Heritage of the Desert

1939

1h 13m

IMDb RATING

5.8/10

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Western

John Abbott returns to the desert land he owns, and after being wounded by hired gunman Chick Chance, he is befriended by rancher Andrew Naab and his son, Marvin. Naab's daughter, Marian, falls in love with John but is about to marry Snap Thornton to keep a promise made by her father. She runs away on her wedding day but is captured and held hostage by outlaw Henry Holderness. John, the Naabs and fellow ranchers rush to her rescue.

Directors

Lesley Selander

Writers

Zane Grey(novel by)

Norman Houston(screenplay by)

Stars

Donald Woods

Evelyn Venable

Russell Hayden

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Top cast

John Abbott

Miriam Naab

David Naab

Andrew Naab

Nosey

Henry Holderness

Henchman Nebraska

Snap Thornton

Henchman Chick Chance

John 'Skins' Miller

Postmaster John Twerk

Judge Stevens

Wedding Guest

Wedding Guest

Cowhand

Wedding Guest

Musician

Wedding Guest

Wedding Guest

Directors

Lesley Selander

Writers

Zane Grey(novel by)

Norman Houston(screenplay by)

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User reviews1

Review

Featured review

6/10

Though he had a tendency to verbosity, Zane Grey wrote some good Western adventure stories, and this one is quite decent too. Donald Woods is "Abbott" the last of a once wealthy family who is told by his lawyer that all that is left is some inhospitable land in the desert. When he goes off to investigate, he is shot - lands in some quicksand, and is lucky to be rescued by the "Naab" family. A bit of a love triangle ensues, as our determined young man decides to reclaim his property from those scheming to take it (and it's wealth). This is a much better than average effort. The screen adaptation from Norman Houston keeps the dialogue focussed and there are a couple of stronger performances from the star; C. Henry Gordon (the unscrupulous "Holderness") and Evelyn Venable (the feisty "Miriam"). The photography is also quite lively, too - allowing the story more fluidity than many films I've seen. The romance does stifle it for me, though - takes just a little too much of this 75 minutes and detracts from the more interesting action elements of the crooked land grabbing. Features Sidney Toler, too - albeit infrequently - and that rather shows up his really limited skills as an actor, and the editing isn't the best. Enjoyable, though, with a few extra twists to keep it interesting.

Geronimo196722 Jun, 2022