The Big Trees (1952)

The way Kirk Douglas tells it in his autobiography, desperate to be released from his contract with Warners, he offered to do a picture, any picture, entirely free of charge in return for his freedom. It may well be that Jack Warner, in accepting this offer, attempted to kill two birds with one stone - get a freebie from Douglas, who was just becoming a 'name' and stick him in a triple-distilled turkey that would make him if not unemployable then at least undesirable by any of the majors. As we know this ploy - if that is what it was - backfired disastrously and Douglas went on to super stardom but I can't help wondering what he found so bad about, for example, Young Man With A Horn, in which he was top-billed as a fictional trumpet player based on the legendary Bix Biederbecke. Here he walks through a role as a ruthless lumberman in conflict with the Quakers who seek to preserve the giant redwoods which they see as God's bounty as Douglas sees as so much lumber. Barely worth a glance.

"The Big Trees" is a Western, set in northern California around 1900. The main character is Jim Fallon, a timber baron who has recently moved to the state from Wisconsin. Fallon's motive is to take advantage of a new law which will allow him to stake a claim to the area's dense forests. Fallon especially has his eyes on the giant redwoods, the world's largest (and among its oldest) trees which he believes will net him a handsome profit. There is, however, a problem. A religious community have made their home in the forest and are determined to save the trees, which they regard as symbols of the power and majesty of God. So sacred are the trees to them that they even hold their services outdoors in a redwood grove rather than in a church. (The sect have some similarities with both the Amish and the Quakers, although they are probably not intended to be identified with either). A further complication arises when Fallon falls for Alicia, an attractive young widow who is a member of the sect.In the first half of the film Fallon is portrayed as a rogue, smooth and plausible but unscrupulous and not always likable. About halfway through, however, he undergoes a change of heart and becomes one of the good guys, fighting alongside the sect in order to save the trees from his former associates, who turn out to be even more greedy and unscrupulous than he ever was.The film has some good points. The photography of the Californian forests is well done and there are some good action sequences, including a scene where Kirk Douglas leaps onto a runaway train . The theme is a potentially interesting one; environmentalism was not as hot a topic in the early fifties as it has become since, so a film with a conservationist theme was something of a novelty. Moreover, the film gives an interesting slant to the subject, showing the religious roots of the environmental movement.Despite this, however, the film also has its weaknesses. The plot is excessively complex; at times it seems as though you need a thorough knowledge of Californian land law in order to understand what is going on. It also goes through too many twists and turns, with characters assumed to be bad turning out to be good and vice versa, with abrupt changes of mood. At times it all seems fairly light-hearted and then turns into serious drama as two major characters meet violent deaths in quick succession. The acting is generally poor. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, Douglas' best film or best performance, but the supporting cast are no better. Overall, "The Big Trees" tries to be unusual but ends up as just a standard action movie, and not a very good one. 5/10

I bought a copy of this film for a very small price at a job lot store. The company, Global Multimedia Corporation, said this was a digitally remastered copy, called Value DVD. It was amusing that the cover presented Kirk Douglas and Alicia Chadwick. Alicia Chadwick is actually a major character in the story who was played by Eve Miller.The color of this restored master was indeed very good on my plasma TV. The story was set on a historical event which took place during the McKinley administration in 1900. Apparently, land with the giant redwoods was opened up for grabs by allowing lumber companies to pay for new claims, even for land which had been settled by homesteaders under an 1868 act of Congress. Our hero Jim Fallon heads west with cronies from Wisconsin to make his fortune. As the story unfolds with some tragedy, he is forsaken by former associates, and warms to his new friends, the Quakers who had settled the land before. Indeed, he turns the tide in their favor, thus redeeming himself, and winning the girl.The movie was excellent with great stunts, seemingly performed by Douglas himself. It is really instructive to see how much good film action was done long before digital effects. Indeed, this movie could give you a real taste for quality movies of mid-20th century.

In his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Kirk Douglas was telling about how badly he wanted to get out of his Warner Brothers contract. He made Jack Warner and offer he couldn't refuse, a picture for nothing, zero, zip, bupkis and he'd be released. Jack Warner took him up and the result was The Big Trees.Now getting a top star to work for nothing, you'd have thought that Warner would get him something good. Instead Kirk Douglas was saddled with an even worse than usual programmer and something he described as the worst film he ever made.Kirk is a two fisted lumber baron who goes out to the Northern California area to cut down those giant redwoods. A Quaker group who's settled there, ain't having none of that and the story unfolds.The players all look so totally bored. And the way the script is written you have absolutely no liking for Douglas's character Jim Fallon or believe it when he switches sides. In fact the villain of the piece, John Archer is treated like a doormat by Douglas when he was working for him. Watching the movie I couldn't blame him for knifing Douglas in their business. Ditto when gal pal Patrice Wymore sells a dam to Douglas's enemies and momentarily throws our hero for a loop. Best thing you could say about this is that it does have some nice special effects with Kirk Douglas riding on the runaway lumber train. The scene in How the West Was Won was copied and improved with Cinerama from the Big Trees.They should have just left the forest alone.