The Cariboo Trail (1950)

That was an excellent one.

Such a frustrating disappointment

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

i must have seen a different film!!

A reasonably exciting Randolph Scott western, supposedly taking place in the interior plateau country of British Columbia, where caribou used to graze the abundant grass. Scott and his partners hope to establish a cattle ranch in this virgin grazing region, along with some gold prospecting to help establish their ranch, as they have little money. They are joined by Grizzly(Gabby Hayes): an old prospector, down on his luck, who will soon help them get started in panning for gold, after they lose their herd, as well as gear, to a nocturnal stampede engineered by a gang of larcenous cutthroats, headed by Frank Walsh, headquartered in the little town of Carson Creek, up ahead. A later run-in with the Blackfoot Indians, while prospecting for gold, nearly ends their lives, except for a lucky turn of events. Walsh would later engineer yet another nocturnal cattle stampede, this time via the Blackfoot, who became allies of the Walsh gang. Fortunately, most of their gear was undamaged this time. Scott had thrown in with Grizzly and his kin, who had brought this cattle herd up the Cariboo Trail. Presumably, after rounding up most of their cattle, they continued on to their promised land. The film is actually considerably more exciting than what my summary suggests. ....There are some questionable events in the screenplay. Perhaps most glaring is the manner in which the 3 prospectors escape from the Blackfoot. Supposedly, their pack mule started kicking up a storm, thus freaking out the Indians, who were mostly gathered in a bunch. Scott, and presumably the others, got away by stealing an Indian pony, along with a rifle(Yea, right!). They didn't consider that they might have similar ruins with the Indians when they brought in their cattle. After escaping the Indians, Grizzly made it to Montana and brought back that new cattle heard, with his relatives mighty quickly. Simultaneously, Scott was panning for gold, presumably without proper equipment or survival equipment and supplies! Presumably, he spent the better part of the snowless season collecting his gold, so that he would meet up with Grizzly and kin. The final stampede involved the Blackfoot, Scott and bunch, Walsh and gang, and a citizen group headed by Mike Evans, who had recently defected from the larcenous Walsh. Along with the cattle, in semi- darkness, this made for a very confusing several minutes, as shadowy forms raced back and forth on the screen. Nothing is said about the task of rounding up most of their cattle, which they had failed to do with their first herd. ...This was Gabby Hayes' last role in a feature film, having been a beloved sidekick for many a western hero over the past 15 years....Unlike some reviewers, I didn't notice a problem with the Cinecolor cinematography. The copy I saw said it was an upgraded version. See it at YouTube.

Like Canadian pacific,this film had a segment too near the end, that also only lasted a couple of seconds ,in which only one component survived.Because of that it was printed in black and white.The.German preservationist are too perfectionist.The color component of that segment survived in the Eastman color print ,which had no shrinkage ,compare too Canadian pacific. as far as the print as concern.The whole print was used for VHS version released by fries video in 1991.I got that.Why did the German preservationist use the color record of that segment from that print? The same with other? cause they were too perfectionist.The quality did not match the rest of the digitally restored color frames of the rest of the film.So what ? the fact that the color was available from other print it was important to keep the whole print in color constancy.U.c.l.a ,if they restored, it would of felt that way.It was only a few seconds,The quality of material available for the Restoration of Paramount on parade ,was also below quality of the t.v reedited version,but they used it.So was the material use in the finale of the talking version of Broadway ,1930.In spite of this the whole print is still very pleasing.When I saw Gabby Hayes reacting to Bill Williams arms being amputated by Randolph Scot ,after the cattle stampede ,cause by the bad guy,played by Victor Jory, It seemed that this character actor gave everything in his talent that would of deserve an Oscar nomination, but Cinercolor feature were viewed as low brow and the academy did not considered them.Like the other feature this also take place in Canada.I'm wondering if this was a part of promoting the Canadian film industry? Any how this was quite entertaining.This also include bonuses ,like the 8mm 8 minute edited version that was put out in the early 60's,in b and w.For a few cents more that company could of printed it in color, castle films. 11/24/16

This film marked the end of George "Gabby" Hayes screen career.He is shown as having made 190 screen appearances in Westerns between 1929 and 1950.Although in the quotes section he is quoted as saying that he hated westerns.He has always been my favourite western sidekick.He was just so good at it.He looks quite old in this film though in actual fact he is only about 68.One supposes that with the advent of TV he foresaw the end of his type of Westerns.I have to say that I consider that he is the best sidekick of all.He has a very good role in this his final film.Otherwise it is just run of the mill.As has been mentioned elsewhere the cinecolor is truly awful and was clearly used for the sake of economy.

This film has many faults, and if Randolph Scott made many westerns that could be called "adult" this is certainly not one of them. You can't take it seriously but I enjoyed it. One must remember that this film was made in 1950, and color here is of great importance,considering most westerns of the forties and before were made in black and white. Randolph Scott had the ideal physique for a western hero, and his presence together with a nice scenery and a lot of action, the usual fistfight, and shootouts, cattle stampede, Indian attacks would please most of the spectators of the fifties and it sure pleases me, perhaps a nostalgic feeling. Gabby Hayes is always a welcome presence, great sidekick. Bill Williams has a good performance as Mike Evans, who loses his arm and blames it on Scott, Karen Booth as the saloon owner who falls for Scott, and a small part of a very young Dale Robertson as Will Gray. If you are a nostalgic for old westerns like me you will enjoy it.