See John Wayne, in His First Starring Role in an "A" Picture, Raoul Walsh's Western Epic, The Big Trail (1930), Complete, and Without Commercial Interruptions, at the WEJB/NSU Theater!

By N.S.

There is a certain symmetry to John Wayne's career. He landed on his back for two weeks with a case of dysentary at the very beginning of this shoot. Finally, director Raoul Walsh told him he had to get up off his butt, and back to work, or he'd replace him. In Wayne's last picture, The Shootist (1976), the big cowboy got laid up with the flu at the beginning, and the crew wasn't sure he'd ever get back up. Director Don Siegel worked around him, for as long as he could.

Wayne's beautiful, shapely, female lead, Marguerite Churchill, was for many years married to leading man George O’Brien, a big star of silents and early talkies--e.g., the Murnau Top 100 silent masterpiece, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), and the 1926, Ford Western silent classic, 3 Bad Men, both which are presented here, and was considered to have the finest physique in Hollywood.

"5,495 views Premiered May 3, 2024
"John Wayne’s starring film debut, The Big Trail, was filmed in 70mm Grandeur, a radical new widescreen process in 1930. The Big Trail was an epic western that few people ever saw in widescreen. Why? We’ve spoken before about the new widescreen process and how the cost to theater owners to install the special projectors was prohibitive. Especially since the theaters had only recently installed expensive new projectors and with sound systems for the new talkies.

"The Big Trail was simultaneously shot in 70mm widescreen, standard 4x3 35mm, and then foreign language versions too. That’s a lot of money being spent on a film just as the Great Depression was getting underway, money that was lost. Because the movie was a financial failure, John Wayne’s career was stalled for the rest of the decade as he filmed serials, B westerns and movies while learning his craft as an actor and filmmaker.

"However, you will be pleased to see how well John Wayne commands the screen in his very first starring role. Not only does he show inklings of what is to come, but he just looks awesome in his leather outfit and longish hair. It is the birth of John Wayne’s on-screen persona, and it is thrilling to watch.

"Also thrilling is the actual movie. It looks like an actual documentary of settlers heading west. There must be over 100 covered wagons that, with the widescreen, can be seen traveling in the distance. This movie was shot on location with the horses, cattle, and other livestock with many of the extras living as the pioneers did, in their wagons and on the ground during the months long making of this beautifully shot epic. The 70mm version that we are presenting was shot by Arthur Edeson, later the Director of Photography for The Maltese Falcon and Casablanca.

"In addition to Wayne, in a role that was originally going to be played by director Raoul Walsh before he lost an eye in an automobile accident, there’s Tyrone Power Sr, whose acting style as “Big Red” may have been better suited for silent films, and “comedian” El Brendel, who is an acquired taste. Marguerite Churchill is leading lady to Duke in The Big Trail. In real life, she was married to actor George O’Brien. You’ll also spot veteran character actor Charlie Stevens and Ward Bond, Duke’s USC football companion [sic] and lifelong friend, under a very bushy, fake beard.

[N.S.: Wayne and Bond never played football together at USC. They were there at different times.]

"If you’ve never seen this film in widescreen, you’re in for a treat. Thanks for joining us. The Big Trail presentation is part of our special month long tribute to superstar John Wayne. Now head west with Marion Michael [sic] Morrison as he debuts his new movie name, John Wayne."

[N.S.: The man was born and died as Marion Robert Morrison. Though his parents stole his middle name and gave it to his kid brother, they never legally changed his name to "Marion Michael Morrison."]