The Big Trail- Unbelievable

[bigshot]

When I first saw this movie mentioned in a thread on a much later John Wayne film, I thought it was a Republic or Monogram potboiler. It's not. It's one of the most amazing films I've ever seen, and I'm sure that if the depression hadn't hit right as it was being released, it would have totally changed the face of Hollywood.

For those who aren't aware of this movie... When sound came in with The Jazz Singer, Fox intended to take it a step further with 70mm widescreen pictures. The Big Trail is the first and last really big picture produced in Fox's Grandeur process. It's essentially How The West Was Won done in 1930. The film has a cast of 90 with thousands of extras, horses, cattle, buffalo, covered wagons... The screen is packed from side to side with crowds stretching off into the distance. And they shot in five states in the west- giant sequoia groves, the Rockies in Wyoming, deserts, the Grand Canyon, the great plains... Astounding vistas.

The Grandeur process required retooling of the whole chain from film stock and cameras to the projectors in the theaters, and the stock market crash guaranteed that most theaters wouldn't screen the 70mm version. They screened a vastly inferior 35mm version that was shot alongside the widescreen one. The film tanked and 70mm widescreen didn't reemerge until the fifties.

The restoration on the bluray is a stunner. Tremendous detail and incredible compositions. The sound is primitive, like most films from this era, but the actors speak clearly so you can follow what they're saying. The other amazing thing is that this is John Wayne's first starring role. He's in hisearly 20s, and he drips with charisma. Star is painted all over him.

If any film rates a first class bluray version, this is it. I'm amazed that no one seems to be talking about it. Check out te screen grabs at the beaver. You'll see what I mean.