| Big Trail |  | Directors: Louis R. Loeffler, Raoul Walsh
Actors: John Wayne, Marguerite Churchill, El Brendel, Tully Marshall, Tyrone Power Sr.
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $1.85
You Save: $13.13 (88%)
New (4) Used (15) Collectible (1) from $1.75
Rating:  34 reviews
Sales Rank: 14252
Format: Black & White, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 110 Minutes
UPC: 086162136238
EAN: 0086162136238
ASIN: B00004WLRP
Theatrical Release Date: November 1, 1930
Release Date: February 24, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: BRAND NEW SEALED IN ORIGINAL WRAPPING. FULLY GUARANTEED. SHIPS A.S.A.P.
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Amazon.com
One of very few widescreen productions filmed at the dawn of the talkies, The Big Trail was dismissed by reviewers of the day, little seen, and soon shelved and forgotten--for more than half a century, as it turned out. For movie buffs, it became a sort of Holy Grail. After all, the esteemed Raoul Walsh had directed, the early 70mm angle was tantalizing, and wasn't this the movie that was intended to make a star of Duke Morrison, a 22-year-old former prop man whom Walsh had rechristened John Wayne for the occasion? For curiosity value alone, surely it rated a look. Restored in the late 1980s and warmly embraced by film festival audiences, The Big Trail proved to be more than just a historical footnote. What were those 1930 reviewers thinking?! Wayne is fresh, exuberant, matinee-idol handsome, and irresistibly charming (only a little purple prose trips him up, and no one should have been asked to speak such early-talkie flapdoodle anyway). The scenario winds through epic settings from the banks of the Mississippi by way of the Grand Canyon to the snows of Oregon and the mountain vistas of Washington, marking both a wagon train's journey and the settling of a personal score between trail guide Wayne and Tyrone Power Sr. as a veritable ogre of a villain. (A villain off-camera, too: Legend holds that Walsh had the actor beaten nearly to death for attempting to force himself on leading lady Marguerite Churchill.) The Big Trail is now an authentic classic, and a swell movie. Probably always was. --Richard T. Jameson
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| Customer Reviews: Read 29 more reviews...
 Where is the "Fox Grandeur" Widescreen Version? May 4, 2004
Terry Knapp (Santa Rosa, CA United States)
41 out of 47 found this review helpful
This is a film that really deserves to be seen in its widescreen glory. This is truly an epic film. However, I feel compelled to point out that the version that is available on this DVD is not, in fact, a "cropped" version of the film. The movie was actually filmed in three different versions. The first two, featuring the original cast, were the widescreen "Fox Grandeur" version and the version available here, shot in the Academy Standard ratio, which allowed the vast majority of cash-strapped theaters (they couldn't afford the special equipment for widescreen projection) to exhibit the film. The scenes in this version were blocked appropriately for a standard film of this era. The third version, shot concurrently, was a German edition using German actors in medium and close shots and footage of John Wayne and company in the long shots.
 Much less than the DVD this film deserves August 16, 2005
Donald Rogers (Seattle, WA United States)
32 out of 36 found this review helpful
This early talkie was one of the first attempts at an epic-scale Western. It stars the great John Wayne, fully nine years before his breakthrough role in Stagecoach. It was directed by the underrated Raoul Walsh, who memorably directed James Cagney's best dramatic performance, in White Heat. And it represents one of Hollywood's earliest attempts to make a film in a wide-screen format.
Most unfortunately, Fox has chosen to give this slice of Hollywood history a cheap, slapdash DVD release. There is no widescreen footage -- this disk contains the alternative 35mm, standard-dimensions version that played in most theaters in 1930. Not only that, but at 110 minutes, the DVD's running time is 10 minutes less than the version Fox occasionally broadcasts, 15 minutes less than the full running time of the 35mm version, and almost 50 minutes less than the widescreen "Fox Grandeur" version.
Who knows what all has been left out? Probably (I am speculating here) some treatment of Native Americans or horses that Fox thinks would make us squirm.
Here is one clear-cut case where a two-disc, 75th-anniversary "special edition" is really called for. Don't accept this cheap substitute.
 where's the rest of it? June 20, 2003
John G. Harkness (Toronto, Ontario Canada)
29 out of 32 found this review helpful
Where's the widescreen version? And why, when it's officially listed as 125 minutes in the "flat" version is this DVD release 108 minutes?Shame on Fox.
The Big Rip Off! December 22, 2003
Daniel Brunn (California)
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
The release of this film does not rate even a one. I cannot believe after waiting all these years for this film to be released in widescreen and on DVD. The studio releases a cut version that's been formated. WHAT THE HELL!! The only people who would really be interested in seeing this film are film buffs who only want to see there films unformated. Have the home video people not learned there lessons yet with the Willy Wonka incident. WE WANT WIDESCREEN NOW!! The public demands it. Stop wasting our time and yours.
 The Big Trail : The edited version September 6, 2003
Zack (WV, USA)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful
I don't know why Fox Video cut close to twenty minutes off this film for DVD. Most VCR prints of this movie run a 125min long. Plus it's only shown in full screen format. This was one of the first widescreen movies ever filmed. I'm surprised they didn't release it in it's widescreen format. Although with all this missing from the dvd the Big Trail is still a great movie to watch. This was John Wayne's first starring role as the lead character and he gives it his best. Wayne plays a scout leading settlers to there new homeland. On his Journey Wayne tries to win the heart of a young woman who wants nothing to do with him at first. But that changes when he goes on the search for the men that killed a friend of his. A great movie that deserved a better DVD. In the furture I would like to see The Big Trail in it's original widescreen format with restored footage. I heard that the film was up to 154min long. It would be great to get to see that cut of the movie if it still exsits.
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