The Painted Hills, also known as
Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush, is a 1951
action filmAction movies are a film genre wherein the story is largely told through physical action as opposed to dialogue. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero. While action has long been an element of films, the "Action film" as a genre of its own began to develop in the...
produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
(MGM) and directed by
Harold F. KressHarold F. Kress was an American film editor best known for the 1962 film How the West Was Won.-Biography:...
. Adapted by
True BoardmanTrue Boardman was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 137 films between 1911 and 1919.He was born in Oakland, California and died in Los Angeles, California...
from Alexander Hull's novel
Shep of the Painted Hills, the film stars
Paul KellyPaul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kelly began his career as a child actor in silent films at age 7, where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly before growing up to become a Broadway and film actor...
,
Ann DoranAnn Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
, and dog actor
PalPal was a male Rough Collie and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
(as "
LassieLassie is a fictional collie dog character and a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a talented dog...
") in a story about a collie named Shep who seeks revenge after his master is murdered.
The Painted Hills was the seventh, and final, MGM Lassie film released.
A prospector named Jonathan Harvey (
Paul KellyPaul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kelly began his career as a child actor in silent films at age 7, where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly before growing up to become a Broadway and film actor...
), whose faithful companion is a
rough collieThe Rough Collie is a breed of dog developed originally for herding in Scotland. It is also well known because of the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and was popularized in later generations by the Lassie novel, movies, and television shows...
named Shep, looks after the family of his late partner, Martha Blake (
Ann DoranAnn Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
) and her son Tommy (Gary Gray).
The Painted Hills, also known as
Lassie's Adventures in the Goldrush, is a 1951
action filmAction movies are a film genre wherein the story is largely told through physical action as opposed to dialogue. The action typically involves individual efforts on the part of the hero. While action has long been an element of films, the "Action film" as a genre of its own began to develop in the...
produced by
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B...
(MGM) and directed by
Harold F. KressHarold F. Kress was an American film editor best known for the 1962 film How the West Was Won.-Biography:...
. Adapted by
True BoardmanTrue Boardman was an American film actor of the silent era. He appeared in 137 films between 1911 and 1919.He was born in Oakland, California and died in Los Angeles, California...
from Alexander Hull's novel
Shep of the Painted Hills, the film stars
Paul KellyPaul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kelly began his career as a child actor in silent films at age 7, where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly before growing up to become a Broadway and film actor...
,
Ann DoranAnn Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
, and dog actor
PalPal was a male Rough Collie and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
(as "
LassieLassie is a fictional collie dog character and a stage name for several dog actors. The fictional character was created by Eric Knight in a short story expanded to novel length called Lassie Come-Home. Published in 1940, the novel was filmed by MGM in 1943 as Lassie Come Home with a talented dog...
") in a story about a collie named Shep who seeks revenge after his master is murdered.
The Painted Hills was the seventh, and final, MGM Lassie film released.
Plot
A prospector named Jonathan Harvey (
Paul KellyPaul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kelly began his career as a child actor in silent films at age 7, where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly before growing up to become a Broadway and film actor...
), whose faithful companion is a
rough collieThe Rough Collie is a breed of dog developed originally for herding in Scotland. It is also well known because of the works of author Albert Payson Terhune, and was popularized in later generations by the Lassie novel, movies, and television shows...
named Shep, looks after the family of his late partner, Martha Blake (
Ann DoranAnn Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
) and her son Tommy (Gary Gray). After years of digging in the hills of
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
(where the movie was shot), he finally strikes gold. However, before he can share it with the Blakes, his greedy partner Lin Taylor (
Bruce CowlingBruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
) kills Jonathan and attempts to lay claim on the gold. He poisons Shep, who nearly dies, and nearly kills Tommy, but ultimately Shep recovers and leads Lin into the mountains, where he falls off a cliff to his death.
Cast
- Pal
Pal was a male Rough Collie and the first in a line of such dogs to portray the fictional female collie Lassie in film and television. Pal was born in California in 1940 and eventually brought to the notice of Rudd Weatherwax, a Hollywood animal trainer. In 1943, the dog was chosen to play Lassie...
(credited as Lassie) as Shep
- Paul Kelly
Paul Michael Kelly was an American stage, film and television actor.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kelly began his career as a child actor in silent films at age 7, where he was billed as Master Paul Kelly before growing up to become a Broadway and film actor...
as Jonathan Harvey
- Bruce Cowling
Bruce Cowling was a film and television actor in the 1940s and 1950s. The Coweta, Oklahoma-born actor appeared in twenty films including Battleground and Cause for Alarm! .-External links:...
as Lin Taylor
- Gary Gray as Tommy Blake
- Ann Doran
Ann Lee Doran was an American character actress.-Early life and career:Born in Amarillo, Texas, Doran began acting at the age of four. She appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names to keep her father's family from finding out about her work...
as Martha Blake
- Art Smith
Art Smith was a movie actor known for playing supporting roles in the 1940s.The actor appeared in many black-and-white noirish films in supporting roles alongside more handsome and popular movie leads, such as John Garfield in Body and Soul and Humphrey Bogart in In a Lonely Place...
as Pilot Pete
- Andrea Virginia Lester as Mita
- Chief Yowlachie
Chief Yowlachie was a Native American actor from the Yakima tribe in Washington state, known for playing supporting roles and bit parts in numerous films....
as Bald Eagle
- Brown Jug Reynolds as Red Wing
Release
Along with seven other MGM films released the first half of 1951, the copyright on
The Painted Hills lapsed after MGM neglected to file the necessary renewal applications. As such, the film is now part of the
public domainThe public domain is a range of abstract materials—commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose...
and has been released to
VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
and
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
by a variety of companies.