The Big Trees

The Big Trees
The Big Trees
Directed by	Felix E. Feist
Screenplay by	John Twist and James R. Webb
Story by	Kenneth Earl
Produced by	Louis F. Edelman
Starring	Kirk Douglas; Eve Miller; Patrice Wymore; Edgar Buchanan; John Archer; Alan Hale Jr.; Roy Roberts; Charles Meredith; Harry Cording; Ellen Corby;
Cinematography	Bert Glennon
Edited by	Clarence Kolster
Music by	Heinz Roemheld
Color process	Technicolor
Production; company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	February 5, 1952 (New York City);
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Big Trees

The Big Trees is a 1952 American lumberjack Western film starring Kirk Douglas and directed by Felix E. Feist. It was Kirk Douglas's final film for Warner Brothers, a film he did for free in exchange for the studio agreeing to release him from his long-term contract.^[2]

The film has fallen into the public domain.^[3]^{[better source needed]} Douglas plays a greedy timber baron who seeks to exploit the sequoia forest, while facing the protest of the Quaker colonists.

Plot

In 1900, lumberman Jim Fallon (Kirk Douglas) greedily eyes the big redwood trees in the virgin region of northern California. The land is already settled by, among others, a religious group led by Elder Bixby (Charles Meredith) who have a religious relationship with the redwoods and refuse to log them, using smaller trees for lumber. Jim becomes infatuated with Bixby's daughter, Alicia (Eve Miller), though that does not change his plan to cheat the homesteaders. When Jim's right-hand man, Yukon Burns (Edgar Buchanan) finds out, he changes sides and leads the locals in resisting Jim. The locals combat Jim's loggers with a sympathetic judge with Jim fighting back by using Federal laws.

Elder Bixby is killed when a big sequoia tree is chopped down by Jim's men and falls on his cabin. Jim's desperate attempt to rescue Alicia's father saves him from being convicted of murder. Meanwhile, timber rival Cleve Gregg (Harry Cording) appears on the scene, making it a three-way fight. Gregg and his partner Frenchy LeCroix (John Archer) try to assassinate Jim, but end up killing Yukon instead. Jim has a dramatic change of heart and leads the settlers in defeating Gregg and Frenchy. Afterwards, Jim marries Alicia and settles down.

Cast

Kirk Douglas as Jim Fallon
Eve Miller as Sister Alicia Chadwick
Patrice Wymore as Daisy Fisher
Edgar Buchanan as Yukon Burns
John Archer as "Frenchy" LeCroix
Alan Hale, Jr. as "Tiny"
Roy Roberts as Judge Crenshaw
Charles Meredith as Elder Bixby
Harry Cording as Cleve Gregg
Ellen Corby as Sister Blackburn
Duke Watson as Mr. Murdoch
Lane Chandler as Brother Dorn
Elizabeth Slifer as Sister Wallace
Lilian Bond as Daisy's girl
Michael McHale as Mr Keller (an accountant)
William Challee as Brother Williams

Students from Humboldt State University played members of the Quaker congregation and members of its choir.^[2]

Production

The film was made with the cooperation of the Hammond and Carlotta Lumber companies,^[2] and was shot at locations in Humboldt County, California.^[4]

Footage from Warner Brothers' 1938 Technicolor film Valley of the Giants is used throughout The Big Trees. The Big Trees is not a precise remake, but shares useful plot points. The climactic explosion of a logjam makes use of the destruction of the dam in Valley of the Giants. Costumes were designed to match the images in several scenes, notably when the red-shirted hero in each picture works his way along a train carrying huge cut trees in order to stop the caboose carrying his love interest from plunging into a gorge. The white-shirted villain survived his battle with the hero in the earlier. Alan Hale Jr. plays a lumberjack in this, wearing a very distinctive outfit—including a hat—like the one his father wears in Valley of the Giants. The Big Trees uses the long shot from Valley of the Giants of Ox (Alan Hale Sr.) sliding down a cable to have “Tiny” accomplish the same feat in this picture.^{[citation needed]}

Reception

The New York Times called it a "stormy and sometimes silly saga" based on a script "not terribly far removed from the Warners' Valley of the Giants"; its "plot and emoting seem to be as old as the giant redwoods with which they are concerned."^[5]

In a 1986 interview with David Letterman, this was one of two movies Kirk told the audience that they could skip in his filmography. The other was Along the Great Divide.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ "Original Print Information". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
^ ^a ^b ^c Smith, Richard Harland. "Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
^ The Big Trees is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
^ Hesseltine, Cassandra. "Complete Filmography of Humboldt County". Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission. Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
^ "A Saga of Lumber Operators". The New York Times. February 6, 1952. Retrieved 2011-10-09.

External links

The Big Trees at IMDb
The Big Trees at the TCM Movie Database
The Big Trees at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
The Big Trees is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

[1] "Original Print Information". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-10-09.

[tcmart-2] Smith, Richard Harland. "Articles". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved 2011-10-09.

[3] The Big Trees is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive

[4] Hesseltine, Cassandra. "Complete Filmography of Humboldt County". Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission. Humboldt Del Norte Film Commission. Retrieved 12 October 2017.

[5] "A Saga of Lumber Operators". The New York Times. February 6, 1952. Retrieved 2011-10-09.

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