Alan Bell writes:
>
> I happened to catch THE BIG TRAIL on AMC last night and was amazed. I had
> no idea that it had been shot in a wide screen format. THE BIG TRAIL was
> shot, not in 35mm, but rather in 70mm. True?
> mention at all of the film's wide-screen process. Can anyone provide some
> more background on this film and its legacy, or lack thereof? Any
> recommended reference material for a curious person to dig deeper? Perhaps
> it's not as startlingly revolutionary as I thought.
>
Alan,
 
John Belton wrote a great book on widescreen that was published a few
years ago by Columbia University Press.  It takes widescreen much further
back than Fox's Grandeur process that was used for THE BIG TRAIL.  The
Museum of Modern Art preserved THE BIG TRAIL several years ago, but (I may
be wrong on this) their widescreen restoration is on 35mm, not 70mm.
Still, if you liked the film on TV, it is a real treat to see it on the
big screen.
 
> Another curious thing. Although John Wayne (what a handsome young fella he
> was!) was the lead in what had to be a major Hollywood film, it didn't seem
> to have made him an instant star. Odd that after that, he should have
> churned out B-grade shoot 'em ups for the balance of the 1930s.
>
 
Not if you consider Wayne's wooden performance.  It took a lot of
development before Wayne could act.  Raoul Walsh's "discovery" of Wayne
didn't change the fact that this "extra" in Ford films really hadn't yet
acquired skills much beyond those of an extra.
 
 
 
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Mark Langer
 
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