The Big Trail (1930)
Country: US
Technical: bw/1.20:1 125m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr
Synopsis:
A wagon trail leaves the banks of the Mississippi bound for Oregon, and an Indian trader on a vendetta tags along as scout.
Review:
The two narratives are nicely sewn together in this doubly pioneering early sound western; there is even a card sharp competing for the affections of the well-born damsel down on her luck, and of course the killer quarry is also very much on hand. Walsh showed you could shoot a big outdoor picture and still have audible dialogue and good sound effects; Wayne does astonishingly well for such an early film, but the poor box office set his career back a few years. Despite the film's length it manages not to be one of those interminable trekking narratives, with dramatic episodes such as a river crossing and buffalo hunt neatly dovetailed with the foreground action of Coleman and the badmen. The final shot among the giant sequoias, ending on a seemingly interminable pan upwards, is a fitting conclusion for what is essentially a paean to America's geographic greatness. An essential western.
Country: US
Technical: bw/1.20:1 125m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr
Synopsis:
A wagon trail leaves the banks of the Mississippi bound for Oregon, and an Indian trader on a vendetta tags along as scout.
Review:
The two narratives are nicely sewn together in this doubly pioneering early sound western; there is even a card sharp competing for the affections of the well-born damsel down on her luck, and of course the killer quarry is also very much on hand. Walsh showed you could shoot a big outdoor picture and still have audible dialogue and good sound effects; Wayne does astonishingly well for such an early film, but the poor box office set his career back a few years. Despite the film's length it manages not to be one of those interminable trekking narratives, with dramatic episodes such as a river crossing and buffalo hunt neatly dovetailed with the foreground action of Coleman and the badmen. The final shot among the giant sequoias, ending on a seemingly interminable pan upwards, is a fitting conclusion for what is essentially a paean to America's geographic greatness. An essential western.
Country: US
Technical: bw/1.20:1 125m
Director: Raoul Walsh
Cast: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr
Synopsis:
A wagon trail leaves the banks of the Mississippi bound for Oregon, and an Indian trader on a vendetta tags along as scout.
Review:
The two narratives are nicely sewn together in this doubly pioneering early sound western; there is even a card sharp competing for the affections of the well-born damsel down on her luck, and of course the killer quarry is also very much on hand. Walsh showed you could shoot a big outdoor picture and still have audible dialogue and good sound effects; Wayne does astonishingly well for such an early film, but the poor box office set his career back a few years. Despite the film's length it manages not to be one of those interminable trekking narratives, with dramatic episodes such as a river crossing and buffalo hunt neatly dovetailed with the foreground action of Coleman and the badmen. The final shot among the giant sequoias, ending on a seemingly interminable pan upwards, is a fitting conclusion for what is essentially a paean to America's geographic greatness. An essential western.