Independent producer Herman Wohl hired Paramount film editor Edward Dmytryk to direct this 1935 western, marking Dmytryk's first directing job. It was reissued in 1937 by another independent producer, J.D. Kendis, as a Jay Dee Kay Production and with the title changed to "The Trail of the Hawk". Until 1937 it was known as "The Hawk". To confuse matters even further, it was acquired in 1949 by Ramblin' Tommy Scott, a touring tent show proprietor covering most of the southeastern and southwestern United States, and he had some footage shot of himself, his talking doll Luke McLuke and family members Sandra Scott and Frankie Scott performing some musical numbers and inserted that into the footage of the original, taking care to now show it, via a new pressbook and posters, starring himself and his relatives. The film was then presented at grindhouse theatres across the country where Scott and his troupe appeared live on stage before and between showings. Scott and his traveling vaudeville show stayed on the road for three more decades presenting their version of the old-time medicine show, and he employed such veteran western actors as Tim McCoy and Sunset Carson as part of his troupe.
Shot in five days.
This film received its earliest documented telecasts in New York City Wednesday 3 November 1948 on WATV (Channel 13), and in Philadelphia Friday 11 November 1949 on WFIL (Channel 6).