The Painted Desert man career. However, he would carry on as a character actor until his death in 1953. The film would be remade by RKO in 1938 as "Painted Desert", directed by David Howard, and starring George O'Brien, Laraine Johnson, and Ray Whitley. The film is notable for the superior cinematography of the Arizona desert by Edward Snyder. The Painted Desert The Painted Desert is a 1931 American pre-Code film released by Pathé Exchange. Produced by E. B. Derr, it was directed by Howard Higgin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Buckingham. It starred low-budget Western stars William Boyd (in his
Jedediah Smith in 1822. Smith led the first documented exploration from the Salt Lake frontier to the Colorado River. From there, Smith's party became the first United States citizens to cross the Mojave Desert into what is now the state of California but which at that time was part of Mexico. On the return journey, Smith and his companions were likewise the first U. S. citizens to explore and cross the Sierra Nevada and the treacherous Great Basin Desert. In the following year, Smith and his companions were the first U. S. explorers to travel north from California (on land) to reach