California Passage
Cast & Crew
Joseph Kane
Forrest Tucker
Adele Mara
Estelita Rodriguez
Jim Davis
Peter Miles
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In 1850, while traveling to Mariposa, California, to visit her brother Bob, Beth Martin and their young brother Tommy become separated from the rest of their wagon train. Along the way, they meet a traveler named Mike Prescott, who is returning to his home in Mariposa, where he owns a hotel and saloon with his partner. After they mention to Mike that their brother owns a gold mine in Mariposa, Beth and Tommy are discovered by one of the homesteaders, who has backtracked to look for them. While they rejoin the wagon train, Mike continues his journey alone. Meanwhile, at the hotel in Mariposa, Mike's partner, Linc Corey, is plotting with Bob to take over the hotel and saloon. After Mike arrives, he and Linc attend to their weekly ritual: drawing cards to determine who will take the saloon's profits for the week. This time, however, the pot is exceptionally large, consisting of profits for the entire seventeen weeks that Mike has been away. After Mike wins the draw, an angry Bob grabs a rifle from the door guard and aims it at Mike. Mike responds quickly, grabbing his own gun and killing Bob. Beth and Tommy then arrive in town, and after they learn of Bob's death, attorney Warren Lynch informs them that Bob left his gold mine to them in his will. That evening, Linc steals Mike's horse and uses it to hold up the Mariposa stagecoach, on which Beth is riding. After Linc kills Beth's wealthy traveling companion, he steals the man's jewel-encrusted tie pin and returns to town. Linc puts Mike's horse into the yard, goes up to his room and begins tossing pebbles from his window, hoping to attract the attention of Willy Clair, the sheriff. No sooner has Willy noticed Mike's horse, still sweaty and tired from galloping, than he learns of the holdup. Later, Beth learns that Mike shot Bob and angrily rebukes him, but later apologizes after learning that Bob was himself a ruthless murderer. Mike then asks Beth and Tommy to have dinner with him, and she agrees. Later, Mike unwittingly accepts Linc's offer to wear the stolen pin, and when Beth notices it at dinner, she sends Tommy to fetch Willy and his deputies. When Beth accuses Mike of being the stagecoach bandit, he guesses that she has sent Tommy for the lawmen and quickly escapes. Some time later, desperate to provide Tommy with a father figure, Beth marries Linc. One day, after returning to his cabin with a bag of gold nuggets, Linc frightens Tommy so much that he runs away. Linc follows him, firing his gun into the air, while Beth, who knows that Linc will return for the gold, lights the cabin on fire. Mike, who happens to be nearby, hears Linc's gunshots and goes to the cabin. When Linc returns, he sees Mike and tries to escape by climbing down the face of a steep mountain. Despite Mike's attempt to rescue him, Linc slips, falling to his death below. Later, Beth and Tommy are reunited.
Director
Joseph Kane
Cast
Forrest Tucker
Adele Mara
Estelita Rodriguez
Jim Davis
Peter Miles
Charles Kemper
Bill Williams
Rhys Williams
Paul Fix
Francis Mcdonald
Eddy Waller
Charles Stevens
Iron Eyes Cody
Alan Bridge
Ruth Brennan
Hal Taliaferro
Effie Laird
Dabbs Greer
Mary Bear
Norman Field
Frank Alten
I. Stanford Jolley
Tex Terry
Luther Crockett
Ed Jauregui
John Pickard
Clark Howat
Howard J. Negley
George Spaulding
Virginia Vincent
John Parrish
Norman Leavitt
Jimmy Parnell
Frank Richards
Teddy Infuhr
Rory Mallinson
Lee Tung Foo
John Compton
William Ruhl
Crane Whitley
Marshall Reed
Crew
Frank Arrigo
Lynne Burke
T. A. Carman
Nate Edwards
Jack Elliott
Joan Eremin
James Edward Grant
Peggy Gray
John Grubbs
Ira Hoke
Joseph Kane
Whitey Lawrence
Howard Lydecker
Theodore Lydecker
John Macburnie
Bob Mark
Enzo Martinelli
John Mccarthy Jr.
George Milo
Richard Moder
Adele Palmer
Arthur Roberts
Nathan Scott
Howard Smit
Harold Spina
Babe Stafford
Howard Wilson
Herbert J. Yates
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of the film was The Golden Tide. Hollywood Reporter production charts add Barbra Fuller to the cast, but her appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. According to a March 1950 Hollywood Reporter news item, portions of the film were shot in Kernville, CA.
