La vallée des géants

While certainly watchable, "The Big Trees" had the makings of what could have been a better, perhaps much better, movie. With Kirk Douglas in the lead role, a supporting cast of solid character actors, settings that lend themselves to visually appealing scenery, and a story that raises worthwhile environmental and ethical issues, it could have been quite good.

As a predatory but charismatic lumberman, Douglas has a role that allows him to use some of his best strengths as an actor, and the scenario provides him with two main characters to play off of, with Edgar Buchanan as a loyal but incorruptibly honest associate, and Eve Miller as an idealist determined to save the redwood forest that Douglas's character plans to exploit. Buchanan is especially believable in his role.

The story and script, though, don't give Douglas or the others a lot to work with. The story never tackles the most important issues head-on, nor does it explore the most significant of the possible tensions in the characters' relationships with one another. The important environmental questions and other such topics are dealt with only on a surface level, and aside from Douglas's own character, who changes rather abruptly and unconvincingly, there is little character development. The religious angle was certainly well-intentioned, but it never seems to fit in comfortably with the other story elements.

It's still all right for lighter entertainment, and there are some good scenes. Then too, when Douglas gets the chance, he can be quite interesting to watch in this kind of role. As long as you don't expect too much, it might be worth seeing, but it missed quite a few opportunities to be a much more substantial movie.

RELEASED IN 1952 and directed by Felix Feist, "The Big Trees" stars Kirk Douglas as a conniving lumber baron, Jim Fallon, who schemes to make it rich in Northern California in 1900 when a new law means large tracks of land are up for grabs to whoever can pay the fees. He plans to cut down the mighty redwoods but a colony of homesteading Quaker-like Christians are unwavering in their resolve to save the largest of the sacred trees, which are the ones Fallon wants most. Edgar Buchanan plays Fallon's sidekick-turned-marshal in the Redwoods, Walter "Yukon Lucky" Burns.

This was a remake of Warner Brother's "Valley of the Giants" from fifteen years earlier. While Douglas worked for free to get out of his WB contract it doesn't seem like it, as he has his usual gusto. The old-fashioned tone will likely turn off modern viewers but the environmental message was certainly ahead of its time. The story lacks drive, however, due to the convoluted dialog about legalities & finance; it's as though you need a doctorate on California land law in order to follow what's happening.

Fallon (Douglas) naturally becomes smitten by religious beauty Alicia Chadwick (Eve Miller) while having dubious links to blonde showgirl Dora "Daisy Fisher" Figg (Patrice Wymore). Speaking of whom, jaw-dropping Wymore has a memorable song & dance sequence that's worth the price of admission, particularly when she, um, never mind.

There are several other highlights, like a scene that shows how ancient the redwoods are (e.g. they were fully grown when William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066). Furthermore, there are fistfights, a falling tree that crushes a cabin, a dynamited dam, a thrilling runaway train sequence, a huge trestle that collapses under the train, a sacrificial death and a good moral(s).

I should add that the script perpetuates the myth that "The Lord helps those who help themselves" comes from the Bible. While a worthy proverb, it's not Scripture.

Watch out for Alan Hale Jr. (the Skipper from Gilligan's Island) playing Tiny.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 29 minutes and was shot in Redwood Groves, Orick and Eureka, California. WRITERS: John Twist and James R. Webb wrote the screenplay from Kenneth Earl's novel.

GRADE: B-/C+

The Big Trees (1952)

There might be some value in seeing this movie as a sign of another environmental time. There is a fight back and forth over a stand of big, valuable trees, and the owner of them at one point is the U.S. government. But even that will not save them. The movie feels like a Wild West genre film, but set in the big woods of the coast instead of the deserts or Monument Valley. But there are all the simple good folk (in this case, Quakers), the sheriff and buddies, the good guy with issues, and the general mischief of any cowboy town. In general, substitute lumberman for cowboy.

And substitute Felix E. Feist for John Ford as director. Feist made a series of B-movies, sports movies, and other genre flick, and this really is one of them, even though Kirk Douglas, the main actor, was coming off of two major movies elsewhere. It condemns both the movie and the reviewer to admit I had to skip parts of it, it just got so boring. Even Douglas couldn't lift it up. Even fistfights and gunfights and a huge explosion of a timbered railroad bridge couldn't save it. It isn't a terrible movie, but just routine to the point of "don't bother." Naturally it's better than a lot of dreck on television, and that's where you ought to catch it, some night when nothing better looms, by accident. It might actually be fun if it catches you by surprise.

