''The Big Trail'' is a 1930 American

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film defined by the spectacular presentation of human drama on a grandiose scale Epic(s) ...

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship gui ...

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 ...

early widescreen film shot on location across the

American West The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is census regions United States Census Bureau As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the mea ...

starring 23-year-old

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

in his first leading role and directed by

Raoul Walsh Raoul Walsh (born Albert Edward Walsh; March 11, 1887December 31, 1980) was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent cinema actor George Walsh. He wa ...

. It is the final completed film to feature Tyrone Power Sr. before his death in 1931, as well as his only sound role. In 2006, the United States

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

deemed this film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and selected it for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...

, saying "the plot of a trek along the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

is aided immensely by the majestic sweep provided by the experimental 70mm Grandeur wide-screen process used in filming".

Plot

A large caravan of settlers attempt to cross the Western United States on the

. Breck Coleman is a young trapper who just got back to Missouri from his travels near Santa Fe, seeking to avenge the death of an old trapper friend who was killed the winter before along the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, the ...

for his furs, by Red Flack and his minion Lopez. At a large trading post owned by a man named Wellmore, Coleman sees Flack and suspects him right away as being one of the killers. Flack likewise suspects Coleman as being somebody who knows too much about the killing. Coleman is asked by a large group of settlers to scout their caravan west, and declines, until he learns that Flack and Lopez were just hired by Wellmore to boss a bull train along the as-yet-unblazed Oregon Trail to a trading post in northern Oregon Territory (which at the time extended into current British Columbia), owned by another Missouri fur trader. Coleman agrees to scout for the train, so he can keep an eye on the villains and kill them as soon as they reach their destination. The caravan of settlers in their

covered wagon A covered wagon, also called a prairie wagon, whitetop, or prairie schooner, is a horse-drawn or ox-drawn wagon used for passengers or freight hauling. It has a canvas, tarpaulin, or waterproof sheet which is stretched over removable wooden ...

s follow Wellmore's ox-drawn train of

Conestoga wagon The Conestoga wagon, also simply known as the Conestoga, is a horse-drawn freight wagon that was used exclusively in North America, primarily the United States, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Such wagons were probably first used by Pennsylvania ...

s, as the first major group of settlers to move west on the Oregon Trail. Along the way the wagon train is attacked by a horde of

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

Indians on horseback, wearing headdresses. Coleman finds love with young Ruth Cameron, whom he'd kissed accidentally, mistaking her for somebody else. Unwilling to accept her attraction toward him, Ruth gets rather close to a gambler acquaintance of Flack's, who joined the trail after being caught cheating. Coleman and Flack have to lead the settlers west, while Flack does everything he can to have Coleman killed before he finds any proof of what he'd done. The three villains' main reason for going west is to avoid the hangman's noose for previous crimes, and all three receive frontier justice instead. The settlers trail ends in an unnamed valley, where Coleman and Ruth finally settle down together amidst giant redwoods.

Cast

as Breck Coleman * Marguerite Churchill as Ruth Cameron *

El Brendel Elmer Goodfellow "El" Brendel (March 25, 1890 – April 9, 1964) was an American vaudeville comedian turned movie star, best remembered for his dialect routine as a Swedish immigrant. His biggest role was as "Single-0" in the sci-fi musical ' ...

as Gus *

Tully Marshall Tully Marshall (born William Phillips; April 10, 1864 – March 10, 1943) was an American character actor. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience before his debut film appearance in 1914 which led to a film career spanning alm ...

as Zeke * Tyrone Power Sr. as Red Flack (as Tyrone Power) * David Rollins as Dave Cameron * Frederick Burton as Pa Bascom *

Ian Keith Ian Keith (born Keith Ross; February 27, 1899 – March 26, 1960) was an American actor. Early years Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Keith grew up in Chicago. He was educated at the Francis Parker School there and played Hamlet in a school pr ...

as Bill Thorpe * Charles Stevens as Lopez *

Ward Bond Wardell Edwin Bond (April 9, 1903 – November 5, 1960) was an American character actor who appeared in more than 200 films and starred in the NBC television series ''Wagon Train'' from 1957 to 1960. Among his best-remembered roles are Bert th ...

