The Cariboo Trail *** (1950, Randolph Scott, George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Bill Williams, Karin Booth, Victor Jory) Classic Movie Review 9651

‘Between majestic mountains and frozen waste lay The Cariboo Trail… gateway to gold, greed and glory!’

Director Edwin L Marin 1950 film The Cariboo Trail is a good-looking gold-mining Western, set in Canada’s British Columbia, where crooked town boss Frank Walsh (Victor Jory) clashes with Montana cattleman Jim Redfern (Randolph Scott) and his prospector buddy Mike Evans (Bill Williams) when Walsh demands a toll to cross the local bridge and the duo refuses to pay.

The Cariboo Trail is routine but robust, despite the all-too-familiar set-up, with capable performances by Scott and the stalwarts, a busy screenplay by Frank Gruber, based on the story by John Rhodes Sturdy, and lusty direction. Plus it is filmed by Fred Jackman Jr in striking Cinecolor against handsome backdrops. And it is all done and dusted in a pacey 81 minutes.

Also in the cast are George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, Karin Booth, Douglas Kennedy, Jim Davis, Dale Robertson, Mary Stuart, James Griffith, Lee Tung Foo, Charles Anthony Hughes, Mary Kent, Ray Hyke, Jerome Root, Cliff Clark, Tom Monroe, Fred Libby, Kansas Moehring, Dorothy Adams and Michael Barrett.

In 1956 Scott starred Williams’s wife Barbara Hale in 7th Cavalry.

It is made at Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California; at Republic Studios, Hollywood; and on location in Colorado and British Columbia, Canada by Nat Holt Productions, and released by 20th Century Fox.

Some TV prints are in black and white.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9651

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