The Painted Desert selected Higgin to direct the film, as well as naming the stars of the film, William Boyd and Dorothy Burgess. Later in the month it was reported that Higgin would head to Arizona to begin location scouting for the film, accompanied by fellow director, Tay Garnett, however in August Higgin began scouting in the Arizona desert with the screenwriter, Tom Buckingham. It was announced that the film would employ over 300 extras. Higgin was familiar with the area, having working in and around Flagstaff, Arizona as a lumberjack prior to his entering the film industry. Towards the end of August
In the Desert an interaction between a primary voice reporting an incident ("In the desert / I saw a creature, naked, bestial") and a second character representing a position which is perceived to be inferior. The primary speaker assumes a dominant role over the "creature". "In the Desert" also serves as an example of Crane's tendency to state universal truths, and this leads to Crane's use of abstraction. Though Crane has this tendency, his use of abstraction is tempered by his allegory and parable. Crane uses only two characters in a general form, the speaker and the creature, and both characters serve the