THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE (Paramount, 1936), a Walter Wanger production, directed by Henry Hathaway, became the first sound version to the famous John Fox novel that was previously filmed during the silent movie era: (1914, with Dixie Compton); (1916, with Charlotte Walker, directed by Cecil B. DeMille), and (1923, with Mary Miles Minter). Aside from being its only known sound edition and notable title song used for WAY OUT WEST (1937) starring the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE become the first outdoors movie filmed entirely in Technicolor, by which a movie such as this with beautiful mountain scenery and trees would definitely cry for Technicolor anyway. For its new cast, this production features Paramount resident Sylvia Sidney, with two young rising actors in fine support, Henry Fonda and Fred MacMurray, in a story about mountain feud between two rival families and the intrusion between the families by an outsider city feller.
FORWARD: "Among the American mountains there are forgotten valleys where people dwell shut in old words, old wars, old codes have lived on unchanged. Each family is at war with the other over deadly feuds whose beginnings they cannot remember. But their hatred is their patriotism, their quaint customs are their religion such a feud has been carried on for generations by the Tollivers and the Falins." PROLOGUE: The hills of Kentucky showing a feuding families, the Tollivers and Falins, shooting at each other. Judd (Fred Stone), head of his family, is unable to run to his cabin to be with his wife, Melissa (Beulah Bondi) giving birth to their first child. With newborn baby in her arms, Melissa, wanting nothing to do with the feud, prays for peace and guidance. STORY: "Today another generation has grown to accept the code of the lonesome pine." Judd and Melissa Tolliver, having another child, Buddy (Spanky MacFarland, from the "Our Gang" comedy shorts), await for their eldest daughter, June (Sylvia Sidney) to marry her distant cousin, Dave (Henry Fonda), whom they have raised since childhood. Jack Hale (Fred MacMurray), a city engineer accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Thurber (Nigel Bruce), arrives to discuss matters with Judd about coal on his property followed by railroad construction to go through both his property and the neighboring Falins. Jack soon notices Dave lying in bed slowly dying by gangrene from a gunshot wound in the arm by one of the Falins. Saving his life. Jack gets a contract from Judd with promised check of $5,000. With the feud continuing between the Tollivers and the Falins, further complications ensue with June not only wanting to live in the city of Louisville to get an education, but showing more love interest towards Jack than to Dave. With the killing of one of the Tollivers by the vengeful Falins take place, and Melissa wanting nothing more than to end the feud before any more killings take place, Jack complicates matters further by getting himself involved in the feud where he doesn't rightfully belong. Others in the cast include: Robert Barrat (Buck Falin, head of the clan); Alan Baxter (Clay Tolliver); Samuel S. Hinds (The Sheriff); George Ernest (Dave, as a boy), and Clara Blandick (The Landlady). Fuzzy Knight, labeled "the walking phonograph" by Thurber (Nigel Bruce), sings several melodies through his mountain walks, including "Trail of the Twilight" and "Melody from the Sky."
Of its many versions to this famous story, this 1936 release is the most famous due to frequent television broadcasts from the 1960s to the 1980s. Sylvia Sidney gets cast against type as a mountain girl, while Henry Fonda is cast in type as the vengeful mountain boy. While Sidney teamed with Fonda again in YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (United Artists, 1937), she wouldn't work with MacMurray again until her guest star appearance in the 1969 episode of his "My Three Sons" (CBS) television series many years later. Of its leading players, Fred Stone is agreeable as the mountain father while Beulah Bondi comes off best as the peaceful wife and mother. Regardless of its fine cast (with their names credited during its opening printed on tree pines), beautiful Technicolor is its focal point throughout its 102 minutes.
Having become available on both video cassette and DVD, THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE, consisted on few cable television broadcasts, including the Disney Channel (1990s) and years later on Encore Westerns. Happy Trails. (***1/2)
FORWARD: "Among the American mountains there are forgotten valleys where people dwell shut in old words, old wars, old codes have lived on unchanged. Each family is at war with the other over deadly feuds whose beginnings they cannot remember. But their hatred is their patriotism, their quaint customs are their religion such a feud has been carried on for generations by the Tollivers and the Falins." PROLOGUE: The hills of Kentucky showing a feuding families, the Tollivers and Falins, shooting at each other. Judd (Fred Stone), head of his family, is unable to run to his cabin to be with his wife, Melissa (Beulah Bondi) giving birth to their first child. With newborn baby in her arms, Melissa, wanting nothing to do with the feud, prays for peace and guidance. STORY: "Today another generation has grown to accept the code of the lonesome pine." Judd and Melissa Tolliver, having another child, Buddy (Spanky MacFarland, from the "Our Gang" comedy shorts), await for their eldest daughter, June (Sylvia Sidney) to marry her distant cousin, Dave (Henry Fonda), whom they have raised since childhood. Jack Hale (Fred MacMurray), a city engineer accompanied by his assistant, Mr. Thurber (Nigel Bruce), arrives to discuss matters with Judd about coal on his property followed by railroad construction to go through both his property and the neighboring Falins. Jack soon notices Dave lying in bed slowly dying by gangrene from a gunshot wound in the arm by one of the Falins. Saving his life. Jack gets a contract from Judd with promised check of $5,000. With the feud continuing between the Tollivers and the Falins, further complications ensue with June not only wanting to live in the city of Louisville to get an education, but showing more love interest towards Jack than to Dave. With the killing of one of the Tollivers by the vengeful Falins take place, and Melissa wanting nothing more than to end the feud before any more killings take place, Jack complicates matters further by getting himself involved in the feud where he doesn't rightfully belong. Others in the cast include: Robert Barrat (Buck Falin, head of the clan); Alan Baxter (Clay Tolliver); Samuel S. Hinds (The Sheriff); George Ernest (Dave, as a boy), and Clara Blandick (The Landlady). Fuzzy Knight, labeled "the walking phonograph" by Thurber (Nigel Bruce), sings several melodies through his mountain walks, including "Trail of the Twilight" and "Melody from the Sky."
Of its many versions to this famous story, this 1936 release is the most famous due to frequent television broadcasts from the 1960s to the 1980s. Sylvia Sidney gets cast against type as a mountain girl, while Henry Fonda is cast in type as the vengeful mountain boy. While Sidney teamed with Fonda again in YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE (United Artists, 1937), she wouldn't work with MacMurray again until her guest star appearance in the 1969 episode of his "My Three Sons" (CBS) television series many years later. Of its leading players, Fred Stone is agreeable as the mountain father while Beulah Bondi comes off best as the peaceful wife and mother. Regardless of its fine cast (with their names credited during its opening printed on tree pines), beautiful Technicolor is its focal point throughout its 102 minutes.
Having become available on both video cassette and DVD, THE TRAIL OF THE LONESOME PINE, consisted on few cable television broadcasts, including the Disney Channel (1990s) and years later on Encore Westerns. Happy Trails. (***1/2)