Valley of the Giants ** (1938, Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Charles Bickford, Frank McHugh, Alan Hale Sr, Donald Crisp) – Classic Movie Review 7510

Director William Keighley’s 1938 Warner Bros adventure Valley of the Giants stars Wayne Morris and Charles Bickford as lumberjacks Bill Cardigan and Howard Fallon who battle over California’s Redwood trees, when Easterner wood thieves move in to pinch the timber goods. Seton I Miller and Michael Fessier’s screenplay is based on Peter B Kyne’s 1918 novel The Valley of the Giants.

Valley of the Giants is the third outing for a popular but not particularly inspiring adventure tale (following 1919 and 1927 versions directed by James Cruze and Charles Brabin), and it was later used as the basis for black and white 1940 King of Lumberjacks (which used all of the action footage from the train wreck) and then the 1952 movie The Big Trees, which also re-used some of this film’s outdoor scenes.

Fallon, Hendricks (John Litel), Lee Roberts (Claire Trevor), Ed Morell (Jack La Rue) and ‘Fingers’ McCarthy (Frank McHugh) all go to California bent on procuring the land belonging to Cardigan, who owns a large portion of the California Redwoods.

In a male-dominated movie, Claire Trevor is an asset as Morris’s love interest, gambling-house lady Lee Roberts. But, aside from the star trio and some solid support performances (Frank McHugh as ‘Fingers’ McCarthy, Alan Hale Sr as ‘Ox’ Smith, Donald Crisp as Andy Stone, Jack LaRue as Ed Morrell, John Litel as Hendricks, Dick Purcell as Creel, El Brendel and Russell Simpson as McKenzie), this is a pretty wooden movie. However, cinematographer Allen M Davey’s Technicolor images help quite a lot.

Also in the cast are Cy Kendall as Sheriff Grabber, Harry Cording as Greer, Wade Botelier as Joe Lorimer, Helen MacKellar as Mrs Lorimer, Addison Richards as Hewitt and Jerry Colonna as as Saloon Singer.

Warner Bros released the film on 17 September 1938. It was shot on location in Humboldt County, California.

The 1919 film was missing till 2010 when the Russian film archive Gosfilmofond presented it to the Library of Congress.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7510

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