The Big Trail (1930)

Director:

Raoul Walsh
(more)

Writer:

Hal G. Evarts (story)
(more)

Release Date:

1 November 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Western | Romance

Tagline:

The Most Important Picture Ever Produced

Plot:

Breck Coleman leads hundreds of settlers in covered wagons from the Mississippi River to their destiny out West.

Plot Keywords:

Cliff | Mississippi | Desert | Settler | Wagon Train

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Wayne	...	Breck Coleman
Marguerite Churchill	...	Ruth Cameron
El Brendel	...	Gus, comical Swede
Tully Marshall	...	Zeke, Coleman's sidekick
Tyrone Power Sr.	...	Red Flack, wagon boss (as Tyrone Power)
David Rollins	...	Dave 'Davey' Cameron
Frederick Burton	...	Pa Bascom (conducts prayer, wedding)
Ian Keith	...	Bill Thorpe, Louisiana gambler
Charles Stevens	...	Lopez, Flack's henchman
Louise Carver	...	Gus's mother-in-law
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Victor Adamson	...	Wagon Train Man (uncredited)
Chief John Big Tree	...	Indian (uncredited)
Ward Bond	...	Sid Bascom (uncredited)
Nino Cochise	...	Indian (uncredited)
Iron Eyes Cody	...	Indian (uncredited)
Don Coleman	...	Wrangler (uncredited)
Jack Curtis	...	Pioneer (uncredited)
Emslie Emerson	...	Sairey (uncredited)
Alphonse Ethier	...	Marshal (uncredited)
Dannie Mac Grant	...	(uncredited)
Marcia Harris	...	Mrs. Riggs (uncredited)
Marilyn Harris	...	Pioneer girl (uncredited)
DeWitt Jennings	...	Boat Captain Hollister (uncredited)
Marjorie Leet	...	Mildred Riggs (uncredited)
Marion Lessing	...	(uncredited)
William V. Mong	...	Wellmore, trading post owner (uncredited)
Pete Morrison	...	Wrangler (uncredited)
Dodo Newton	...	Abigail Vance (uncredited)
Jack Padjan	...	Pioneer (uncredited)
Helen Parrish	...	Honey Girl Cameron (uncredited)
Robert Parrish	...	Pioneer boy (uncredited)
Jack Peabody	...	Bill Gillis (uncredited)
Russ Powell	...	Windy Bill (makes animal sounds) (uncredited)
Frank Rainboth	...	Ohio Man (uncredited)
Apache Bill Russell	...	(uncredited)
Andy Shuford	...	Ohio Man's Son (uncredited)
Gertrude Van Lent	...	Sister from Missouri (uncredited)
Lucille Van Lent	...	Sister from Missouri (uncredited)

Directed by
Raoul Walsh
Louis R. Loeffler		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Hal G. Evarts		(story)
Raoul Walsh		(story contributor) uncredited
Marie Boyle		(screenplay) uncredited &
Jack Peabody		(screenplay) uncredited &
Florence Postal		(screenplay) uncredited
Marie Boyle		(dialogue) uncredited &
Jack Peabody		(dialogue) uncredited &
Florence Postal		(dialogue) uncredited

Produced by
Winfield R. Sheehan	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
R.H. Bassett		(uncredited)
Peter Brunelli		(uncredited)
Alfred Dalby		(uncredited)
Arthur Kay		(uncredited)
Jack Virgil		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Lucien N. Andriot		(photographed by) (35mm version) (as Lucien Andriot)
Arthur Edeson		(70mm version)

Film Editing by
Jack Dennis

Set Decoration by
Harold Miles		(settings)
Fred Sersen		(settings)

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Louise Sloane	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Archibald Buchanan	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sid Bowen	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Clay Crapnell	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Virgil Hart	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Earl Rettig	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Ewing Scott	....	assistant director (uncredited)
George Walsh	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Don B. Greenwood	....	property master (uncredited)
Tom Plews	....	property master (uncredited)
Les Shaw	....	chief carpenter (uncredited)

Sound Department
Bill Brent	....	assistant sound engineer (uncredited)
E. Corkley	....	sound (uncredited)
D. Daniels	....	sound (uncredited)
W.D. Flick	....	sound engineer (uncredited)
W. Griffith	....	sound (uncredited)
Paul Heinly	....	assistant sound engineer (uncredited)
Charles Kehl	....	sound (uncredited)
George Leverett	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)
V.O. McCann	....	sound (uncredited)

Stunts
Steve Clemente	....	stunts (uncredited)
Iron Eyes Cody	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jack Padjan	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Don Anderson	....	camera operator (uncredited)
L.E. Barber	....	chief electrician (uncredited)
Max Cohn	....	assistant camera: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Harry Dawe	....	assistant camera: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Curt Fetters	....	camera operator: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Sol Halperin	....	camera operator: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Lou Kunkel	....	assistant camera: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Bobby Mack	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Karl Malkames	....	restoration from 65 mm camera negative (uncredited)
Bill McDonald	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Henry Pollack	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Frank Powolny	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Dave Ragin	....	camera operator: Grandeur camera (uncredited)
Roger Sherman	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Harry Smith	....	assistant camera: Grandeur camera (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)
Earl Moser	....	wardrobe master: men (uncredited)

Music Department
Arthur Kay	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
George Leverett	....	engineer
Louis Witte	....	engineer
George Busch	....	business manager (uncredited)
Ray Fitzgerald	....	assistant chief engineer (uncredited)
Joseph Flores	....	wrangler (uncredited)
Lumsden Hare	....	dialogue director (uncredited)
Jack Padjan	....	wrangler (uncredited)
Walter Quinlan	....	chief engineer (uncredited)
Ben Wurtzel	....	business manager (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Fox Film Corporation (1930) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Comet Video (????) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

125 min (35 mm version) | 158 min (70 mm version) | 120 min (FMC Library Print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System)

Certification:

Australia:G | New Zealand:PG | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Buttercup Dunes, Imperial County, California, USA

Company:

Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Incredibly, five different versions of this film were shot simultaneously. (1) a 70mm version in the Grandeur process for exhibition in the biggest movie palaces; (2) a standard 35mm version for general release; (3) a 35mm alternate French language version La piste des géants (1931)' (4) a 35 mm alternate Spanish language version La gran jornada (1931), and (5) a 35 mm alternate German language version Die große Fahrt (1931). The three alternate language versions were shot with (mostly) different casts.

Quotes:

Breck Coleman, Wagon Train Scout: We can't turn back! We're blazing a trail that started in England. Not even the storms of the sea could turn back the first settlers. And they carrie dit on further. They blazed it on through the wilderness of Kentucky. Famine, hunger, not even massacres could stop them...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'The Big Trail' (2008) (V)

Soundtrack:

Song of the Big Trail

Good wagons, wagon circling, and gun smoke. Corny but good historical props.

This movie is impressive for the type of physical props used. The wagons were real Conestoga, not the cut-down replicas seen in later movies. The circling of the wagons to fend off an attack by the locals was done with realism -- wagons overlapped with draft animals placed inside the ring -- resulting in what seems like hundreds milling about in the center. And when the shooting starts the wagons virtually disappear in the smoke. Very good representation of 'real life' (I shoot muzzle loading rifles so I know about the smoke part of it). Too bad I can't find this one on laserdisc for my library...