Introduction

Stretching across the northern rim of the San Fernando Valley in Southern California is the Santa Susana Mountain Range. From a distance, these mountains appear to be mainly chaparral dotted with rock outcroppings. However, a closer look reveals outcroppings of unique house-size sandstone boulders and hidden caves. Oak woodlands hug the canyons, and oat grasslands carpet the slopes.

This craggy mountain terrain was the backdrop for thousands of action shots in "B" Westerns filmed on the once-great Chatsworth movie location ranches. Today these ranches have been replaced by a freeway and housing subdivisions.

I hope you enjoy looking back at these gone, but not forgotten locations: Iverson Movie Location Ranch, Brandeis Movie Ranch, Corriganville Movie Ranch, Bell Moving Picture Ranch, Burro Flats, Spahn Ranch, Chatsworth Reservoir, and Chatsworth's depot, tunnels, and trains.
The photos in this book are from movie stills, lobby cards, and screen shots I've collected over the years. I apologize if some of the screen shots are a little fuzzy; they are the best resolution I can get, considering they were taken from moving film.

Before I describe Westerns filmed here, it's important to explain that not all of the movies listed in this work were filmed in their entirety in Chatsworth. However, movies identified in this book have had at least some portion lensed here. For example, Stagecoach (1939) credits 16 different locations, but only a few scenes were shot at the Iverson Ranch.

While my focus is on Western movies, other genre films--action, adventure, comedy, drama, fantasy, music, mystery, romance, science fiction, thriller, and war--have also used Chatsworth locations.

Some non-Westerns filmed in Chatsworth

Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Beau Geste (1926)
Jazz Singer, The (1927) - Al Jolson
Noah's Ark (1928)
Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) - Johnny Weissmuller/Maureen O'Sullivan
Wee Willie Winkie (1937) - Shirley Temple/Victor McLaglen
Good Earth, The (1937)
Grapes of Wrath, The (1940) - Henry Fonda
Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941)
Fighting Seabees, The (1944) - John Wayne/Susan Hayward
God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)
Superman (1948)
Batman and Robin (1949)
African Queen, The (1951) - Humphrey Bogart/Katharine Hepburn
Road to Bali (1952) - Bing Crosby/Bob Hope/Dorothy Lamour
Julius Caesar (1953) - Marlon Brando
Robe, The (1953) - Richard Burton/Jean Simmons/Victor Mature
Elephant Walk (1954) - Elizabeth Taylor/Dana Andrews
Harum Scarum (1965) - Elvis Presley
In Cold Blood (1967)

A few better-known early Westerns filmed here

Squaw Man, The (1914) - Dustin Farnum
Paleface, The (1922) - Buster Keaton
Covered Wagon, The (1923) - J. Warren Kerrigan
Iron Horse, The (1924) - George O'Brien
Gaucho, The (1927) - Douglas Fairbanks
In Old Arizona (1928) - Warner Baxter
Cisco Kid, The (1931) - Warner Baxter
Haunted Gold (1932) - John Wayne
Mystery Mountain (1934) - Ken Maynard
Annie Oakley (1935) - Barbara Stanwyck/Preston Foster
Miracle Rider, The (1935) - Tom Mix
Ghost Patrol (1936) - Tim McCoy
Oh, Susanna! (1936) - Gene Autry
Plainsman, The (1936) - Gary Cooper
Singing Cowboy, The (1936) - Gene Autry
Zorro Rides Again (1937) - James Vega
Lone Ranger, The (1938) - Lee Powell
Stranger from Arizona, The (1938) - Buck Jones
Days of Jesse James, The (1939) - Roy Rogers
Lone Ranger Rides Again, The (1939) - Robert Livingston
Oklahoma Kid, The (1939) - James Cagney
Stagecoach (1939) - John Wayne
Zorro Rides Again (1937) - James Vega
Zorro's Fighting Legion (1939) - Reed Hadley

Santa Susana Westerns and the Academy Awards

Nominated for Best Picture

o In Old Arizona (1928/29)
o Stagecoach (1939)
o High Noon (1952)
o Shane (1953)
o How the West Was Won (1963)

Won for Best Actor

o Warner Baxter - In Old Arizona (1929) as "The Cisco Kid"
o Gary Cooper - High Noon (1952) as "Will Kane"

Famous actors featured in Santa Susana Westerns

Alias Jesse James (1959) - Bob Hope/Rhonda Fleming
Along Came Jones (1945) - Gary Cooper/Loretta Young
Ambush (1949) - Robert Taylor
Annie Oakley (1935) - Barbara Stanwyck
Apache (1954) - Burt Lancaster
Blood on the Moon (1948) - Robert Mitchum
Broken Arrow (1950) - James Stewart
Broken Lance (1954) - Spencer Tracy
Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) - Ronald Reagan/Barbara Stanwyck
Duel in the Sun (1946) - Joseph Cotten/Gregory Peck
Escape from Fort Bravo (1953) - William Holden
Fancy Pants (1950) - Bob Hope/Lucille Ball
Fort Apache (1948) - John Wayne/Henry Fonda
Gaucho, The (1927) - Douglas Fairbanks
Gold Rush, The (1925) - Charles Chaplin
Grapes of Wrath, The (1940) - Henry Fonda
Harvey Girls, The (1946) - Judy Garland
High Noon (1952) - Gary Cooper
Hombre (1967) - Paul Newman
How the West Was Won (1962) - John Wayne/Henry Fonda/James Stewart
Johnny Concho (1956) - Frank Sinatra
Man from Colorado, The (1948) - Glen Ford/William Holden
Oklahoma Kid, The (1939) - James Cagney/Humphrey Bogart
Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943) - Henry Fonda/Dana Andrews/Anthony Quinn
Paleface, The (1922) - Buster Keaton
Pardners (1956) - Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis
Plainsman, The (1936) - Gary Cooper
Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942) - Bud Abbott/Lou Costello
Shane (1953) - Alan Ladd
Son of Paleface (1952) - Bob Hope/Jane Russell/Roy Rogers
Springfield Rifle (1952) - Gary Cooper
Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) - James Garner
Tennessee's Partner (1955) Ronald Reagan/John Payne
They Died with Their Boots On (1941) - Errol Flynn
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948) - Humphrey Bogart/Walter Huston/Tim Holt
Vengeance Valley (1951) - Burt Lancaster/Joanne Dru
Virginian, The (1929) - Gary Cooper
Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap, The (1947) - Bud Abbott/Lou Costello

Book: "Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas"

A photographic history of "B" Western movie location ranches in Chatsworth, California. More than 350 photos of scenes lensed in the Santa Susana Mountains.

Come ride with author Jerry England as he takes you on a photographic tour of famous Chatsworth area movie ranches.

Witness Tom Mix, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, John Wayne, Allan Lane, Bill Elliott, Charles Starrett, the Lone Ranger, Buster Crabbe, Tim McCoy, Lash LaRue, and many other six-gun heroes as they ride the pony trails of the gone, but not forgotten Iverson Movie Location Ranch, Brandeis Movie Ranch, Bell Moving Picture Ranch, Corriganville Movie Ranch, Spahn Ranch, and Burro Flats.

View action scenes filmed at Chatsworth's reservoir, train depot, and railroad tunnels. Then follow your favorite Hollywood cowboy through the western streets, outlaw shacks, stagecoach stops, and ranch houses you've seen in hundreds of "B" Westerns.

 $21.50 - paperback book 150 pages, 8.5" x 11"