The Painted Desert in Arizona to finish the interior scenes on the studio lot in Hollywood. Ninety percent of the film was shot in Arizona, between the Painted Desert in Dinosaur Canyon, and Tuba City, Arizona, as well as a nearby Indian reservation. In mid-November it was reported that the recording portion of the film had been completed. Clarence Kolster edited the film during December 1930. By November, advertisements promoting the film were being released to the trade papers. Produced by Pathé Exchange, the film would become part of the RKO Radio Pictures library when they purchased the studio in March, after which
Painted Desert (Arizona) desert is composed of stratified layers of easily erodible siltstone, mudstone, and shale of the Triassic Chinle Formation. These fine grained rock layers contain abundant iron and manganese compounds which provide the pigments for the various colors of the region. Thin resistant lacustrine limestone layers and volcanic flows cap the mesas. Numerous layers of silicic volcanic ash occur in the Chinle and provide the silica for the petrified logs of the area. The erosion of these layers has resulted in the formation of the badlands topography of the region. In the southern portions of the desert the remains of a