THE BIG TREES
US, 1952, 89 minutes, Colour.
Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller, Patrice Wymore, Edgar Buchanan, John Archer, Alan Hale Jnr.
Directed by Felix Feist.
The Big Trees is a pleasing minor western of the early '50s. It is typical of many Warner Bros. productions at the time. Of interest in later times is the focus on the preservation of forests and wilderness - a theme of conservation to emerge in subsequent decades. The film relies on the charm and strength of Kirk Douglas as its ambiguous hero and there is good support from regular character actors. There is an emphasis on colourful action rather than violence and some colourful spectacle in the forests and the explosions for the destruction of a dam. Unpretentiously entertaining.
1. The popularity of the western? The variations in this western - the community, the Quakers, the trees and the dams, double-dealing? The 1900 setting?
2. Colour photography, special effects, action sequences? The atmospheric score?
3. The film's reliance on familiar conventions of the western? The establishing of hero, girlfriend? The minor characters - goodies and baddies? The Quaker community and the heroine? Conventional use? Differences?
4. The plausibility of the plot? The contrast with the themes of the opening up of the West? The characters of the West and their double-dealings? Changes of heart? Heroism? True love? The treatment and the credibility?
5. Kirk Douglas' strong charm as Jim Fallon? His background as a lumberman? Lack of scruple? His experience in exploiting the redwoods? The background to his finances, wanting to buy land? The commercialising of the trees? The clash with the Quaker community? His reliance on Daisy Fisher and her helping him in financial deals? Her devotion to him? The unscrupulous men backing him? The influence of the Quaker community? The elder? His daughter Alicia and Fallon's change of heart? His decision to sell the claim to the Quakers? The rousing of the Quakers to action? The destruction of the dam and the saving of the trees? The conventional hero - in the Kirk Douglas style?
6. The contrast with the two women: Daisy and the good-hearted entertainer. devoted to Fallon, exploited by him? Brassy style? Selling the claim? The contrast with Alicia and her place in the Quaker community, her father. attraction towards Fallon, suspicions of him? His rescuing her from death? The love and happy ending?
7. The portrait of the Quaker community? The background of their beliefs? Pacifism? Pioneering? The influence of Quakers in the United States? Their veneration for the trees? Their holding them in religious respect? Their attempts to raise money to acquire the land? The clash with Fallon and his buying the dam? Their reaction to the double deals? The blasting of the dam and the saving of the trees?
8. The background of the unscrupulous villains, money deals, attitudes towards the law etc.?
9. Romantic sequences combined with the life of the town, the Quaker community. spectacular clashes, the final action?
10. The contribution of this kind of minor western to the continuing tradition of the Hollywood western, the conventions of the genre? An entertaining contribution?
