Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer | |
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![]() Original film poster | |
Directed by | Albert C. Gannaway Ismael Rodríguez |
Screenplay by | Tom Hubbard John Patrick |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Jack Draper |
Edited by | Fernando Martínez |
Music by | Raúl Lavista |
Production company | Albert C. Gannaway Productions |
Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 76 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer is a 1956 American historical western adventure film co-produced and directed by Albert C. Gannaway and Ismael Rodríguez and starring Bruce Bennett, Lon Chaney Jr. and Faron Young. The film was shot in Trucolor in Mexico. It was released by Republic Pictures at the height of the Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier craze.
Set in 1775, during the American War of Independence, the settlement of Boonesborough, Kentucky, is besieged by both hostile Shawnee Indian tribes and the British. Frontiersman Daniel Boone and his family must fight for survival when overtures of peace fail and culminate in a frontal assault on the fort.
Albert C. Gannaway composed the music for three songs for the film, with lyrics by Hal Levy. [1]
Creighton Tull Chaney, known by his stage name Lon Chaney Jr., was an American actor known for playing Larry Talbot in the film The Wolf Man (1941) and its various crossovers, Count Alucard in Son of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), the Mummy in three pictures, and various other roles in many Universal horror films, including six films in their 1940s Inner Sanctum series, making him a horror icon. He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (1939) and played supporting parts in dozens of mainstream movies, including High Noon (1952), The Defiant Ones (1958), and numerous Westerns, musicals, comedies and dramas.
Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney was an American actor and makeup artist. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and afflicted, characters and for his groundbreaking artistry with makeup. Chaney was known for his starring roles in such silent horror films as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) and The Phantom of the Opera (1925). His ability to transform himself using makeup techniques that he developed earned him the nickname "The Man of a Thousand Faces".
Faron Young was an American country music producer, musician, and songwriter from the early 1950s into the mid-1980s. Hits including "If You Ain't Lovin' " and "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young" marked him as a honky-tonk singer in sound and personal style; and his chart-topping singles "Hello Walls" and "It's Four in the Morning" showed his versatility as a vocalist.
The Alligator People is a 1959 American CinemaScope science-fiction horror film directed by Roy Del Ruth. It stars Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett, and Lon Chaney Jr. This film was the penultimate feature directed by Del Ruth, and quite different from those of his days at Warner Bros.
Daniel Boone (1734–1820) was an American pioneer and hunter whose frontier exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States.
Pillow of Death is a 1945 noir-mystery horror film, and the sixth installment in The Inner Sanctum Mysteries anthological film series, which was based on the popular radio series of the same name. Directed by Wallace Fox and starring Lon Chaney Jr. and Brenda Joyce; it was the only entry in the series to dispense with the introduction by a disembodied head in a crystal ball, as well as the only one to feature comic-relief characters to alleviate the grim tone.
Riders of Death Valley is a 1941 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures. It was a high budget serial with an all-star cast led by Dick Foran and Buck Jones. Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor directed. It also features Lon Chaney Jr. in a supporting role as a villainous henchman as well as Noah Beery Jr., Charles Bickford, Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Monte Blue, Roy Barcroft, Richard Alexander and Glenn Strange.
Overland Mail is a 1942 American Western film serial from Universal Pictures which stars Lon Chaney Jr., Noah Beery Jr. and Noah Beery Sr. It was subsequently edited into a film version called The Indian Raiders in 1956.
Daredevil Jack is a 1920 American silent 15-chapter action film serial directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey and featuring Lon Chaney as a villain. The chapters were shown weekly between February and May 1920. The serial's working titles were Daredevil Durant or Dead or Alive. An incomplete copy of the film is housed in the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Bloodhounds of the North is a 1913 American silent short drama film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush, and Lon Chaney. The film is now considered lost. Some sources state the film was edited down to one reel and re-released theatrically in 1916 as Accusing Evidence, but this is disputed.
The Tragedy of Whispering Creek is a 1914 American silent short Western film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush, and Lon Chaney. Chaney expert Jon Mirsalis says Chaney also wrote the screenplay, based on a story by Elliott J. Clawson, but the Blake book says the film's director Allan Dwan wrote the screenplay himself. A print exists in the Deutsche Kinemathek film archive, making it Chaney's earliest surviving moving picture. A still exists which shows Chaney in his role as "The Greaser".
The Hopes of Blind Alley is a 1914 American silent drama film directed by Allan Dwan and featuring Murdock MacQuarrie, Pauline Bush and Lon Chaney. A still exists showing Lon Chaney as the Italian statuette vendor. The film is now considered to be lost.
Raiders of Old California is a 1957 American black-and-white Western film produced and directed by Albert C. Gannaway and starring Jim Davis, Arleen Whelan, and Faron Young.
A Scream in the Night is a 1934 American film directed by Fred C. Newmeyer and starring Lon Chaney Jr. It is not related to the 1919 silent film of the same name. The film was made in 1934, but had trouble finding a distributor. It was only theatrically released in 1943, after Chaney had already become a star.
Lucky Devils is a 1933 American Pre-Code action film about group of Hollywood stuntmen and their dangerous daredevil stunt work, starring William Boyd and Bruce Cabot, and features an early appearance by Lon Chaney Jr.
Black Spurs is a 1965 American Western film directed by R. G. Springsteen and written by Steve Fisher. The film stars Rory Calhoun, Linda Darnell, Terry Moore, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney Jr., James Best, Richard Arlen, Bruce Cabot and scenes with James Brown and DeForest Kelley. The film was released on June 25, 1965, by Paramount Pictures.
Town Tamer is a 1965 American Western film directed by Lesley Selander, written by Frank Gruber, and starring Dana Andrews, Terry Moore, Pat O'Brien, Lon Chaney Jr., Bruce Cabot, Lyle Bettger and Richard Arlen. It was released on July 7, 1965, by Paramount Pictures.
Hidden Guns is a 1956 American Western film directed by Albert C. Gannaway and written by Samuel Roeca and Albert C. Gannaway. The film stars Bruce Bennett, Richard Arlen, John Carradine, Faron Young, Lloyd Corrigan and Angie Dickinson. The film was released on January 30, 1956, by Republic Pictures.
Jacqueline Evans was a British-born Mexican film actress. Evans was born on 17 January 1914 in Islington, London. She made her first film appearance in the 1946 film Walking on Air in a minor role. Her first larger role came two years later when she played the part of Cassandra in the 1948 film Adventures of Casanova starring Arturo de Córdova. In 1950 Evans got her first leading role in the comedy/fantasy film Simbad el mareado. Evans is best known for playing the part of Rebecca Boone in the 1956 western Daniel Boone, Trail Blazer which starred Bruce Bennett. Evans last appearance was in the murder mystery Murder in Three Acts which was based on the book by Agatha Christie, Three Act Tragedy and saw Peter Ustinov take on the role of Hercule Poirot. On 22 June 1989 Evans died aged 75.
Albert C. Gannaway was an American film director, producer and screenwriter.