as Sid Bascom *

Louise Carver Louise Carver (June 9, 1869 – June 19, 1956) was an American actress who performed in grand opera, stage, nickelodeon, and motion pictures. Early years and career Born Mary Louise Steiger in Davenport, Iowa, she was the daughter of Mr. and M ...

as Gus's mother-in-law *

Russ Powell Russ Powell (September 16, 1875 – November 28, 1950) was an American film actor. He appeared in 186 films between 1915 and 1943. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and died in Los Angeles, California. Selected filmography * ''The Fas ...

as Windy Bill * William V. Mong as Wellmore

Pre-production

Reputedly (the claim is unconfirmed) the initial script, then called "The Oregon Trail", was first offered to director

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

who then passed it on to his friend

. For the film, Walsh employed 93 actors and used as many as 725 natives from five different Indian tribes. He also obtained 185 wagons, 1,800 cows, 1,400 horses, 500 buffalos and 700 chickens, pigs and dogs for the production of the film.

Production

The shoot lasted from April 20 to August 20, 1930, and was filmed in seven states. The film was shot in an early

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

process called

70 mm Grandeur film 70 mm Grandeur film, also called Fox Grandeur or Grandeur 70, is a 70 mm widescreen film format developed by William Fox through his Fox Film and Fox-Case corporations and used commercially on a small but successful scale in 1929–30. Hist ...

, which was first used in the film ''

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 ''Fox Movietone Follies of 1929'', also known as ''Movietone Follies of 1929'' and ''The William Fox Movietone Follies of 1929'', is an American sound ( All-Talking) Pre-Code musical film released by Fox Film Corporation. This lavishly produced ...

''. Grandeur was used by the

Fox Film Corporation The Fox Film Corporation (also known as Fox Studios) was an American independent company that produced motion pictures and was formed in 1914 by the theater "chain" pioneer William Fox (producer), William Fox. It was the corporate successor to ...

for a handful of films released in 1929 and 1930, of which ''The Big Trail'' was the last. Grandeur proved financially nonviable for an industry still investing in the switch to talking pictures. The scene of the wagon train drive across the country was pioneering in its use of camera work and the depth and view of the epic landscape. An effort was made to lend authenticity to the movie, with the wagons drawn by

oxen An ox (: oxen), also known as a bullock (in BrE, British, AusE, Australian, and IndE, Indian English), is a large bovine, trained and used as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castration, castrated adult male cattle, because castration i ...

instead of horses – they were lowered by ropes down canyons when necessary for certain shots in narrow valleys. Tyrone Power Sr.'s character's clothing looks realistically grimy, and even the food supplies the 'immigrants' carried with them in their wagons were thoroughly researched. Locations in five states, starting from New Mexico to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, were used to film the caravan's trek. The final scenes filmed on location were a buffalo stampede filmed near Moiese, Montana.

Release and reception

The Big Trail lobby card (title card).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (2).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (3).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (4).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (5).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (6).jpg, The Big Trail lobby card (7).jpg, After shooting, the film was previewed to select audiences and generally released in October 1930. "Often the scenes" in the film, wrote

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' "cause one to marvel at their naturalness and beauty. It has a thunderstorm that looks as real as the land, water and sky that confront one throughout this production". According to Hall, in one sequence, featuring a native American attack, "suddenly it seems as though one were tugged from one's seat and thrown in front of the charging horses, which appear to plunge from the screen and disappear into the velvety darkness of the theatre". After the box-office failure of the film due to the Depression stopping theatres from investing in widescreen technology, Wayne was only cast in low-budget serials and features (mostly Poverty Row

s); although his name was billed above the title in dozens of movies in the 1930s. He enjoyed a large following, especially in the South, but it took Wayne's role in ''

Stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

'' (1939) for him to become a mainstream performer again.

