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
Mu Us Sandyland name—for example, a map in Julia Lovell's book "The Great Wall: China Against the World 1000 BC–2000 AD" shows the Ordos Desert only in the portion of Inner Mongolia, which lies south of the Yellow River. Several research papers cited below claim that the Mu Us Sandy Land includes part of Shaanxi and Gansu. A clear delineation of the area is still needed here, based on multiple sources. The Mu Us Sandy Land of north central China lies at 37°30'–39°20'N,107°20'–111°30'E and covers 40,000 km. As part of the Ordos Plateau, the elevation ranges from 1,000m to 1,300m (as low as