The Painted Trail
Cast & Crew
Robert Hill
Tom Keene
Eleanor Stewart
Leroy Mason
Walter Long
Frank Campeau
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Tom Gray, who is on a six-month leave, is asked by his superior, the U. S. marshal in Dallas, to go to Laredo and investigate smuggling. Tom agrees, and with his friends, Reed and Jackson, he heads for the border, after first sending out flyers with his picture on them calling for the arrest of "The Pecos Kid." When Tom arrives, cafe waitress Alice Banning, who has recently come to Texas from New Mexico, seems to recognize him, but he denies knowing her. Two weeks later, Jackson and Reed report that Duke Prescott heads the local gang of smugglers, so Tom goes to their hideout. Sammy, one of Prescott's men, who says that he used to ride with the Pecos Kid, pretends to know Tom, and Tom pretends to know Sammy as well. When the two men are alone, Sammy reveals that he lied about knowing the Kid and thinks that Tom was just being kind when he said that he knew Sammy as well. Duke steals all of the wanted posters, in order to help the Kid, but when Tom goes into Alice's cafe again to meet Jackson and Reed, she has one of the posters. She says that she now remembers him from New Mexico, and knows now that he is Tom Gray, another former resident. Because she surreptitiously gives him the poster, he knows that she will be a loyal ally and asks her to keep his secret. Some time later, Duke accuses Sammy of being greedy, then throws him out of the gang, after which someone shoots him. That night, Duke asks Tom to go on a job with Spud, one of the men. When a rancher reports the rustling to Ed, the sheriff, Ed chases Tom to a cliff over a river, but Tom escapes. Because Ed has seen Tom's face, he waits for him to show up in town the next day, then arrests him as Duke and the men watch from afar. Tom then privately shows Ed a coin that identifies him as a lawman. While Tom is in jail, Duke plots his escape, as does Alice, who offers to help break him out of jail that night. When Ed leaves to follow a phony tip about some rustlers, Duke and the boys go to break Tom out of jail, but overhear him talking to a Mexican official about capturing the band of rustlers. Driscoll, Duke's boss, who runs the outfit from Mexico, is not happy that Tom is calling himself the Pecos Kid because he himself is the real Kid. Jackson and Reed warn Tom when they learn the truth and eventually Driscoll and Tom have a confrontation, during which Driscoll is killed. With Driscoll out of the way, Tom goes looking for Duke and finally manages to handcuff and arrest him. With the smugglers now out of the way, Tom, Jackson and Reed are now free to dine with Alice.
Director
Robert Hill
Cast
Tom Keene
Eleanor Stewart
Leroy Mason
Walter Long
Frank Campeau
Jimmy Eagles
Harry Harvey
Glen Strange
Ed Cassidy
Ernie Adams
Tom London
Forest Taylor
Bud Osborne
Crew
Howard Dillinger
Scott R. Dunlap
Robert Emmett
Glen Glenn
E. R. Hickson
George E. Kann
Bert Longenecker
Abe Meyer
Edward M. Saeta
Robert Tansey
Herman Weber
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to a pre-production news item in Variety, Tom Keene "had a hand in scripting," but the exact nature of his input is not known. Lloyd Ingraham is listed in the cast on a Hollywood Reporter production chart, but his participation in the completed film has not been verified. Modern sources also include Jimmy Aubrey, Richard Cramer and Bob Kortman in the cast.
