The Big Trail
About The Big Trail
Scout Breck Coleman leads a wagon train west toward Oregon. He is courting Ruth Cameron and looking for the men who killed a friend. The trip is the plot: rivers, a cliff the wagons are lowered over, and snow. John Wayne, then 23, plays Breck in his first lead. Marguerite Churchill plays Ruth. Raoul Walsh directed.
Cast & crew
More about The Big Trail
Winfield Sheehan produced. Arthur Edeson photographed the Grandeur 70mm version. Lucien Andriot is also credited. Jack Dennis edited. The listed length is 125 minutes. A narrower 35mm version was also released. Tyrone Power Sr. is in the cast. It is his last finished film and his only talking role. He died in 1931. El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Ian Keith, and Ward Bond are billed. Named to the National Film Registry in 2006. The registry note cites the Oregon Trail story and the 70mm Grandeur image.
Themes
Look
Arthur Edeson shot the wagon train in the 70mm Grandeur process. Lucien Andriot is also credited.
Technique
Photographed in Fox Grandeur, a 70mm widescreen process, with a separate 35mm version.
Preservation
Prints of the widescreen and the 35mm versions survive. Named to the National Film Registry in 2006.
Notes
- Wayne's lead is this film, before Stagecoach.
- Grandeur was Fox's widescreen. Most theaters could not play it, so the 35mm cut is the one that circulated.
- Power Sr. speaks in it. His son is not in the cast.
- Ian Keith is billed among the men Breck suspects.
Awards
- National Film Registry (2006)
Scenes
- The wagons are lowered down a cliff.
- Snow closes the trail with the train still short of Oregon.