The two versions

Beyond the format difference, the 70mm and 35mm versions vary substantially from each other. They were shot by different cameras, and footage for each format was edited separately in the cutting room. Some scenes were shot simultaneously by both cameras, the only difference being the angle (with the better angle usually given to the 70mm camera). Some scenes were shot first by one camera, and then retaken with the other camera. The 70mm cameras could not focus well up close, so their shots were mainly panoramas with very few close-ups. The 35mm cameras could move in and focus at short distances. Thus, scenes in the 70mm version might show two characters talking to each other in the same take, making greater use of the widescreen frame, while the 35mm version would have close-up shots cutting back and forth between the two characters. This may have been an artistic choice as much as a technical one. The cinematographer responsible for the 70mm version of the picture,

Arthur Edeson Arthur Edeson, A.S.C. (October 24, 1891 – February 14, 1970) was an American cinematographer. Born in New York City, his career ran from the formative years of the film industry in New York, through the silent era in Hollywood, and the sound er ...

, wrote in the September 1930 issue of ''

American Cinematographer The American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), founded in Hollywood in 1919, is a cultural, educational, and professional organization that is neither a labor union nor a guild. The society was organized to advance the science and art of cinem ...

'': "Grandeur reduces the number of close-ups considerably, as the figures are so much larger that semi-close-ups are usually all that is needed".

Critics views

As of 2025,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gives the film a 100% rating.

Preservation and re-release

A neglected film for many years, it was only seen in the conventional 35mm version for decades. In the early 1980s, the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which held the original 70mm

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the chemical formula . salt (chemistry), Salts containing this ion are called nitrates. Nitrates are common components of fertilizers and explosives. Almost all inorganic nitrates are solubility, soluble in wa ...

camera negative, wished to preserve the film but found that nitrate decomposition had left it too shrunken and fragile to be copied to

safety film Cellulose acetate film, or safety film, is used in photography as a base material for photographic emulsions. It was introduced in the early 20th century by film manufacturers and intended as a safe film base replacement for unstable and highly f ...

, and that no film lab would touch it. Over a year-long project, Karl Malkames, a specialist in film restoration technology, designed and built a special printer to preserve this version of the film. The image on the original negative was transferred to a 35mm

anamorphic Anamorphic format is a cinematography technique that captures widescreen images using recording media with narrower native Aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios. Originally developed for 35 mm movie film, 35 mm film to create widescreen pres ...

master.

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

wrote for the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' in 1988: "The added richness of resolution and the silvery sheen that the first generation 70 mm. nitrate prints would have provided can only be imagined. And yet, ''The Big Trail'' remains an eye-popping experience".

Home media

The 70mm version was finally seen on

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

in the late 1990s. The 35mm version had been released to

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

previously for several years. A two-disc restored DVD was released in the U.S. on May 13, 2008, featuring the 35 and 70-millimeter versions. A

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

edition featuring the 70-millimeter version was released in September 2012. The film's copyright was renewed, so the film will not be in the public domain until 2026.

Foreign-language versions

A fairly common practice in the early sound era was to simultaneously produce at least one

foreign-language version A multiple-language version film (often abbreviated to MLV) or foreign language version is a film, especially from the early talkie era, produced in several different languages for international markets. To offset the marketing restrictions of ma ...

of a film for release in non-English-speaking countries; an approach later replaced by simply

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

the dialogue. There were at least four foreign-language versions made of ''The Big Trail'', all filmed in 35mm, 1.20:1 ratio and using different casts and different character names: * French: '' La Piste des géants'' (1931), directed by

Pierre Couderc Pierre Couderc (18 November 1896 – 6 October 1966) was a French screenwriter, actor, acrobat, and film producer. He wrote for 34 films between 1925 and 1930. He also appeared in ten films between 1914 and 1934. He was born in Paris, Franc ...

, starring

Gaston Glass Gaston Glass (born Jacques Gaston Oscar Glass; December 31, 1899 – November 11, 1965) was a French-American actor and film producer. He was the father of the composer Paul Glass (born 1934). Selected filmography * ''The Corsican Brothers ...

''(Pierre Calmine),''

Jeanne Helbling Jeanne Helbling (July 26, 1903 – August 6, 1985) was a French people, French film actressGoble p.37 and a prominent member of the French Resistance during World War II. Selected filmography * ''The Thruster'' (1924) * ''Mandrin (1924 film), Ma ...

