The Trail Beyond

Great alpine scenery. Yes, I know, there's a story too, but who needs it with all the terrific vistas to marvel at. Lone Star didn't just ride around California's Owens Valley on this one. No sir, they got right into some of the best mountain panoramas of the Southern Sierras. Nearly every frame has something picturesque to look at.

Maybe you can follow the plot. I couldn't. Something about a gold mine and some baddies who speak Frenchified English about as well as I can. Poor Verna Hillie, she has about ten lines in the whole movie. Still, it does get tiresome looking at all those ugly guys. Then too, watch Noah Beery Sr., who has the look and voice of a first rate villain. Definitely, he should have played the lead bad guy. Still there are some good touches-- the broken bottle (how clever), the race down the river (scope out that waterfall), and the great Earl Dwire (no actor, but with a face that would scare Frankenstein).

The only advantage most A Westerns have over this lowly programmer is script quality. Sure, that's a biggie, but otherwise this little V W can hold its own against the sleeker Cadillacs of the day.

For me, the movie was (a) poor but (b) fun.

"Poor" because the directing was lame, the dialogue was hard not to chuckle at, the fight-scenes were definitely proto, and the plot meandering.

But still it was "fun" because here was young John Wayne giving it his all, jumping off cliffs, diving into every body of water he could find, and fighting Bad French Guys. And it's fun to see such a young, naive movie, so endearingly but sincerely lame, trying hard to do nothing but entertain. And for me, a lifelong lover of Mammoth Lakes, it was fun to see Crystal Crag, and a shot down at Twin Lakes from below Lake Mamie described as "a bend in the river."

I just wish it had been color!

This is a terrific Monogram-Lone Star western from 1934 which for some reason has me quite enchanted. I find the whole look and tone of the film like a comic book from my childhood; and it is the imagination struck from this that has me remembering scenes for days later. I know it is not a lot different from a zillion other 55 minute westerns of the 30s from poverty row, but this one has several compelling factors: A tall, young and handsome John Wayne in really groovy jeans and shirts, Noah beery Jr whose modern hair style sees him look like a young Warren Beatty, astoundingly glorious photography of mountains streams mighty waterfalls and incredible jaw-dropping horse-over-the-cliff stunts, hilarious PepeLePew French Canadian baddies, a great scene with 2 skeletons at a table; and very inventive camera angles and clear- lake water photography. THE TRAIL BEYOND is a real time travel western and the viewer can really feel the time and place. I show this surprise gem to many modern friends who are equally astonished. If there are many more of this caliber I want to see them. THE TRAIL BEYOND is worth the journey.

Stuntman Yakima Canutt, in a 1978 interview,had no problem recalling 1934's "The Trail Beyond." He recalls it as... "the one where John, Eddie Parker(stuntman) and I stayed wet more than we were dry" and said he told producer Paul Malvern to count him out of any more films where people spend most of the time paddling canoes up and down a river, and just call Buster Crabbe instead.

"The Trail Beyond" was easily the most water-logged Wayne film until he lost encounters with an octopus/octopii in "Reap the Wild Wind" and the later "Wake of the Red Witch." Within "The Trail Beyond", Canutt, Parker or Wayne(and sometimes all three because of close-ups)leap off a train into a lake;paddles up the river in a canoe; leaps off a bluff and swims to a canoe; paddles up the river a second time and jumps in the water to swim back and upset LaRocque's canoe; jumps in the water from a bank to prevent a canoe from going over the falls and, in general, is wet more often than dry.

In the department of Be Careful What You Wish For, an IMDb commentator writes an informed and loving piece about the California locale of this movie, and then wishes it had just been shot in color. One viewing of the colorized video version may have left him him thinking his beloved countryside looked very well and better in Archie Stout's b&w original photography.

A distraction may have been the reward poster on John Wayne, as "Gat Ganns" from his earlier "West of the Divide" that shows up on the wall of Beery's "Waninosh House" trading post (which also shows up in "The Man from Utah"), but a much larger distraction was Robert Frazer's and Earl Dwire's attempts at French accents, or whatever accent they tried to employ.

And the reward posters aren't a "goof." Monogram and resident-art director E. R. Hickson didn't go in much for redecorating standing sets. Those posters showed up for years in later Monogram westerns post 1937.

"The Trail Beyond" is another in the series of Lone Star westerns John Wayne starred in between 1933 and 1935. Most were directed by Robert Bradbury (father of Bob Steele). This one is significant in a number of ways:

1) George (Gabby) Hayes is NOT in the cast;

2) It is beautifully photographed (Archie Stout is credited);

3) It features Noah Beery Sr. and Jr.

4) It has "French Canadian" Trappers in the "wilds" of Canada.

The best thing about this film is the spectacular outdoor scenery which is supposed to be Northern Canada but actually is probably some place in California since the poverty row studios of the day simply would not have the resources to film in a distant location.

The plot involves Wayne headin' north to find the long lost niece of a friend and bring her back. Along the way he meets up with an old college chum (Beery Jr.) who just happens to be going the same way. They soon get accused of murder, discover a lost gold mine and are pursued by the Mounties.

Being a Canadian, I've always had a problem with Hollywood's depiction of the "wilds" of Canada. This film is no exception. The chief villains of the piece (Robert Frazer, Earl Dwire) are garbed in the stereotypical plaid shirts, checkered pants, sashes and brimmed caps (What no toques?). Their French accents are hilarious. We see log cabin "settlements" instead of towns and canoes and snowshoes abound everywhere.

On the positive side, Yakima Canutt's stuntwork is outstanding as usual. He performs a leap from a moving train off a bridge into a river, rides two horses in succession off of a cliff (I'm sure I've seen this stunt in other pictures in the series) and performs several horse falls during the film's climax. He can be clearly seen doubling Wayne when he vaults onto a horse and gallops away.

The acting in this film is just plain awful. Wayne was still learning his craft at this time and it shows. Berry Jr. was just starting out too. The less said about heroine Verna Hillie the better. I had higher hopes when I saw Berry Senior's name in the cast. But unfortunately, he is wasted in a bit part as a the owner of a trading post. (They didn't have stores in Canada you see). Berry Sr. might have lifted this picture a notch had he played the villain instead of the inept Frazer and Dwire.