Home on the Range
Cast & Crew
Arthur Jacobson
Jackie Coogan
Randolph Scott
Evelyn Brent
Dean Jagger
Addison Richards
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Boyd Thurman, Beady Pierce and Georgie Haley con James Butts into buying a worthless chicken farm in Alaska by leading him to believe there is gold on the land. Boyd is arrested, but Beady and Georgie escape to Green Valley, Arizona, where Beady becomes the proprietor of a lunch room in a hotel, and Georgie works in the kitchen. In time, Beady wins the entire hotel through gambling and Georgie and her friend Elsie Brownly open a dance hall. Georgie falls in love with Tom Hatfield, an honest rancher who is on the brink of losing his horse ranch because he cannot pay the mortgage. His brother Jack has been training a horse named Midnight for a race, hoping he can win enough money to pay off the mortgage. Jack becomes enraged when Tom hires a jockey, Flash Roberts, to ride Midnight, because he is unwilling to take any chance on the horse losing. Released from jail, Boyd comes to Green Valley, and Beady enlists his help to get ownership of Tom's ranch. Boyd and a thug attack Tom and Jack, getting Tom's money belt which contains eight thousand dollars from a recent cattle sale. When Georgie finds out, she confronts Boyd and Beady, to no avail, and later Beady kills Boyd to get him out of the way. Beady, who owns Tom's mortgage, warns Tom he will call in the loan at any time. His cohort Benson starts a brush fire which threatens the Hatfield ranch, and Beady, who has paid off Flash, uses this opportunity to steal Midnight. After Georgie confesses her sordid past to Tom, he forgives her, and they battle the brush fire back from the ranch, where they discover Beady's treachery. They rush to the racetrack where the manager agrees to change Midnight's registration back to Tom. Jack knocks out Flash and takes his place on the horse. Midnight wins, and Tom confronts Beady with a gun, demanding the return of his money, which he then uses to pay his mortgage. The sheriff arrests Beady for Boyd's murder, and Tom and Georgie are married.
Director
Arthur Jacobson
Cast
Jackie Coogan
Randolph Scott
Evelyn Brent
Dean Jagger
Addison Richards
Fuzzy Knight
Ann Sheridan
Allen Wood
Richard Carle
Howard Wilson
Philip Morris
Albert Hart
Ralph Remley
C. L. Sherwood
Francis Sayles
Jack Clark
Alfred Delcambre
Joe Morrison
Crew
Emanuel Cohen
Jack Dennis
Ethel Doherty
Hans Dreier
Grant Garrett
Earl Hedrick
Dr. Brewster M. Higley
Harold Hurley
Daniel E. Kelly
Charles Logue
William C. Mellor
Adolph Zukor
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to a Release Dialogue Script in the Paramount Story files at the AMPAS Library, the title card of the film read: "Zane Grey's Home on the Range." Zane Grey's novel was published serially in Country Gentleman magazine (28 April-14 July 1932). According to a Hollywood Reporter news item, Bobby Vernon was originally signed to co-write the screenplay. His contribution to the final film has not been determined. The film was originally called Code of the West, however, according to news items in Daily Variety and Hollywood Reporter, the title was changed to Home on the Range when the producers were given the rights to the title song. The film went back for retakes to include the song. According to a news item in Daily Variety, the picture was ready for previews in October 1934 but was pulled back to the studio for more work because the studio planned to do a "big build-up" of the film. Some scenes were shot on location at Malibu Lake, CA. Zane Grey's novel was first filmed in 1925 by Paramount as Code of the West, directed by William K. Howard and starring Owen Moore and Constance Bennett (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.0950).
