The Big Trail is a film with much historic value – not so much for its acting as for the scenery and portrayal of pioneer settings and conditions. This story centers on a wagon train at the start of the Oregon Trial migrations – about 1830. It's hard to imagine any movie firm going to the lengths to produce and shoot such a realistic film today, let alone in 1930. But that's all the more to its credit, and lends the movie its sense of reality and high historical film value.
The movie was filmed on location in the great outdoors; with more covered wagons than have probably ever been assembled for a film (perhaps 100 or so in the whole picture); and a huge Indian village and cast of many dozens, if not a few hundred, true native Americans. Note the size of the wagons themselves – with wheels as tall as a man or woman. These were no doubt some of the remaining authentic covered wagons from decades before; and their enormity belies the much smaller prairie schooners, whether authentic or reconstructed, used in later films. These wagons were indeed small homes on wheels. One can see how they could carry a stove, wardrobe, chest, vanity, trunks of clothing, dishes and cookware, and barrels of food. And still have room for three or four children.
One can't help but marvel at the filming of wagons and herds crossing rivers, getting swept away by current, and women and children jumping from wagons, swimming and grabbing onto horses. Or of the descent down the steep cliffs to a valley below. That would have been along the Snake River in Idaho. The scenes show ropes with pulleys rigged onto fresh-hewn log supports, and bands of men slowly releasing the ropes to lower wagons, oxen, and cattle down the steep cliff. What reality in the filming of heavy rain storms, wagons and animals and riders sinking in mud, people pushing their oxen and livestock through the torrents and knee-deep water and mud! This movie preserves most realistically, what it must have been like for the pioneers who traveled 2,000 miles across unsettled land in the longest human migration known in history.
Overall, the quality of the surviving film (on my DVD) is poor, but not such that one can't enjoy this film. This is only John Wayne's second credited movie of nearly two dozen since 1926. And the first using his new stage name, John Wayne. His first credited film was also his first "talkie." In "Words and Music" of 1929, he was listed in the credits as Duke Morrison. The acting here seems hammy at times and overdone. It's likely because this is the time of transition from silent to sound movies; and some of the exaggerated acting (especially facial expressions) were still evident. Those were important in the silent films to convey to audiences emotions, feelings and thoughts that later would be conveyed by voice and dialog. So, there is some historical interest in the acting as well, for this reason.
For all the realism and effort to portray the conditions of a real time in history, the film's few deviations from accuracy can stand out if you're a student of the history of the time, or if you have traveled the Oregon Trail route in modern times. It appears that perhaps 75 percent of the large bands of Indians were chiefs – or elders, by their huge headdresses; and there were so few younger braves. Nowhere along the Oregon Trail is there a desert, as implied and shown in the film. The trail did cross arid regions and skirt some high desert country across Wyoming and into southern Idaho. And, the scenes of massive mountains toward the end appear to be more in Yosemite National Park or in the Colorado Rockies than of the mountains the wagon trains would have passed by or gone over at the end – the Cascades and Mount Hood. For a film that captures the true mountain scenery at the end of the Oregon Trail, see "Bend of the River."
Perhaps one day, a film museum or historic entity will clean up and restore this film, and transfer it to a digital format for preservation and future showing and enjoyment. "The Big Trail" is somewhat of a classic for its authenticity and scope, and surely deserves a spot in collections of important movies.
The movie was filmed on location in the great outdoors; with more covered wagons than have probably ever been assembled for a film (perhaps 100 or so in the whole picture); and a huge Indian village and cast of many dozens, if not a few hundred, true native Americans. Note the size of the wagons themselves – with wheels as tall as a man or woman. These were no doubt some of the remaining authentic covered wagons from decades before; and their enormity belies the much smaller prairie schooners, whether authentic or reconstructed, used in later films. These wagons were indeed small homes on wheels. One can see how they could carry a stove, wardrobe, chest, vanity, trunks of clothing, dishes and cookware, and barrels of food. And still have room for three or four children.
One can't help but marvel at the filming of wagons and herds crossing rivers, getting swept away by current, and women and children jumping from wagons, swimming and grabbing onto horses. Or of the descent down the steep cliffs to a valley below. That would have been along the Snake River in Idaho. The scenes show ropes with pulleys rigged onto fresh-hewn log supports, and bands of men slowly releasing the ropes to lower wagons, oxen, and cattle down the steep cliff. What reality in the filming of heavy rain storms, wagons and animals and riders sinking in mud, people pushing their oxen and livestock through the torrents and knee-deep water and mud! This movie preserves most realistically, what it must have been like for the pioneers who traveled 2,000 miles across unsettled land in the longest human migration known in history.
Overall, the quality of the surviving film (on my DVD) is poor, but not such that one can't enjoy this film. This is only John Wayne's second credited movie of nearly two dozen since 1926. And the first using his new stage name, John Wayne. His first credited film was also his first "talkie." In "Words and Music" of 1929, he was listed in the credits as Duke Morrison. The acting here seems hammy at times and overdone. It's likely because this is the time of transition from silent to sound movies; and some of the exaggerated acting (especially facial expressions) were still evident. Those were important in the silent films to convey to audiences emotions, feelings and thoughts that later would be conveyed by voice and dialog. So, there is some historical interest in the acting as well, for this reason.
For all the realism and effort to portray the conditions of a real time in history, the film's few deviations from accuracy can stand out if you're a student of the history of the time, or if you have traveled the Oregon Trail route in modern times. It appears that perhaps 75 percent of the large bands of Indians were chiefs – or elders, by their huge headdresses; and there were so few younger braves. Nowhere along the Oregon Trail is there a desert, as implied and shown in the film. The trail did cross arid regions and skirt some high desert country across Wyoming and into southern Idaho. And, the scenes of massive mountains toward the end appear to be more in Yosemite National Park or in the Colorado Rockies than of the mountains the wagon trains would have passed by or gone over at the end – the Cascades and Mount Hood. For a film that captures the true mountain scenery at the end of the Oregon Trail, see "Bend of the River."
Perhaps one day, a film museum or historic entity will clean up and restore this film, and transfer it to a digital format for preservation and future showing and enjoyment. "The Big Trail" is somewhat of a classic for its authenticity and scope, and surely deserves a spot in collections of important movies.