The Spoilers (1930 film)
| The Spoilers | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Edwin Carewe |
| Produced by | Edwin Carewe |
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| Based on |
The Spoilers (novel) by Rex Beach |
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Production
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| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Spoilers is a 1930 American Pre-Code Western film directed by Edwin Carewe and starring Gary Cooper, Kay Johnson, and Betty Compson. Set in Nome, Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush, the film is about a gold prospector and a corrupt Alaska politician who fight for control over a gold mine. The film features a spectacular saloon fistfight between Cooper and William "Stage" Boyd.
The Spoilers was adapted to screen by Bartlett Cormack from the 1906 Rex Beach novel of the same name. Film versions also appeared in 1914, 1923 (with Noah Beery as McNamara), 1942 (with John Wayne in Gary Cooper's role of Glennister, Marlene Dietrich replacing Compson, whom she resembled, as Malotte, and Randolph Scott as McNamara), and 1955 (with Anne Baxter as Malotte, Jeff Chandler as Glennister, and Rory Calhoun as McNamara). The 1930 and 1942 versions were the only instance of Gary Cooper and John Wayne playing exactly the same role in the same story in two different films.
While traveling to Nome, Alaska, Roy Glenister (Gary Cooper) meets beautiful Helen Chester (Kay Johnson), who soon becomes his sweetheart. Glenister is one of several owners of a lucrative mine called The Midas. When he arrives in Nome, he discovers that his partners, Slapjack Simms (Slim Summerville) and Joe Dextry (James Kirkwood), are in the middle of a legal dispute with three corrupt officials: United States Marshal Voorhees (Jack Holmes), Judge Stillman (Lloyd Ingraham), and a politician named Alec McNamara (William "Stage" Boyd ). They have been engaged in a racket claiming titles to various mines, ejecting the miners, and then making McNamara owner of the disputed properties.
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Wikipedia