Big Trail, The (1930)
Big Trail, The (1930), produced and directed by Raoul Walsh.
This epic western, an early talkie, was available in a shorter 35mm version for many years, until the 70mm Grandeur version was restored, coming in at 2h1m. Grandeur was a short-lived 2.10:1 widescreen format.
It is a spectacle, filmed all over the West. (I think I saw the Tetons used for several locations). Everything looks authentic and we have a vast array of wagons and livestock, a catastrophic river crossing and an astonishing scene of lowering everyone and everything down the side of a high cliff.
This last scene was improvised on the day. Walsh had the rope on hand and decided to use it.
John Wayne is 23 here. He had been in 21 previous films, mostly uncredited. He was a headliner throughout the 1930s but did not become a star until Stagecoach (1939).
In this story he will help the wagon train west because he is tracking the killers of a trapper friend. And he has come to admire a young woman of the expedition.
He's friendly with the Indians ("They taught me everything") but farther west tribes are gathering to stop the settlers. In a big battle the wagons are circled into a huge coral to protect the animals. With all the shooting some children cover their ears but others work the ramrods to charge the muzzle-loaders.
The romantic clutch in the final scene is among the redwoods.
Photographed by Arthur Edeson:
The image is a remarkable restoration from the one surviving 70mm Grandeur negative. We have some damage but it is often quite fine. I wouldn't expect anything better from 1930.
The sound is a more of a problem, that tinny pie-plate audio of early sound films. The actors have to "speak up" to be heard and this does not allow much subtlety.
Available on Blu-ray. Richard Schickel, who knew the director, provides his usual relaxed commentary track.
He points out the Walsh, who really was a tough guy, had a softer side without being as sentimental as his friend John Ford. He had worked all over the country when young and this film is like a love letter to the landscapes and expanses of the West.
