The Painted Hills
About The Painted Hills
Jonathan Harvey strikes gold in the California hills and comes back to tell his partner, Frank Blake, who has died of pneumonia. Frank’s widow Martha and son Tommy have been leaning on a newcomer, Lin Taylor, whom Frank made a partner. Jonathan gives his collie Shep to Tommy, then returns to the claim. Lin kills him for the gold, poisons Shep, and nearly kills Tommy. Shep lives, and leads Lin into the mountains, where Lin falls from a cliff.
Cast & crew
More about The Painted Hills
Harold F. Kress directed the seventh and last Lassie feature from MGM. True Boardman adapted Alexander Hull’s 1930 novel Shep of the Painted Hills. Pal plays Shep and is credited as Lassie. Nipo T. Strongheart was technical advisor and worked with the Miwok cast.
Themes
Background
MGM had been releasing Lassie features since Lassie Come Home in 1943. This one closed the series.
Making
Kenneth Bennett and Chester M. Franklin produced. Jonathan tells Lin he has already panned more than $6,000 and is working upstream toward what he thinks is the mother lode. That is the claim Lin wants alone.
Reviews
Edwin Schallert, in the Los Angeles Times, wrote that the film would compensate viewers who already counted Lassie as one of the more interesting things on the screen.
Audiences
The Comedy Central riff in 1993 put the picture in front of a later audience. Shout! Factory included that episode in Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXXI: The Turkey Day Collection, issued November 25, 2014.
Look
Alfred Gilks and Harold Lipstein photographed the film.
Music
Daniele Amfitheatrof wrote the score. In 2010 Film Score Monthly put it on disc 5 of Lassie Come Home: The Canine Cinema Collection, a 1,000-copy set of the seven MGM Lassie scores. The cue sheet runs 47 minutes 37 seconds. The label said nearly half the masters were gone and the music was rebuilt from what survived.
Preservation
The copyright lapsed when MGM missed the 1979 renewal. Prints have circulated since as public-domain copies, including on the Internet Archive.
Notes
- Another title used for the picture is Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush.
- The American Film Institute lists a Los Angeles opening on April 21, 1951, and a release date of May 4, 1951.
- Chief Yowlachie plays Bald Eagle. Art Smith plays Pilot Pete. Andrea Virginia Lester plays Mita.
- Shep is written as a rough collie and a descendant of Lassie, not as Lassie herself.
- Mystery Science Theater 3000 riffed the film as episode 510, first shown on Comedy Central on September 26, 1993.
- MGM did not renew the copyright in 1979, and the film went into the public domain.
Scenes
- Jonathan gives Shep to Tommy after Frank Blake’s death.
- Lin poisons the dog, and Shep nearly dies.
- Shep leads Lin into the mountains and Lin goes off a cliff.
Influenced by
- Alexander Hull's novel Shep of the Painted Hills (1930)
- Lassie Come Home (1943)
Also available
- Internet Archive (ThePaintedHills)
- Shout! Factory DVD, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Volume XXXI (2014, episode 510)