This grand epic of a western made in 1930 features the struggles of early 19th century pioneers to cross the western plains to Oregon.
--Randy
Big Trail, The
Directors: Raoul Walsh
Producers: n/a
Writers: Hal G. Evarts
Features: Full Frame, English Stereo, English Mono, Spanish Mono, English Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles And Three Threatrical John Wayne Trailers.
Characters:
Breck Coleman...John Wayne
Ruth Cameron...Marguerite Churchill
Red Flack, Wagon Boss...Tyrone Power, Sr.
Gussie...El Brendel
Zeke...Tully Marshall
Pa Bascom...Frederick Burton
Sid Bascom...Ward Bond
Bill Thorpe...Ian Keith
Lopez...Charlie Stevens
Indian...Iron Eyes Cody
Genre: Western
Review:
"The Big Trail" is a movie bigger than John Wayne. This black and white film made in 1930 and directed by Raoul Walsh depicts the early 19th century struggle of pioneers trying to cross the western plains from the Mississippi River. John Wayne in his first feature plays Breck Coleman, a wagon train scout.
The costumes and characters in "The Big Trail" appear very authentic. Aside from John Wayne and Marguerite Churchill, who plays Wayne's love interest Ruth Cameron, the rest of the cast looks like they could have been scrounged from underneath rocks or fallen timber. There are not many movie star physiques or unbroken smiles depicted. The early year of this film's production probably helped in obtaining such authentic looking garb as many designs were still in the memory of the costume designers. The wagons used are Conestaga wagons. These covered wagons were much longer than the wagons most modern day viewers are used to seeing in westerns.
"The Big Trail" starts out at a Mississippi landing as hundreds of settlers are disembarking riverboats and getting ready to start the next phase of a long journey to the west via covered wagon. Breck Coleman is asked by Pa Bascom(Frederick Burton) to be a buffalo scout for the wagon train. Breck turns him down as he is only interested at this time in finding the killers of a friend of his, Ben Grizzle, who had also been robbed of his wolf pelts. Later as Breck is again telling the story of the killing to his friend, Zeke(Tully Marshall), a large bear of a man standing nearby takes a sharp interest. His eyes and Breck's meet in a mutual look of dislike. Shortly, the huge man shuffles off and meets a Mexican named Lopez(Charles Stevens). They talk and look at Breck and then the big man throws down a piece of wood he had been chewing as they both leave. Breck walks over to retrieve the piece of wood and pulls another just like it from his jacket. There is a flashback as Breck clad in buckskin and a coon hat picks up a partly chewed stick from the scene of Ben Grizzle's murder. Breck snaps back to the present and asks Zeke who the big man is. Zeke tells him that he is Red Flack(Tyrone Power,Sr.), the wagon master of Pa Bascom's wagon train. Breck finds Bascom and takes him up on his earlier offer. When Red Flack finds out who the scout is he is only to happy to give refuge to a gunslinger on the run named Bill Thorpe(Ian Keith). In the meantime, Bill Thorpe has been making romantic overtures to Ruth, who has now met Breck under not too friendly of circumstances. As the train of prairie schooners makes its' journey all these factions criss cross each other, some with deadly results.
This was John Wayne's first feature film as the director, Raoul Walsh, had seen him as Duke Morrison, a propman and promptly gave him the lead. As Wayne was never known in his lifetime as a great actor, his first attempt at acting amounts to boyishly awkward. At any moment, it seems he will break out in a "Aw, shucks." Since dialog is kept to a minimum, he gets by with his tall movie star looks. His hair is longer than in most of his movies, so at times, with his lean muscular build he looks like a young Tarzan in buckskin. Marguerite Churchill as Wayne's leading lady has a gypsy beauty. She has dark eyes and skin. This was to be her only film as "The Big Trail" was never appreciated in its' own time. She also had to be protected from Tyrone Power, Sr. He was intent with having his way with her and Raoul Walsh had to hire some men to beat him up badly to get him to behave himself. A huge, evil looking man, Power, Sr. could easily have been cast as Popeye's arch nemesis, Blutto, with no makeup needed. When Breck finally metes out justice to Red Flack, it is understandable why hand to hand combat was never considered.
The scenery is the main asset of this movie. The quality of the print used in the DVD of "The Big Trail" is very clear so the attention to detail can be appreciated. Sunrises and sunsets, though in black and white are gorgeous. The scenes of covered wagons and livestock being lowered down the steep cliffs of the Grand Canyon are spectacular. The film was shot in 70mm widescreen, but could only be shown at specially equipped venues. The full screen size in this DVD was considered the original or regular print since that was what was seen in most theaters. Confusing, but it somehow makes sense.
The sound at times sounds garbled. This is especially true in large scenes as Raoul Walsh has tried to include a canvas of people in his shots with background noise to give it a more real texture. Sound had only come into vogue three years earlier.
Despite the small sound problems, this movie is worth watching. I would give it four out of five stars.
----Randy