The Covered Wagon (1923)

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  • THE COVERED WAGON


    DIRECTED BY JAMES CRUZE
    PARAMOUNT PICTURES


    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Two wagon caravans converge at what is now Kansas City, and combine for the westward push to Oregon. On their quest the pilgrims will experience desert heat, mountain snow, hunger, and indian attack. To complicate matters further, a love triangle develops, as pretty Molly must chose between Sam, a brute, and Will, the dashing captain of the other caravan. Can Will overcome the skeleton in his closet and win Molly's heart?
    Written by Thomas McWilliams


    Cast
    J. Warren Kerrigan ... Will Banion
    Lois Wilson ... Molly Wingate
    Alan Hale ... Sam Woodhull
    Ernest Torrence ... William Jackson
    Tully Marshall ... Jim Bridger
    Ethel Wales ... Mrs. Wingate
    Charles Ogle ... Jesse Wingate
    Guy Oliver ... Kit Carson
    Johnny Fox ... Jed Wingate
    and many more...


    Directed
    James Cruze


    Writing Credits
    Emerson Hough ... (novel)
    Jack Cunningham ... (adaptation)
    Produced
    Jesse L. Lasky ... producer


    Music
    Manny Baer ... (uncredited)
    Hugo Riesenfeld ... (uncredited)
    J.S. Zamecnik ... (uncredited)


    Cinematography
    Karl Brown


    Trivia
    Although there are scenes that show huge buffalo herds with what looks like thousands of animals, large buffalo herds didn't exist at the time this film was made (1923). The buffalo had been hunted almost to extinction during the late 19th century, with millions of them being slaughtered, and its numbers hadn't yet increased enough to comprise large herds. Cameraman Karl Brown used small lead castings of various sizes of buffalo, placed the larger ones toward the camera and used diminishing sizes in the background for depth. All the castings were mounted on a series of moving chains, those in the rear moving very slowly while the rows of chains moved increasingly faster as they neared the foreground. The castings were hinged so that they moved with an undulating motion, which made them appear to be actual buffalo running. The chains were placed out of view and the mechanical buffalo were placed in front of a painted background containing distant buffalo. The result was a scene of "thousands" of buffalo, when in reality most of them were basically statues.


    In an early cut of this film prior to its release, director James Cruze appeared in a brief cameo heavily disguised as an Indian. Screenwriter Jack Cunningham wrote him a memo saying that, even if viewers didn't recognize him from his days as an actor, he looked too "white" alongside the genuine Indians who appeared in the film. Cunningham prevailed, and the scene was deleted.


    J. Warren Kerrigan had fallen out of favor with the industry by the time he was cast in this film. James Cruze, with who he had a long friendship and professional relationship, cast him more or less as a favor.


    To get enough covered wagons for the film, a call went out in California to families that still had their ancestors' covered wagon which had brought them out west - these were gathered so wagons used were authentic - perhaps repaired a bit.


    It has been claimed, particularly by South Africans, that there are too many similarities between this and De Voortrekkers (1916) to be coincidental.


    Lois Wilson was extremely impressed by the Native Americans who were hired as extras. "You never had to re-take an Indian shot" she said of how authentic they were.


    A recording of the music for this film was made using the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process. Some sources say the entire film was scored and recorded in this process, but other sources say only a couple of reels were recorded as an experiment. See also Bella Donna (1923).


    An attempt to maneuver the covered wagons across a river for one scene resulted in two horses drowning. Lois Wilson said that this incident so upset her that she went back to her tent and couldn't work for the rest of the day.


    For the film's opening weeks in London, a group of real Red Indians was sent over to perform a tableau on the stage at the end of each screening.


    Filming Locations
    Great Basin National Park, Nevada, USA
    Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA
    Garrison Reservoir, Garrison, Utah, USA (River Crossing Scene)
    Garrison, Utah, USA (Fort Bridger Scene)
    Garrison, Utah, USA (Indian Attack on Wagon Train Scene)
    Garrison, Utah, USA (River Crossing Scene)
    Iverson Ranch - 1 Iverson Lane, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA
    Oregon, USA
    Skull Valley, Nevada, USA
    Snake Valley, Nevada, USA
    Sonora, California, USA


    Watch Some Scenes


    [extendedmedia]

    [/extendedmedia]

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 6 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • The Covered Wagon is a 1923 American silent Western film released by Paramount Pictures.
    The film was directed by James Cruze based on a novel by Emerson Hough
    about a group of pioneers traveling through the old West from Kansas to Oregon.


    J. Warren Kerrigan starred as Will Banion and Lois Wilson as Molly Wingate.


    On their quest they experience desert heat, mountain snow, hunger, and Indian attack



    Cast notes
    Tim McCoy, as Technical Advisor, recruited the Indians who appeared in this movie.Production
    The film was a major production for its time, with an estimate budget of $782,000.


    In his 1983 book Classics of the Silent Cinema, radio and TV host Joe Franklin claimed this film was
    "the first American epic not directed by Griffith"


    In the 1980 documentary Hollywood: A Celebration of American Silent Cinema, Jesse L. Laskey Jr. maintained that the goal of director James Cruze was " ... to elevate the Western, which had always been sort of a potboiler kind of film, to the status of an epic"


    The film required a large cast and film crew and many extras, and was filmed in various locations, including Palm Springs, California, and several places in Nevada and Utah.
    The dramatic buffalo hunt and buffalo stampede scenes were filmed on Antelope Island, Great Salt Lake, Utah. During filming for the movie, seven bison from the Antelope Island Bison Herd were shot and killed.


    The covered wagons gathered by Paramount from all over the Southwest were not replicas, but the real wagons that had brought the pioneers west. They were cherished heirlooms of the families who owned them. The producers offered the owners $2 a day and feed for their stock if they would bring the wagons for the movie. Most of the extras seen on film are the families who owned the covered wagons and were perfectly at home driving them and living out of them during the production



    Reception
    The film premiered in New York City on 16 March 1923 and ran 98 minutes. A musical soundtrack was recorded in the short-lived DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, but sources vary on whether this record soundtrack was of the entire score or about two reels worth of the film. The Phonofilm version of the film was only shown this way at the premiere at the Rivoli Theater in New York City.[12] Paramount reportedly also released Bella Donna on 1 April 1923 with a Phonofilm soundtrack, also only at the premiere at the Rivoli.


    The film was the most popular movie of 1923 in the US and Canada.


    This was also Warren Harding's favourite film as he showed it at a special screening at the White House during the summer of 1923.


    The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:


    2001: AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – Nominated


    User Review


    The Long, Long Trail
    15 August 2014 | by lugonian (Kissimmee, Florida)

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 7 times, last by ethanedwards ().