The Big Trail

A wagon train sets out for Oregon. Hundreds of people, wagons, animals and a road that will take months. Breck Coleman is hired as its guide. He is a young hunter and knows the way; he also believes his friend's killer is in the train. Along the road there is a river crossing, desert, mountain and snow. Wagons are lowered down a cliff on ropes, animals die and people want to turn back. Coleman has to keep the train moving and find the man he is after at the same time. Raoul Walsh directs. John Wayne plays Coleman; Marguerite Churchill and Tyrone Power Sr. are in the cast. It is John Wayne's first leading part; until then he had done set work and small roles, and his name was changed for this film. It was shot with a very new technique for the period, a wide format system; but most theatres lacked the equipment and it was mostly shown in the narrow format. It was made in several languages at once, with separate versions prepared using different casts. The film failed commercially and Wayne's career as a lead was delayed by roughly a decade. The wagon train scenes were shot in real locations with large crowds; the cliff descent was not produced in a studio. Its limit is the script; the plot is simple, the acting raw and the romance weak. Who it is for: anyone curious about early westerns and the history of cinema. Who it is not for: the acting is raw, the sound recording old, and the narrative slow.