The Great White Trail (1917)
Direction: Leopold Wharton and Theodore Wharton
Screenplay: Gardner Hunting and Leopold Wharton
Cast: Doris Kenyon, Paul Gordon, Richard Stewart, Thomas Holding, Louise Hotaling, Hans Roberts, Edgar Davenport
Some films have "everything except the kitchen sink" as the saying goes. Well, the 1917 melodrama The Great White Trail has a plot that has everything and about three kitchen sinks as well, as it briskly makes its way from one improbable situation after another before everything is happily resolved in the final reel.
Doris Kenyon plays a happy young wife and mother. When her irresponsible brother appeals to her for help, her husband (Paul Gordon) misunderstands the situation, believing her to be unfaithful. He turns her out of the house, denying he's the father of her child. Kenyon briefly goes mad and in her madness leaves her baby in a tree before she collapses. The baby is then found by the dog of a minister, who ends up raising the little girl.
Distraught over the loss of her child, Kenyon goes to Alaska to work as a nurse. When her husband realizes the truth, he follows her there, where he crosses paths with a villain known as "The Vulture" (Richard Stewart) — who knocks him over the head. The husband then suffers from amnesia. And it doesn't end there.
It's hard to imagine that anyone — even in 1917 — really took The Great White Trail seriously. The plot elements and cliched devices stretch the limits of credulity to the splintering point. Still, taken in the right spirit the film is a deftly handled, unpretentious, fun effort.
Reviewed at Cinesation 2009
© James Bazen
The Great White Trail was one of the first independent films to be released under the state rights distribution system.
The original theatrical release was in June 1917 and it was billed as a "Super Feature" it was 8 reels long (which means there was room for more kitchen sinks).
The Wharton Brothers well known for producing serial films produced this "episodic" film in and around the Finger lakes region of NY State.
It was "An Epic of the Artic" that showed the riggers of life on "The Great White Trail."
After the premiere showing of the film it was immediately cut to 7 reels, and then to 6 reels and finally to the version that was shown at the 2009 cinesation the 5 reel offering.
It's working title was "A Tragedy of the Snows"
Having never seen the 8 , 7, 0r 6 reel versions, I can tell you it was cut because of the great number of mushing shots, snow shoeing, sled riding, pretty pictures and the many snow scenes. That being said the photography, double exposures and tinting work done on the film were utilized effectively.
The films of the silent era were pioneering efforts in a new form of entertainment and very few good examples of that work exist.
Still, taken in the right spirit the film is a deftly handled, unpretentious, fun effort. Oh boy, and its available on DVD.