''The Baron of Arizona'' is a 1950 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Samuel Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made ou ...

and starring

Vincent Price Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...

and

Ellen Drew Ellen Drew (born Esther Loretta Ray; November 23, 1914 – December 3, 2003) was an American film actress. Early life Drew, born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1914, was the daughter of an Irish-born barber. She had a younger brother, Arden. Her ...

. The film concerns a master forger's attempted use of false documents to lay claim to the territory of Arizona late in the 19th century. It is based on the case of

James Reavis James Addison Reavis (May 10, 1843November 27, 1914), later using the name James Addison Peralta-Reavis, the so-called Baron of Arizona, was an American forger and fraudster. He is best known in association with the Peralta land grant, also kno ...

, whose scheme came close to success, but many of the film's details are fictionalized.

Plot

The notorious attempt by swindler James Reavis to claim the entire territory of

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

as his own before it was granted statehood in 1912 is recounted years later by John Griff, who works for the Department of the Interior. In 1872, Reavis went to great lengths to forge documents in Spain and create the illusion that he had a legal right to claim all of Arizona his own. He began by seeking out Pepito Alvarez to inquire about Sofia, an infant abandoned by Reavis many years before. Reavis decides to take Sofia home with him, hire governess Loma Morales to refine her, then marry her, using fabricated proof that identifies Sofia as the rightful "baroness" of Arizona. A suspicious U.S. government, unable to disprove Reavis' claim, offers him $25 million for the rights to the land. He declines. The surveyor general, Miller, is sure Reavis has somehow doctored the documents. He brings in Griff, an expert on forgery. In the meantime, Reavis orders settlers and families off "his" land. A displaced rancher, Lansing, tosses a bomb into Reavis' office. It still does not discourage him, so Pepito finally threatens to reveal that Sofia's parents were not Spanish land barons at all, but native Indians. Reavis is revealed as a charlatan. He manages to talk his way out of a lynching, but ends up behind bars. After serving time, he is released and reunited with Sofia ala horse carriage in the rain.

Cast

as James Reavis *

as Sofia *

Vladimir Sokoloff Vladimir Aleksandrovich Sokoloff (russian: Влади́мир Алекса́ндрович Соколо́в; December 26, 1889 – February 15, 1962) was a Russian-American character actor of stage and screen. After studying theatre in Moscow, ...

as Pepito *

Beulah Bondi Beulah Bondi (born Beulah Bondy; May 3, 1889 – January 11, 1981)According to the State of California. ''California Death Index, 1940–1997''. Center for Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. At ...

as Loma *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

as Griff *

Robert Barrat Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor. Early years Barratt was born on July 10, 1891, in New York City and was educated in the public schools there. He ...

as Judge (as Robert H. Barrat) * Robin Short as Lansing * Tina Pine as Rita (as Tina Rome) * Karen Kester as Sofia as a child *

Margia Dean Marguerite Louise Skliris-Alvarez ( Skliris; born April 7, 1922), known as Margia Dean, is an American former beauty queen and stage and screen actress of Greek descent, who had a successful career in Hollywood films during the 1940s until the e ...

as the Marquesa *

Jonathan Hale Jonathan Hale (born Jonathan Hatley; March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor. Life and career Hale was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Before his acting career, Hale worked in the Diplomatic C ...

as the Governor * Edward Keane as Miller *

Barbara Woodell Barbara Woodell (May 25, 1910 – January 16, 1997) was an American film and television actress, born in Lewistown, Illinois. Selected filmography * ''Lady, Let's Dance'' (1944) * '' The Mysterious Mr. Valentine'' (1946) * ''Carnegie Hall'' ...

as Mrs. Lansing * I. Stanford Jolley as Mr. Richardson *

Fred Kohler Jr. Fred Kohler Jr. (July 8, 1911 – January 7, 1993) was an American actor who performed in a number of Westerns such as '' The Pecos Kid'' and '' Toll of the Desert''. He played nearly 130 film and television roles between 1929 and 1978. Kohler ...

as Demmings * Tristram Coffin as McCleary * Gene Roth as Father Guardian *

Angelo Rossitto Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films oppo ...

as Angie – Gypsy (as Angelo Rosito) * Ed East as Hank * Joseph J. Greene as Mr. Gunther (as Joe Greene)

Production and release

Executive producer

Robert L. Lippert Robert Lenard Lippert (March 31, 1909 – November 16, 1976) was an American film producer and cinema chain owner. He was president and chief operating officer of Lippert Theatres, Affiliated Theatres and Transcontinental Theatres, all based in ...

allocated $100,000 to play the lead. Filming began August 20, 1949. Lippert spent $100,000 to promote the film. The film was shot in 15 days and a print is preserved by the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

. The film marks one of the earliest credits for

B-Movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feat ...

director

Ed Wood Edward Davis Wood Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and pulp novel author. In the 1950s, Wood directed several low-budget science fiction, crime and horror films that later became cult cla ...

, who worked on stunts. Rudolph Grey's "Nightmare of Ecstasy" states that Ed Wood worked as a stunt double in drag and falls off a moving coach. Having watched the film, the only logical person for him to double for is Ellen Drew in a scene toward the end of the movie, where she and Price are dragged from their coach by an angry mob.The Baron of Arizona (1950)-The Hunt for Edward D. Wood, Jr
/ref>

References

External links

* * * *

on

Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cine ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baron of Arizona, The 1950 films 1950 Western (genre) films 1950s historical films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films American historical films Biographical films about people of the American Old West Films directed by Samuel Fuller Films scored by Paul Dunlap Films set in Arizona Films set in the 1870s Films set in the 1880s Films set in the 1890s Films set in the 1910s Lippert Pictures films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films