The Dawn Trail (1930)
Directed by Christy Cabanne
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Synopsis by Hans J. Wollstein
A fine early sound Western, this Buck Jones series entry from his Columbia period told the well-known story of a feud between cattle barons and sheep men. When Mart Denton (Charles Morton), son of a wealthy cattle man, kills a homesteader during a quarrel, Sheriff Larry Williams (Jones) faces a difficult dilemma. The sheriff is not only Mart's best friend but also engaged to the young man's sister, June (Miriam Seegar). But the law is the law and Mart is arrested. The angry cattlemen help the youngster escape and Larry is wounded. The escaped prisoner, however, is later killed by his own father (Erville Alderson) who mistakes him for one of the sheepherders. This final tragedy helps bring the old feud to a peaceful conclusion. Although the story was hardly new, The Dawn Trail was told forthrightly by veteran director W. Christy Cabanne who stretched realism over romance.
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Keywords
brother, cattlemen, confidence, conflict, courage, credibility, engineering, father, friendship, girl, girlfriend, hostility, investigation, justice, killing, murder, ranch, range, range-war, responsibility, sheepmen, sheriff, son, trail [path], truce, water
