Jubilee Trail

Jubilee Trail represented one of the last attempts of Herbert J. Yates to get the American movie public to accept his wife Vera Hruba Ralston as a star. Again she didn't score with the public and pretty soon Vera and Republic Pictures were history.

Actually Republic Pictures really ended the day that John Wayne got shed of his long term contract with Republic. Yates made more money loaning him out to other studios than he did with the films that actually starred the Duke. After all, Duke's loanout services were pure profit, no overhead expenses involved in producing high budget epics that befit his growing star status.

John Wayne couldn't have saved Jubilee Trail because the central characters here are two women, Vera and Joan Leslie. Vera's running from a mysterious past in New York and she hooks up with Joan and her new husband John Russell. Russell is traveling west with a pack train of supplies for he and his brother Ray Middleton. Russell also has a past himself that involves some kanoodling with the owner of a local ranchero and a small bundle of joy he only finds out about just as he's starting west.

Middleton's real upset about the marriage as they've ruined plans for a merger between the two families. He takes an unreasoning dislike to Joan Leslie and is determined to gain control of the child she's carrying now after Russell is killed.

It really is more soap opera than horse opera. There's an Indian attack sequence, but I'm sure it's in there so western fans can have a little action. There's also a nice gun battle between Forrest Tucker and two bad guys in Middleton's employ looking to steal Leslie's child after it's born. Middleton is the kind of villain you are more likely to see on daytime soaps.

Tucker has the hero role, but he really does little between the action sequences but look solemn and declare his love for Leslie. Pat O'Brien has a supporting part as a cashiered army surgeon who drinks to forget his troubled past. And presiding over it all once they reach California is Vera at Jim Davis's saloon.

Vera's got the Marlene Dietrich part here, but Jubilee Trail would have been a whole lot better if Yates had gotten Marlene Dietrich for the part.

Lavish Republic western with good female cast.Joan Leslie and Vera Ralston are most effective as two women heading to California to make a new life.Joan's husband is killed,Vera finds work as an entertainer,barkeeper.There's a load of familiar faces in the character parts.The costumes are nice.The settings lavish.Republic made alot of strong women films with a western setting.It was nice seeing women finally being more than just dutiful wives and saloon girls.Republic had a way of making realistic settings,costumes.The men in the story actually look dusty after a long ride.The Victor Young score is very nice,including the title song.This film is usually dismissed as just another Vera Ralston film but it's Joan Leslie's story.

In once again reviewing a movie or TV appearance of a cast member of the original "Dallas" in chronological order, I'm now at 1954 where Jim Davis is once again in a Republic production directed by Joseph Kane. He plays Silky, a bar owner who's friends with the main characters played by Joan Leslie, Vera Ralston, Forrest Tucker, and Pat O'Brien. The story moves along briskly with occasional stops for action and music. The Trucolor scenery is nice to look at. Victor Young's music score is also enjoyable to listen to. Really, I don't have a thing to complain about. I do wonder if the novel this movie was based on had even more that happened that they couldn't show here due to time constraints...

Republic pictures put out all the stops for them for this adaptation of the Gwen bistrow novel; class production values despite the backlot early Los Angeles set; good depiction of the friendship between Garnett and Floridan; their bond despite how opposite they are driven the story; Joan Leslie is very touching and sympathetic as Garnett; Vera ralston as Floridan isn't subtle or nuanced in her part but her flamboyance is lively and works well-too bad she didn't get more parts like this as she works well in such roles; I've a feeling a lot of the book was left out but the picture makes me want to read it; all in all a solid well produced and entertaining republic picture

I have a poster of Jubilee Trail on my wall and at the top it says, "The Greatest American Drama Since Gone With the Wind." Now that's a howler and yet I've always liked this unusual western. Nothing quite like Jubilee Trail on a rainy Saturday afternoon with cookies and milk. It's about the settling of California but is short on action and long on dialogue... not for the typical western watcher perhaps. It kind of reminds me of "Johnny Guitar" (made the same year by the same studio) with two women as the leads. Here they are not protagonists but great, supportive friends. Top-billed is Vera Ralston (married to the studio head) but the real star is the always-enchanting Joan Leslie and this is one of her finest moments. Forrest Tucker, John Russell, Jim Davis, Buddy Baer and others who have worked with Leslie and Ralston before make this film look like a happy working experience for all. We couch cowboys are the winners.