Monday, May 10, 2010

One of the last epic silent films- The Trail of 98 (1928).


The Trail of 98(1928). The cast; Dolores Del Rio, Ralph Forbes, Harry Carey, Karl Dane, Emily Fitzroy, Roscoe Karns, Tully Marshall & Doris Lloyd.

The western epic begins, in 1896 when gold was discovered in a creek in the Yukon's. Despite the trouble in getting there, over 30,000 people would travel to the boom town of Dawson City, looking to get rich. It would not take long before someone discovered $100,000,000 in gold.

The film story is about the lives of many prospectors, but there is one story that stands out, is that of a gold miner who strikes it rich and is heartbroken when he returns to his true love and discovers that she is dance-hall girl working for a known murderer.

The last of the great silent epics, M-G-M's The Trail of '98 has a wonderful music score, sound effects and a theme song, "I Found Gold When I Found You", by Hazel Mooney, Evelyn Lyn and William Axt. Based on Robert William Service's 1911 novel. The famous scene of the long climb to the Chilkoot Pass is one you will never forget. It is most remembered the harrowing journey down the Whitehorse Rapids. The scene cost the lives of four stunt players, including Ray Thompson, who played the ranch foreman in Buster Keaton's Go West (1925).

2 comments:

Silentfilmfanatic said...

Dawn, thanks for reviewing this film. I recorded it yesterday when it played on TCM, but haven't watched it yet. BTW, your Dolores del Rio page is beautiful.

Dawn said...

Silent, Thank you and thank you for introducing me to, Dolores Del Rio and her films.