''(Denise Vernon),'' Margot Rousseroy ''(Yvette),''

Raoul Paoli Jacques Marie Lucien Raoul Simonpaoli (24 November 1887 – 23 March 1960) was a French athlete, boxer, wrestler, rower and actor. Aged 12, he served as a coxswain in the French coxed pair and won a bronze medal at the 1900 Summer Olympics. He c ...

''(Flack),'' Louis Mercier ''(Lopez). '' * German: ''Die Große Fahrt'' (1931), directed by

Lewis Seiler Lewis Seiler (September 30, 1890 – January 8, 1964) was an American film director. He directed more than 80 films between 1923 and 1958. Seiler was born in New York City, and died at UCLA Medical Center in Westwood, Los Angeles. Partial fi ...

and

, starring Theo Shall ''(Bill Coleman),'' Marion Lessing ''(Ruth Winter),'' Ullrich Haupt ''(Thorpe),''

Arnold Korff Arnold Peter Kirsch-Korff (2 August 1870 – 2 June 1944) was an Austrian-born American Hollywood actor and director. He appeared in a number of German and Austrian films before moving to the United States and resuming his career in America. He m ...

''(Peter),'' Anders Van Haden ''(Bull Flack),'' Peter Erkelenz ''(Fichte),''

Paul Panzer Paul Wolfgang Panzerbeiter (November 3, 1872 – August 16, 1958), known professionally as Paul Panzer, was a German-American silent film actor. He appeared in more than 330 films between 1905 and 1952. Biography Panzer was born in Würzburg ...

''(Lopez).'' * Italian: ''Il grande sentiero'' (1931), starring Franco Corsaro and Luisa Caselotti.Luisa Caselotti's younger sister,

Adriana Caselotti Adriana Elena Loretta Caselotti (May 6, 1916 – January 19, 1997) was an American actress and singer. Caselotti was the voice of the title character of the first Walt Disney animated feature, '' Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs'' (1937), for which ...

, was the voice of

Snow White "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...

's animated classic ''

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...

'' (1937). * Spanish: ''La Gran jornada'' (1931), directed by David Howard, Samuel Schneider, and

, starring Jorge Lewis ''(Raul Coleman),'' Carmen Guerrero ''(Isabel Prados),'' Roberto Guzmán ''(Tomas),''

Martin Garralaga Martín Garralaga (10 November 1894 – 12 June 1981) was a Spanish actor who worked in Hollywood from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was married to opera singer and actress Rosa Rey. Biography Garralaga first came to the United States wh ...

''(Martin)'',

Al Ernest Garcia Allan Ernest Garcia (11 March 1887 – 4 September 1938) was an American actor and casting director, best known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin. Life and career Al Ernest Garcia appeared in over 120 films between 1911 and 1938, mos ...

''(Flack),''

Tito Davison Tito Davison (14 November 1912 – 21 March 1985) was a Chilean-born Mexican film director and screenwriter. He directed more than 60 films between 1937 and 1982. Selected filmography * ''Thus Is Life'' (1930) * ''Shadows of Glory'' (1930) ...

''(Daniel),''

Carlos Villarías Carlos Villarías (7 July 1892 – 27 April 1976) was a Spanish actor born in Córdoba who died in California, United States. He is best known for his title role in the Dracula (1931), costarring Barry Norton and Lupita Tovar. The film was sho ...

Villarías is best known for playing the

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

in the Spanish-language version of '' Drácula'' (1931). ''(Orena),'' Charles StevensStevens plays the same part in both the English and Spanish versions of ''The Big Trail''. ''(Lopez).''

Notes

References

External links

* ''The Big Trail'' essay by Marilyn Ann Moss at

br>
* ''The Big Trail'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 171-17

Magnified Grandeur – The Big Screen, 1926–31
David Coles, 2001

Arthur Edeson, A.S.C., ''

'', September 1930. *
''The Big Trail'' at AllMovie
* *
''The Big Trail''
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Trail, The 1930 films 1930 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films 1930s English-language films American black-and-white films Fox Film films Films set in Missouri United States National Film Registry films Films directed by Raoul Walsh American multilingual films 1930 multilingual films 1930s American films Films scored by Arthur Kay (musician) Oregon Trail English-language Western (genre) films Cheyenne in popular culture