Jefferson Glass

Legendary 20th Century Fox producer Darryl F. Zanuck recruited Paramount’s up-and-coming director Henry Hathaway to helm his 1940 epic, Brigham Young, Frontiersman. Hathaway reportedly replied, “The two dullest things [to make a movie about] are wagon trains and religion.” After Zanuck mentioned the film’s $2.7 million budget and stars Tyrone Power and Linda Darnell, Hathaway reconsidered. Image courtesy of IMDb. Eleanor Harris had written a compelling story about Brigham Young that was...

KANE COUNTY — When director Victor Adamson, also known as Denver Dixon, came to southern Utah in 1939 to film Mormon Conquest, he had more in mind than simply making another B-western. According to a July 14, 1939, front-page article in the Kane County Stan­dard, Adamson wrote and directed the film with two goals: telling a story inspired by the settlement of Kanab and showcasing the scenery surrounding it. A scene from the 1939 western Mormon Conquest, filmed in southern Utah and featuring...

After the success of The Plainsman at the box office, Paramount did not hesitate to spend 1.45 million dollars on Cecil B. DeMille’s next western epic, Union Pacific, released in 1939. Based on Ernest Haycox’s 1936 novel Trouble Shooter, the film explored the enormous task of building the transcontinental railroad during the late 1860s. DeMille and his producers loved filming in southern Utah’s varied topography, where they could shoot scenes of prairies, deserts, mountains and canyons within...