Screening: The Big Trail

Last week's screening for Uni included the 1930's Raoul Walsh film 'The Big Trail' starring a very young John Wayne (only 23 for his first leading role). It's a fabulous example of early sound: thankfully the technology has improved and my TV speakers didn't blow up in the process due to the excessive volume I had it set for basic audibility.

It's also a great example of early widescreen. As it was a difficult film to track down in time I purchased the boxed set above which unfortunately includes the traditional 1.33:1 aspect ratio. On the plus, the set includes this week's screening 'Red River' and is nicely packaged in a white tin container.

Mythical Monkey posts an interesting essay on 'The Big Trail' and Wayne's involvement including his original name (go there to find out...) and Wikipedia have some great trivia in the 'Production' section (including the legend that the director had Tyrone Power Sr. beaten).

Although the movie was considered a flop, John was a fine young man in his day:

Photo from 'A Mythical Monkey writes about the movies'