Fighting Caravans

Fighting Caravans is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film directed by Otto Brower and David Burton and starring Gary Cooper, Lili Damita, and Ernest Torrence. Based on the 1929 novel Fighting Caravans by Zane Grey, the film is about a young frontier scout who helps guide a freight wagon train across the country, fighting off Indians and evil traders, while his two crusty companions try to save him from falling in love. Although billed as being based on the Zane Grey novel, the stories have little in common. The film was actually written by Agnes Brand Leahy, Edward E. Paramore, Jr., and Keene Thompson. Fighting Caravans was remade just three years later as Wagon Wheels, a low-budget production employing extensive stock footage from Fighting Caravans and featuring Randolph Scott and Gail Patrick in the lead roles. Every character's name was changed in the remake except that of Clint Belmet, played by Cooper and Scott.