The Spoilers (1942 film)

The Spoilers
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRay Enright
Screenplay byLawrence Hazard
Tom Reed
Based onThe Spoilers
1906 novel
by Rex Beach
Produced byFrank Lloyd
Lee Marcus
StarringMarlene Dietrich
Randolph Scott
John Wayne
CinematographyMilton R. Krasner
Edited byClarence Kolster
Music byHans J. Salter
Color processBlack and white
Production
companies
Frank Lloyd Productions
Charles K. Feldman Group
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • June 11, 1942 (1942-06-11)
Running time
87 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1.1 million (US rentals)[1]

The Spoilers is a 1942 American Western film directed by Ray Enright and starring Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott and John Wayne.

The Spoilers was adapted to screen by Lawrence Hazard from the 1906 Rex Beach novel of the same name. Film versions also appeared in 1914, in 1923 (with Noah Beery Sr. as McNamara and Anna Q. Nilsson as Malotte), in 1930 (with Gary Cooper as Glennister and Betty Compson as Malotte; this is the only time that Gary Cooper and John Wayne played the same role in two different films), and in 1955 (with Anne Baxter as Malotte, Jeff Chandler as Glennister and Rory Calhoun as McNamara).

Marlene Dietrich, Randolph Scott and John Wayne also appeared together that same year in a movie called Pittsburgh. Scott was billed above Wayne in both movies, even though Wayne's role was larger and more important in each, because he was under contract to Universal, whereas Wayne was borrowed from Republic. Dietrich and Wayne had also made the earlier film Seven Sinners together in 1940.

Bestselling poet Robert W. Service (not credited) plays The Poet, a fictionalized version of himself.[2]

The film was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction (John B. Goodman, Jack Otterson, Russell A. Gausman and Edward Ray Robinson).[3]

  1. ^ "101 Pix Gross in Millions" Variety 6 Jan 1943 p 58
  2. ^ "Extended Biography Archived June 2, 2019, at the Wayback Machine," RobertWService.com, July 21, 2003, 4. Web, Apr. 4, 2011
  3. ^ "NY Times: The Spoilers". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on October 17, 2012. Retrieved December 14, 2008.