Although this film was re-released theatrically under its original title in 1950 by Favorite Films, when it was sold to television, the title was changed to 'Mark of the Avenger', most likely to protect theatrical re-release showings which were still in progress in some territories. It was first telecast in New York City Friday 29 January 1954 on WCBS (Channel 2), in Los Angeles Sunday 23 May 1954 on KNBH (Channel 4), and in Detroit Friday 16 July 1954 on WXYZ (Channel 7); in San Francisco it was first broadcast Wednesday 6 July 1955 on KPIX (Channel 5).
When it this film was nationally re-released in 1950 by Favorite Films, it was often shown in tandem with the re-release of The Light of Western Stars (1940).
The 20 Zane Grey stories sold by Paramount to Favorite Films for theatrical re-release, and then to Unity Television Corporation for television broadcast are as follows: The Light of Western Stars/Winning the West (1930), Fighting Caravans/Blazing Arrows (1931), Heritage of the Desert/When the West Was Young (1932), The Mysterious Rider/The Fighting Phantom (1933), The Thundering Herd/Buffalo Stampede (1933), Man of the Forest/Challenge of the Frontier (1933), To the Last Man/Law of Vengeance (1933), Wagon Wheels/Caravans West (1934), Rocky Mountain Mystery/The Fighting Westerner (1935), Drift Fence/Texas Desperadoes (1936), Desert Gold/Desert Storm (1936), The Arizona Raiders/Bad Men of Arizona (1936), Arizona Mahoney/Arizona Thunderbolt (1936), Forlorn River/River of Destiny (1937), Thunder Trail/Thunder Pass (1937), Born to the West/Hell Town (1937), The Mysterious Rider/Mark of the Avenger (1938), Heritage of the Desert/Heritage of the Plains (1939), Knights of the Range/Bad Men of Nevada (1940), and The Light of Western Stars/Border Renegade (1940).
This is one of 20 Zane Grey stories, filmed by Paramount in the 1930s, which they sold to Favorite Films for re-release, circa 1950-1952. The failure of Paramount, the original copyright holder, to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
Sidney Toler (Frosty) and Weldon Heyburn (Jack) both later appeared in Charlie Chan in the Chinese Cat (1944), with Sidney Toler portraying Charlie Chan.