The Big Trail

John Wayne jumped from bit player to leading man in Raoul Walsh's "The Big Trail" (1930), an epic Western with Wayne as a young scout leading a wagon train heading for Oregon while on his own mission of vengeance. The film was not only one of the first epics of the sound era, but also a pioneering wide-screen feature. Unfortunately, it flopped, which pretty much ended both wide-screen and Wayne's stardom for many years. The two-disc set features the DVD debut of the original wide-screen version (with commentary by film historian/author Richard Schickel) and the previously available full-screen version. Also includes featurettes on Wayne, director Walsh, the Grandeur process, and the making of the film. The box set also features three previously available Wayne pictures from late in his career: the knockabout gold rush adventure "North to Alaska" (1960) with Stewart Granger, "The Comancheros" (1961) with Stuart Whitman, and "The Undefeated" (1969) with Rock Hudson, all in thinpak cases. "The Big Trail" is also available in a separate two-disc edition in a standard case.