script is undetermined. Zane Grey's Stairs of Sand was published as a book in 1943. The working title of the film was Boots and Saddles. According to a news item in Hollywood Reporter the original star, Louise Stuart, was replaced by June Martel. According to financial information in the script files at the AMPAS library, the negative cost of the film was $268,285.43. In 1929, Otto Brower directed Wallace Beery and Jean Arthur in Stairs of Sand, based on the same story (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5365).
