The Trail Beyond (1934)

Rod Drew hunts for a missing girl and finds himself in a fight over a goldmine as well.

Director:

Robert N. Bradbury (as Robert Bradbury)

Writers:

James Oliver Curwood (based on the story: "The Wolf Hunters"), Lindsley Parsons (screen play)

Stars:

John Wayne, Noah Beery, Verna Hillie

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Wayne	...	Rod Drew
Verna Hillie	...	Felice Newsome
Noah Beery	...	George Newsome (as Noah Beery Sr.)
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Wabi
Robert Frazer	...	Jules LaRocque
Iris Lancaster	...	Marie LaFleur
James A. Marcus	...	Brother of John Ball (as James Marcus)
Eddie Parker	...	Ryan - the Mountie
Earl Dwire	...	Benoit - Henchman

Storyline

Rod Drew has been sent to find a missing miner and his daughter. He is joined by old friend Wabi whom he has to rescue from card cheats that framed him for murder. Later they find a skeleton and a map to a mine. When they put the map into a safe, a LaRocque henchman sees them. LaRocque wants the map and captures the Mountie sent to get Wabi. His man then dressed as the Mountie captures Rod and Wabi.

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Plot Keywords:

french canadian villain | 

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Taglines:

THE SPELL OF ADVENTURE AND THE UNKNOWN! (original poster - all caps)

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Goofs

In the canoe scene when Drew and Wabi leave the cabin with the rescued Mountie, when the Mountie is shot by one of the villains, he falls backwards toward Wabi. In the very next scene he's lying in the other direction toward Drew.

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Alternate Versions

Also available in a computer colorized version.

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Connections

Edited into Six Gun Theater: The Trail Beyond (2015)

User Reviews

Just Breathe in that Mountain Air

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.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 October 1934 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Trail Beyond

Filming Locations:

Devils Postpile National Monument, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paul Malvern Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

55 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1