Two cowboys strike gold but lose everything—except the barmaid who saw through the fake heiress all along.
Gold mining cowboy western romantic melodrama (based on the story by Zane Grey) about a pair of cowboys who find a gold mine in "Thunder Mountain", but have no money to develop it. One of the cowboys rescues a girl on a stagecoach and her grateful father agrees to finance them. Along the way, she pretends to fall in love with one of the cowboys. Thinking he is about to be very rich, he sets out, but upon arrival, he finds that a bad man has stolen the claim and started a town. There, everyone turns on him, including the girl, but luckily, another pretty girl, a barmaid (who is secretly in love with him), sticks by him, and he ends up in a climactic shootout on the mountain where the gold is stashed.
Acting
George O'Brien's earnest cowboy charm carries the whole damn picture.
Production
Zane Grey source material keeps the melodrama properly pulpy.
Director
David Howard
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was one of six Zane Grey adaptations George O'Brien starred in for Fox between 1934-1936—he was basically their cowboy franchise.
The 'grateful father finances the venture' plot was a Depression-era fantasy—audiences loved watching broke cowboys strike it rich without actual capital.
US
