The Old Oregon Trail

Old Oregon Trail, The (1928)

** (out of 4)

If people know Victor Adamson's name it's probably because they're aware of his more famous son Al who would turn out some of the biggest camp movies of all-time with titles such as FIVE BLOODY GRAVES, Dracula VS FRANKENSTEIN and BRAIN OF BLOOD. When one watched Victor's movies it's rather funny how common the films were between father and son because they were often made for a popular genre (silent Western/drive-in horror) and on very small budgets. The story here is rather straight and simple as Art Mix plays a cowboy who saves a young woman and her father on a coach through Oregon. Years later he's working in a rodeo show when he comes across the father and daughter again but this time they're fighting with some bandits so sure enough Mix agrees to help. At just 41-minutes this film is ultra cheap and right to the point as the screenplay doesn't allow for too much plot. In fact, this film pretty much goes from A to Z without any sort of plot twists or anything else because it's clear Adamson was just wanting to get anything on film and into theaters. So, how is the picture? I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone unless they simply have to see every Western ever made during the silent era. This is certainly far from a bad movie but at the same time there's not an ounce of quality seen anywhere and with so many better Westerns out there it's really not hard telling someone to skip this one. The one saving grace and the only reason I'd recommend people to check this out is for the beautiful locations. This was shot in Oregon (a couple posts at IMDb give different actual locations) and the scenery is downright breathtaking during certain moments. At the start there's a lot of scenes looking down a cliff to a valley and some more stuff dealing with the mountains and rivers. All of this looks wonderful well and one really wishes that Adamson would have just shot a nature documentary and let the silly action for a different movie.

Much of "The Old Oregon Trail" was filmed in north-central Oregon (Gilliam County, near the county seat of Condon), in the valley of the John Day River, not the Snake River Valley as at least one commentator has guessed. The valley is still part of the ranch my family owns, and and the ranch buildings that appear in the film are still in use.

Art Seale (the correct spelling of the family name, not "Seales" as listed in the credits), was the younger brother of Sid Seale, then owner of the ranch. Sid Seale, who rode with Tom Mix in Wild West shows on the West Coast, appears in uncredited roles as wagon driver and buckaroo.