The Big Trees is directed by Felix Feist and adapted to screenplay by John Twist and James R. Webb from the novel written by Kenneth Earl. It stars Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller, Edgar Buchanan, Patrice Wymore and John Archer. Music is by Heinz Roemheld and cinematography by Bert Glennon.
In 1900, the Congress of the United States passed a law which made a young man in Wisconsin decide to prove-that money grows on trees.
Enter Kirk Douglas as unscrupulous lumber Barron Jim Fallon, who sets off to Northern California to make a fortune out of the giant trees that have grown there. But his two-faced tactics rub too many people up the wrong way and he is in danger of losing his heart to Alcia Chadwick (Miller).
Bringing in the Sheaves.
A remake of Warner Brothers' 1938 Valley of the Giants, The Big Trees is one of those films that looks good on the page but plays out as rather dull. When the trees are the best thing in your movie then you know you got problems! Cast are mostly fine, even Douglas gives it a good go, this in spite of it being a final studio assignment worked for free to get himself out of his Warner's contract. Narrative features worthy topics such as religious faith, care of the land and the evil of greed, and a couple of fine action sequences involving a train and a dam briefly lift the spirits. But the journey to these destinations is a very slow one, the script just isn't perky or intelligent enough to hold the attention, whilst the ending can be seen from way back in Wisconsin. We do get a nifty song and dance number, The Soubrette on the Police Gazette, performed by Wymore, that is enjoyable if oddly out of sync with tone of the movie. Prints of the film available haven't helped either, where the Technicolor looks washed out and not doing justice to Glennon's photography out of Orick, California.
Tough to get through and instantly forgettable, avoid unless you happen to really dig trees. 3/10
In 1900, the Congress of the United States passed a law which made a young man in Wisconsin decide to prove-that money grows on trees.
Enter Kirk Douglas as unscrupulous lumber Barron Jim Fallon, who sets off to Northern California to make a fortune out of the giant trees that have grown there. But his two-faced tactics rub too many people up the wrong way and he is in danger of losing his heart to Alcia Chadwick (Miller).
Bringing in the Sheaves.
A remake of Warner Brothers' 1938 Valley of the Giants, The Big Trees is one of those films that looks good on the page but plays out as rather dull. When the trees are the best thing in your movie then you know you got problems! Cast are mostly fine, even Douglas gives it a good go, this in spite of it being a final studio assignment worked for free to get himself out of his Warner's contract. Narrative features worthy topics such as religious faith, care of the land and the evil of greed, and a couple of fine action sequences involving a train and a dam briefly lift the spirits. But the journey to these destinations is a very slow one, the script just isn't perky or intelligent enough to hold the attention, whilst the ending can be seen from way back in Wisconsin. We do get a nifty song and dance number, The Soubrette on the Police Gazette, performed by Wymore, that is enjoyable if oddly out of sync with tone of the movie. Prints of the film available haven't helped either, where the Technicolor looks washed out and not doing justice to Glennon's photography out of Orick, California.
Tough to get through and instantly forgettable, avoid unless you happen to really dig trees. 3/10