A production that could rival a military expedition. The first leading role of John Wayne. A film so massive in scale that it contributed to the downfall of a studio. The Big Trail is a mostly forgotten epic, but represents a unique era of America culture.

Debuting in 1930 at the dawn of sound films, just before the Great Depression, this film tried to elevate Westerns from their b-movie status to something more prestigious. Unfortunately, its financial failure would scare-off any attempt at a 'prestige' Western for almost a decade.

Director: Raoul Walsh

Screenplay: Jack Peabody, Marie Boyle, Florence Postal & Fred Serser

Based on the Novel The Shaggy Legion by Hal G. Evarts

Cinematographers: Lucien Andriot & Arthur Edeson

Editor: Jack Dennis

Starring: John Wayne, Marguertie Churchill, Tyrone Power, Sr, Ian Keith, Charles Stevens, Ward Bond, Tully Marshall, Ward Bond

Sources:

Simmon, Scott. The Invention of the Western Film: A Cultural History of the Genre's First Half-Century. Cambridge University Press, 2003 .

Nick Pinterton - "The Big Trail", 2013

Fred Camper - "Wide West," Chicago Reader, 1988

Mordaunt Hall - "A Grandeur Production," New York Times, 1930

Walt Whitman - Pioneers! O Pioneers!, 1865

Rudyard Kipling, The White Man's Burden. 1899

Mark Twain - To the Person Sitting in Darkness, 1901

William James - The Philippine Question, 1903