The Big Trail (1930)

[Scott]

THE BIG TRAIL (1930) -  Well,  AMC showed this Saturday morning and I taped it. Watched it tonight and it is a good Western about going West escorting a wagon train. John Wayne sure is young. This is an epic film for 1930 with alot of wagons, extras, real Native Americans. The film even had some comic relief. The film is like another film called CIMARRON (1931) about going West.



Here is John Wayne in 1930 and 1976. That's 46 years of making Westerns.



They even made a Parker Bros. board game after the movie.





Post Edited (03-30-04 20:25)

[Deej]

We've spoken of this one before, and I mentioned my surprise that this wasn't the film that made John Wayne a huge star. Someone, I think Burgomaster, offered the reason for this movie's initial failure. Something to do with it being in an early widescreen format that was prohibitively expensive for theater owners to install, coming as it did, at the beginning of the sound era. At least that was my understanding of the explanation.

You nailed it, Scott, when you compared it to Cimarron. I've always felt the two were very similar, at least in scale and "Epic Vision". The Big Trail,IMO, is a very well produced and directed epic. My favorite bit is toward the end when the Duke is trailing the villain through the snowy woods, over the huge fallen trees. It's an indoor set, but well staged, and has a good eerie feel.

[Scott]

If you didn't tell me about  this film I may not have ever watched it. Well worth the look and the film is indeed in widescreen. Thanks for the initial info on this early Western Deej.



Post Edited (03-30-04 20:29)