Two things I noticed that were great. One, there is a legal trick pulled where the judge uses the criminal code to get away with cutting some giant trees legally, sort of. And the other is where some women folk (Quakers, who are famous for their pacifism) swarm a man with a gun, knock him down, and then, with relish, one of the women smacks him with a large rock.

Hi, Everyone,

This movie lumbers along. I would (wood) be going out on a limb if I said it was exciting, but it has some good moments. The runaway train sequence is OK, but not up to some other movie runaway trains, like Runaway Train. The scenes with Kirk (or his stuntman) jumping onto a train work very well. He was in good physical condition when this was made. His closeups are even exciting during the action sequence.

Kirk Douglas has been much better in many other movies. He looks athletic here and he acts adequately. Edgar Buchanan is miscast, even though he does a good job as a tough guy, of sorts. I would have tried to get Victor Mature or maybe Robert Mitchum for the part Edgar did.

If you like train movies, try The Train with Burt Lancaster or Silver Streak with Gene Wilder. For better train wrecks, try Greatest Show on Earth or Bridge on the River Kwai.

There is one musical number that is done well. Beautiful scenery galore. A couple of good stunts. Not so good fight scenes. This would be a good film for a double feature Kirk Douglas night, but it is not his best.

I will leaf you now.

Tom Willett

"The Big Trees" is one of those entertaining films regularly churned out by major studios in the early to mid-50s which were fun for the whole family and offended no one. Usually directed in efficient, workmanlike fashion (in this case, by Felix Feist) and essentially plot-driven by some sort of conflict that required physical measures to resolve, these programmers moved along with a fast pace and lots of action that left little room for subtleties but usually gave the moviegoing public its bang for the buck.

The conflict here is a stalemate between entrepreneurish lumbermen who want to cut down the giant Redwoods in California's northlands to sell the lumber for huge profits and a Quaker-like religious sect that has already settled on the land and views these big trees as majestic creations of the Almighty that should be left untouched. The former are led by smooth-talking Jim Fallon (Kirk Douglas) who, in trying to take advantage of a recent Act of Congress, oozes his unctuous charm to gain the settlers confidence for a peaceful live-and-let-live coexistence. When the latter continue to defend their big trees - especially Elder Bixley (Charles Meredith) and his daughter Alicia Chadwick (Eve Miller) - he resorts to legal maneuvers which are again stymied. The deadlock is finally breached when rival lumbermen, who have even fewer scruples than Fallon, move in for a piece of the action and violence ensues.

Several commenters on this page have already rightly stated that "The Big Trees" is Kirk Douglas's least favorite of all his films. That's understandable when one considers the many classics and near-classics in his filmography - "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", "Out of the Past", "Champion", "Detective Story", "Ace in the Hole", "The Bad and the Beautiful", "Lust for Life", "Paths of Glory", "Spartacus", "Lonely are the Brave", and "Seven Days in May" by directors such as Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Billy Wilder, William Wyler, Vincent Minnelli, Stanley Kubrick and John Frankenheimer - it's no wonder that a medium-budgeted actioner about fortune seeking loggers at odds with an environmentally-conscious religious sect should find itself sitting at the back of the class.

And yet I think Kirk has been too hard on this movie. The outdoor locations, filmed near Humbolt County in Northern California are at once awe inspiring and breathtaking, the colour (on good prints) gorgeous, the supporting cast featuring Edgar Buchanan and Patrice Wymore more than adequate, and the action scenes, particularly the runaway train, set the adrenaline rushing.

Best of all is Douglas himself. He has never been more charismatic than he is here. Whereas in other films he brought an unnerving intensity that sometimes bordered on paranoia to his hard-driven complex characters, he is here at once a likeable scoundrel: jovial, charming, gentlemanly yet virile and athletic, performing his own stunts when called upon. A remarkable performance, made more remarkable by the fact that he made this picture for no salary in order to end his contract with Warner Bros. He easily could have sleepwalked through the role but didn't, or at least didn't appear to. A very professional gesture.

What weakens "The Big Trees" is the lack of a strong villain. John Archer (Frenchy) is unable to do much with a part that is badly underwritten. He is neither cunning nor threatening as he inexplicably transmogrifies from Mr. Bland to Mr. Bad and certainly does not deserve the horrific fate that eventually befalls him. Fortunately, Kirk Douglas is there to remind viewers what star power - even in a programmer - is all about.