The Painted Desert

The Painted Desert is a 1931 American PreCode film released by RKO Radio Pictures. Produced by E. B. Derr, it was directed by Howard Higgin, who also cowrote the screenplay with Tom Buckingham. It starred lowbudget Western stars William Boyd in his preHopalong Cassidy days and Helen Twelvetrees, and featured a young Clark Gable in his talking film debut. The picture was shot mostly on location in Arizona.

Years later the baby has now grown into a young man, Bill Holbrook William Boyd, who works with his adoptive father on their cattle ranch. Cashs erstwhile friend, Jeff, has remained in the area where the infant was found and has established his own ranch, centered on the water hole where the entire feud originally began, a feud which is still in full force. Jeff lives with his grown daughter, Mary Ellen Helen Twelvetrees. The feud escalates when Cash wants to use the water hole on Jeffs property to water his cattle. Jeff is ready to confront Cash in a standoff, preventing him from watering his cattle on the property Jeff has claimed, assisted by an itinerant cowboy, Rance Brett Clark Gable, who has been smitten with Mary Ellens beauty. The confrontation is temporarily avoided when Cashs herd unexpectedly stampedes.When Bill discovers tungsten on Jeffs property, he attempts to use it to close the division between his father and Jeff, however this only results in his father kicking him out. He turns to Jeff, and begins a mining operation, which actually has the opposite effect of Bills original intention, only exacerbating the tension between Jeff and Cash. Bill and Jeffs partnership also causes tension with Rance, since Mary Ellen now shows an interest in Bill. After a shipment of tungsten which was on its way to pay the loan they had taken out to develop the mine is waylaid, Bill works furiously with the minors to replace it with another load. He is successful. However, as he is celebrating the success of the mine, as well as his impending nuptials with Mary Ellen, the mine is sabotaged by a series of explosions. ........

Source: Wikipedia