Trail of the Hawk (1935-50)
Trail of the Hawk [Pride of the Triple X, The Hawk] (US 1935–50)
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Producers: Herman A. Wohl, John A. Conrad (?)
Writer: Griffin Jay, based on the story “The Coyote” by James Oliver Curwood
Cinematographer: Roland Price
Set dresser: F. Purdle
Music supervisor: Hal Chesnoff
Cast: Yancey Lane, Betty Jordan, Dickie Jones, Lafe McKee, Rollo Dix, Don Orlando, Marty Joyce, Edward Foster, Zandra
Production company: Affiliated Pictures Corp.
Sound, b/w, 53 min.
1950 re-release:
Director of additional footage: Ramblin’ Tommy Scott
Producers: J. D. Kendis, Tommy Scott
Additional cast: Ramblin’ Tommy Scott and His Talking Doll Luke McLuke, Frankie Scott, Baby Sandra Scott, Eddy Williams, Gaines Blevins
Production company: Scott Productions of Hollywood
Sound, b/w, 59 min.
English language
Print source: Brown Media Archives, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens
Here is one of the oddest movie mashups you’ll ever see: a 1950 re-release of Trail of the Hawk (1935), a B western that was Edward Dmytryk’s first directorial effort. This 1950 version cut in new scenes and musical performances starring Ramblin’ Tommy Scott, a country-western singer-songwriter/ventriloquist, and his traveling medicine show band that included his wife and daughter.
In the late 1940s, Georgia-born Tommy Scott had partnered with producer-distributor-exhibitor Alfred Sack who, with Tommy’s agent, thought a feature film would be good for Tommy’s career. Because of his busy schedule with the traveling show, it was difficult to take time off to make a feature, so Sack suggested they reuse a film he had purchased, Trail of the Hawk, and edit in Tommy and his ensemble as characters in the film, acting as a Greek chorus of sorts. The addition of a movie to his medicine show would create more of a draw, and a western fit right in with the country music of Tommy’s troupe. According to Tommy’s autobiography, Snake Oil, Superstars and Me, he bought the film from Sack for $1,250 outright, and for another $1,100—plus paying his band—he filmed their inserts in March 1950 at Jamieson Film Studios in Dallas. This “new” film had its premiere in North Hollywood and Film Daily called it a “good action western with the latest Hillbilly and sagebrush songs done in tip-top style,” and said “Scott’s dummy ‘Luke’ adds good humor to a strong yarn out of the routine class.” The film was exhibited in theaters through 1955, and in 1954 Sack distributed it to television.
The nitrate reels (along with home movies, music shorts, and videotapes) came to UGA’s Special Collections in 2017, and Tommy Scott’s personal print is a wonderful historical artifact in itself. It is printed on different stocks (1949 and 1950) and contains two different types of soundtrack: variable density on the original 1935 footage and multiple variable area for the added 1950 scenes. Its shrinkage is relatively low (0.75%), but, with multiple scratches and damaged perforations—a sign of active use—the print required a significant amount of repair work. —Margaret Compton