''The Trail of '98'' is a 1928 American synchronized sound

action-adventure An action-adventure game is a video game genre, video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Definition An action adventure game can be defined as a game with a mix of elements f ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

featuring Harry Carey and

Dolores del Río María de los Dolores Asúnsolo y López Negrete (3 August 1904 – 11 April 1983), known professionally as Dolores del Río (), was a Mexican actress. With a career spanning more than 50 years, she is regarded as the first major female Latin Am ...

about the Klondike Gold Rush. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score, with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was originally released by

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in a short-lived

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 "Fantom Screen". The film is based on the 1910 novel of the same name, written by

Robert W. Service Robert William Service (16 January 1874 – 11 September 1958) was an English-born Canadian poet and writer, often called “The Poet of the Yukon" and "The Canadian Kipling". Born in Lancashire of Scottish descent, he was a bank clerk by trade ...

Plot

Cast

as Berna * Ralph Forbes as Larry * Karl Dane as Lars Petersen * Harry Carey as Jack Locasto *

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 Salvation Jim * George Cooper as Samuel Foote (The Worm) * Russell Simpson as Old Swede *

Emily Fitzroy Emily Fitzroy (24 May 1860 – 3 March 1954) was an English theatre and film actress who eventually became an American citizen. She was at one time a leading lady in London for Sir Charles Wyndham. She made her film debut in 1915. Her debut ...

as Mrs. Bulkey *

Tenen Holtz Tenen Holtz (born Alex Elihu Tenenholtz; February 17, 1887 – July 1, 1971) was an American actor. He appeared in nearly 60 films between 1926 and 1961. Biography Holtz was born in Ozeran, Volhynia district, now in Ukraine, and came to th ...

as Mr. Bulkey * Cesare Gravina as Henry Kelland (Berna's Grandfather) *

Doris Lloyd Hessy Doris Lloyd (3 July 1891 – 21 May 1968) was a British actress. She appeared in ''The Time Machine'' (1960) and ''The Sound of Music'' (1965). Early life Lloyd's parents were Edward Franklin Lloyd and Hessy Jane McCappin. She was bor ...

as Locasto's procurer * E. Alyn Warren as Engineer *

Johnny Downs John Morey Downs (October 10, 1913 – June 6, 1994) was an American actor, singer and dancer. He began his career as a child actor, most notably as Johnny in the ''Our Gang'' short comedy film series from 1923 to 1926. He remained active ...

as Mother's boy (as John Down) * Ray Hallor as Brother Jim * Ray Gallagher as Brother Joe * Francis Ford as Gold Commissioner's assistant (uncredited) *

Roscoe Karns Roscoe Karns (September 7, 1891 – February 6, 1970) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 150 films between 1915 and 1964. He specialized in cynical, wise-cracking (and often tipsy) characters, and his rapid-fire delivery enlivened many ...

as Man on ship (uncredited) *

Jacques Tourneur Jacques Tourneur (; ; November 12, 1904 – December 19, 1977) was a French-American filmmaker, active during the Golden Age of Hollywood. He was known as an auteur of stylish and atmospheric genre films, many of them for RKO Pictures, including ...

as Extra (uncredited) *

Lou Costello Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), better known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with Bud Abbott and their routine " Who's on First?". Abbott and Cos ...

performed uncredited stunts for Carey and possibly even del Rio.

Music

The film features a theme song titled "I Found Gold When I Found You", by William Axt (music), and Hazel Mooney and Ev. E. Lyne (words).

Production

The film was shot on location in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

and The Great Divide,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Truckee, California Truckee is an List of municipalities in California, incorporated town in Nevada County, California, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 16,180, reflecting an increase of 2,316 from the 13,864 counted in the 2 ...

Dawson City, Yukon Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

, Canada, and in various locations in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, including Skagway and Copper River. While shooting the rapids sequence, four stuntmen drowned in the Copper River, including Jerome Bauten, Howard Daughters, and Ray “Red” Thompson, who trained horses for cliff dives.

Home media

A complete print of the film exists with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, and it became available on

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 ...

as part of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

's manufacture-on-demand titles in March 2009.

References

External links

* * * *
Magnified Grandeur - The Big Screen, 1926-31
David Coles, 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Trail of '98, The 1928 films 1928 drama films 1920s American films American action adventure films American action drama films American adventure drama films American black-and-white films American silent feature films Films based on works by Robert W. Service Films directed by Clarence Brown Films set in 1898 Films set in Alaska Films shot in Alaska Films shot in California Films shot in Colorado Films shot in Denver Films shot in Yukon Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Silent American drama films Surviving American silent films Synchronized sound films Films scored by William Axt