This was the first of many films that John Ford filmed in Monument Valley, Utah. Others were: My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), Wagon Master (1950), Rio Grande (1950), The Searchers (1956), Sergeant Rutledge (1960) and his last western, Cheyenne Autumn (1964). In 1939 there was no paved road through Monument Valley, hence the reason why it hadn't been used as a movie location before. (It wasn't paved until the 50s.) Harry Goulding, who ran a trading post there, had heard that John Ford was planning a big budget Western so he traveled to Hollywood, armed with over 100 photographs, and threatened to camp out on Ford's doorstep until the director saw him. Ford saw him almost immediately and was instantly sold on the location. Particularly when he realized that its remoteness would free him of studio interference.
スタジオの干渉を排する狙いもあった。
馬からの転落シーンがすばらしいと思ったら・・・ A device known as a "Running W" was used during the sequence where the Indians are chasing the stagecoach. Strong, thin wires are fixed to a metal post, then the other end of the wires are attached to the legs of a horse, and the post is anchored into the ground.
The horse is then ridden at full gallop, and when the wire's maximum length is reached--just when the rider is "shot"--the legs of the horse are jerked out from underneath it, causing it to tumble violently and throw the "shot" rider off.
The trouble was that the rider knew when the horse was going to fall but the horse didn't, resulting in many horses having to be destroyed because of broken limbs incurred during the falls.
The use of the "Running W" was eventually discontinued after many complaints from both inside and outside the film industry.