''The Big Trees'' is a

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

American lumberjack

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

and directed by Felix E. Feist. It was Kirk Douglas's final film for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, a film he did for free in exchange for the studio agreeing to release him from his long-term contract. The film has fallen into the public domain. 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 (

) greedily eyes the big redwood trees in the virgin region of northern

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. 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 Eve Marilyn Miller (born Marilyn Miller; August 8, 1923 – August 17, 1973) was an American actress who appeared in 41 films between 1945 and 1961. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and died in Van Nuys, California. She died by sui ...

), though that does not change his plan to cheat the homesteaders. When Jim's right-hand man, Yukon Burns (

Edgar Buchanan William Edgar Buchanan II (March 20, 1903 – April 4, 1979) was an American actor with a long career in both film and television. He is most familiar today as Uncle Joe Carson from the '' Petticoat Junction'', '' Green Acres'', and '' The Bever ...

) 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

as Jim Fallon *

as Sister Alicia Chadwick *

Patrice Wymore Patrice Wymore Flynn (born Patricia Wymore; December 17, 1926 – March 22, 2014) was an American film, television and stage actress of the 1950s and 1960s, known for her marriage to Errol Flynn. Early life and stage career Born Patricia Wymor ...

as Daisy Fisher *

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 Ellen Hansen Corby (June 3, 1911 – April 14, 1999) was an American actress and screenwriter. She played the role of List of The Waltons characters#Esther Walton, Esther "Grandma" Walton on the Columbia Broadcasting System, CBS television ...

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 California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (Cal Poly Humboldt or Humboldt) is a public university in Arcata, California. It is one of Cal Poly (disambiguation), three polytechnic universities in the California State University (CSU) sys ...

played members of the Quaker congregation and members of its choir.

Production

The film was made with the cooperation of the Hammond and Carlotta Lumber companies, and was shot at locations in

Humboldt County, California Humboldt County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 136,463. The county seat is Eureka, California, Eureka. Humboldt County compri ...

. 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. Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan Hale MacKahan; March 8, 1921 – January 2, 1990) was an American actor and restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but he was best known for his secondary lead ro ...

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.

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." In a 1986 interview with

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

, this was one of two movies Kirk told the audience that they could skip in his filmography. The other was '' Along the Great Divide''.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Trees, The 1952 films American historical drama films Warner Bros. films Films directed by Felix E. Feist Films with screenplays by James R. Webb 1952 drama films 1950s historical drama films Films set in California Films set in 1900 Films set in forests Articles containing video clips Films scored by Heinz Roemheld Films about Quakers Films about lumberjacks * *big 1950s English-language films 1950s American films English-language historical drama films