Jubilee Trail ** (1954, Vera Ralston, Joan Leslie, Forrest Tucker, John Russell, Ray Middleton, Pat O’Brien) – Classic Movie Review 12,045

Director Joseph Kane’s 1954 Republic Pictures American Trucolor Western film Jubilee Trail stars Vera Ralston, Joan Leslie, Forrest Tucker, John Russell, Ray Middleton, and Pat O’Brien.

In the California Gold Rush, saloon singer Vera Ralston protects young Joan Leslie, when her brother-in-law Russell and trader Forrest Tucker fight over her. Leslie gives birth, Russell dies and his older brother, who has always fancied Leslie, nabs the baby. Jubilee Trail is a costly (certainly for Republic Pictures) tear-jerking romantic oater from Gwen Bristow’s then popular novel.

This decently performed movie is well produced and looks handsome (apart from the Trucolor) but it does plod along and quite often stalls, never really lifting itself out of the ordinary and routine. Nevertheless, it is entirely passable, though, as a run-of-the-mill 1950s Western.

Ralston sings four songs.

Also in the cast are Buddy Baer, Barton MacLane, Richard Webb, James Millican, Nina Varela, Martin Garralaga, Charles Stevens, Jack Elam, Don Beddoe, John Holland, William Haade, Alan Bridge, and John Halloran.

The cast are Vera Ralston as Florinda Grove aka Julie Latour, Joan Leslie as Garnet Hale, Forrest Tucker as John Ives, John Russell as Oliver Hale, Ray Middleton as Charles Hale, Pat O’Brien as Ernest ‘Texas’ Conway, Buddy Baer as Nicolai Gregorovitch Karakozeff ‘Handsome Brute’, Jim Davis as Silky, Barton MacLane as Deacon Bartlett, Richard Webb as Captain Brown, James Millican as Rinardi, Nina Varela as Doña Manuela, Martin Garralaga as Don Rafael Velasco, Charles Stevens as Pablo, Jack Elam as Whitey, Don Beddoe, John Holland, William Haade, Alan Bridge, and John Halloran.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,045

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