''The Trap'' is a 1966 British-Canadian

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Sidney Hayers Sidney Hayers (24 August 1921 – 8 February 2000) was a British film and television director, writer and producer. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hayers began his career as a film editor. Among the films he directed are '' Circus of Horrors'' (1 ...

. Shot in the wilderness of the Canadian province of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, for ...

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

and

Rita Tushingham Rita Tushingham (born 14 March 1942) is an English actress. She is known for her starring roles in films including ''A Taste of Honey'' (1961), ''The Leather Boys'' (1964), '' The Knack ...and How to Get It'' (1965), ''Doctor Zhivago'' (1965), ...

star in this unusual love story about a rough trapper and a mute orphan girl. The soundtrack was composed by Ron Goodwin and the main theme (''Main Titles to The Trap'') is familiar as the title music used by the BBC for

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically he ...

coverage. The film had its World Premiere on 15 September 1966 at the Leicester Square Theatre in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government build ...

Plot

French-Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

fur trapper Jean La Bête (

) paddles his canoe through wild water towards the settlement in order to sell a load of furs. At the settlement, a steamboat is landing and the trader and his foster-child Eve (

) arrive at the seaport to fetch mail and consumer goods. The trader explains to Eve that the ship brings "Jailbirds ... from the

east East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

" and that "their husbands-to-be had bailed them out and paid their fines and their passages with a guarantee of marriage". Later, the captain is auctioning one of those women because her husband-to-be has died in the meantime. Jean La Bête decides to take his chance to buy the wife but he makes his bid too late. Two Native Americans, Yellow Dog and No Name, have told the Trader that La Bête is dead. The Trader, heavily in debt, has spent money he owes La Bête so that when La Bête calls to collect his dues, the trader has to use own savings, to the fury of his wife. Next day, the trader's wife, to compensate for the loss of her savings, seizes the opportunity to offer her foster-child for a thousand dollars to the simple-minded, rough-cut trapper. She praises the qualities of the shy girl and explains, that her inability to speak is caused from the shock she suffered when she had to witness how her parents were barbarously murdered several years ago. La Bête finally agrees to buy the mute girl and takes her against her will into the wilderness of British Columbia. Here the strange couple starts a difficult relationship characterized by mistrust and Eve's fear and dislike of the trapper. Eve vehemently rejects the advances of the gruff trapper. La Bête takes her for hunting and acquaints her with the beauty and the dangers of the wilderness but here, as well, he fails to win her trust. Eve defends herself from his advances with a knife. One day, on checking his traps for caught animals, La Bête is threatened by a

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. ...

. He shoots the cat but inadvertently gets his foot into his own bear trap. Badly injured, he tries to drag himself back to his hut, hunted by famished wolves. Eve is waiting at the cabin and hears the distant howling of the wolves approaching the hut. She takes a gun and sets out in search for La Bête; together they can get rid of the wolf pack. La Bête's lower left leg is broken, so he asks Eve to bring the medicine man from the next Indian village, a two days trip away. The Canadian winter has already come, so Eve puts on her snowshoes and starts a long, arduous walk over snow-covered hilltops. She finally reaches the village only to find it deserted. Returning empty-handed, Eve finds La Bête already suffering from

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

(blood poisoning). Having no time to lose, he urges the terrified girl to immediately cut off his poisoned leg using an axe. After La Bête has stunned himself by gulping the last drop of rum, Eve acts as commanded and her patient instantly passes out from pain. Eve nurses the trapper and of necessity learns to hunt on her own and becomes capable of providing for the couple. Eventually, after La Bête learns to say 'please' to her and then thanks her for saving his life and declares he could not live without her, they become intimate. The morning after, Eve seems to regret her decision and leaves the cabin, holding a rifle against La Bête who follows her to the river, angry and perplexed. Eve flees in his canoe, leaving La Bête floundering in the shallows. Her journey is fraught and she is thrown from the canoe in white-water rapids. The empty canoe is found by native Americans and Eve is rescued, being taken to the settlement where other white people reside. Although welcome, she remains an outsider. The viewer is told that she remained in bed for two months and lost the child she was carrying. The settlers have arranged a marriage for her to a man who flirted with her early on in the film. Eve does not appear happy, however. On the day of marriage, her foster 'sister' and foster mother dress her whilst the 'sister' demands to know how she lived in the wild and if she killed La Bête. Eve runs away again finally to return to the man she has come to love, Jean La Bête. She arrives on the river beach and La Bête touches her face gently, then welcomes her home by telling her to clean the house! Eve smiles. In the last scene, she stands in the doorway and watches La Bête hobbling into the forest singing a song. Eve chops wood and carries it into the cabin.

Cast

as Eve *

as La Bete * Rex Sevenoaks as The Trader *

Barbara Chilcott Barbara Chilcott Davis (September 10, 1922 – January 1, 2022) was a Canadian actress. Career After the war she studied at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, making her West End debut in 1949. On her return to Canada in 1950, she ...

as Trader's Wife *

Linda Goranson Linda Goranson (born 1947 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian actress.Hugh Thomson, "Nude scene equals 750 phone calls". '' The Globe and Mail'', August 29, 1970. Career Linda Goranson is most noted for her performance in "The Spike in the Wal ...

as Trader's Daughter * Blaine Fairman as Clerk * Walter Marsh as Preacher * Joseph Golland as Baptiste (as Jo Golland) * Jon Granik as No Name * Merv Campone as Yellow Dog * Reg McReynolds as Captain (as Reginald McReynolds)

Production

Filming took place in autumn 1965 in Panorama Studios in

West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is to the northwest of the city of Vancouver on the northern side of English Ba ...

(it was one of the first films ever shot there). It resumed in 1966 in Scotland.

London Marathon theme tune

A tune from Goodwin's score for the film is used every year as the theme tune for the BBC's live coverage of the

, performed by the

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an English orchestra, founded in 1893 and originally based in Bournemouth. With a remit to serve the South and South West of England, the BSO is administratively based in the adjacent town of Poole, s ...

References

External links

* *
Photo gallery at Rita Tushingham fansite
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trap, The 1966 films 1960s adventure drama films 1966 romantic drama films 1966 Western (genre) films 1960s English-language films Northern (genre) films British independent films Canadian independent films English-language Canadian films Films set in British Columbia Films set in the 19th century Films shot in Vancouver Films shot in Scotland Canadian Western (genre) films British Western (genre) films Films directed by Sidney Hayers Films scored by Ron Goodwin 1960s Canadian films 1960s British films British romantic drama films Canadian romantic drama films