Bill Slocum The canoe overtakes the horse and the Mounties become the cavalry as the Canadian West is the setting for this rather different but still weak Lone Star oater starring a young John Wayne.Rod Drew (Wayne) journeys to the wilds of western Canada to seek out the niece of a man named John Ball. On the train ride over he reacquaints himself with a college chum, Wabi (Noah Beery, Jr.) who quickly finds himself on the wrong end of a bad poker game. With Drew's help, the two make a daring escape by jumping off the train while it crosses a river, the first of many big splashes in this splash-happy film.Give director Robert N. Bradbury credit for shaking up the usual Lone Star formula. The stunts this time are better than usual, and more smoothly integrated into an unusual story, adapted from the novel "The Wolf Hunters" by James Oliver Carwood, a noted writer in his day. Noah Beery, Jr. makes for an interesting foil, playing a decent fellow but one with a hidden agenda where a woman named Felice (Verna Hillie) is concerned. Several reviews here mention the scenic vistas, which are indeed impressive, California playing Canada nicely.The problem with "The Trail Beyond" is it's a cheapo Lone Star film with jerky cutting, repetitive situations, and weak acting. Normally Wayne is pretty good in these films, but he's actually very wooden here. Just as bad is another Lone Star vet I have come to like, Earl Dwire, who is stuck with another of those bad-accented villain characters he can't pull off, this time as a French-Canadian who is two-timing his boss and plots to steal Rob and Wabi's gold-mine map.Wayne just can't get out of his own way delivering bad dialogue like "Well, this is your little game, is it?" An opening exposition scene is painful for the way Wayne nods amateurishly at the wooden lines of some unnamed fellow for whom he is undertaking this expedition. In case you wonder about that, the script has Drew exclaim at one point: "I haven't forgotten that you were Dad's best friend," an awkward bit of excessive fat-chewing made worse by Duke's sheepish grin when delivering it.Beery is better, but he's got problems, too, as the dialogue really pushes his character to dopey depths."I owe him my life but I'm not going to let him come between us!" he tells Felice."Why, Wabi, I never realized you felt that way, about me," she replies.This whole jealous-Wabi thing could have been a more worthwhile plot point, but it's never developed. Wabi acts a bit squirrelly for a while, until he fesses up about misleading Drew. For his part, Drew just pats the guy on the shoulder and the story continues like nothing happened.There are good moments in the film. I like Wayne's line after he and Wabi take their jump off the train: "Nice day for ducks." It's a classic Wayne one-liner for those of us who like to keep score.The film does move quickly in the standard Lone Star way, and there is a nice subplot where we learn the fate of John Ball. The fact is a good story could have been told in the short running time afforded, which Bradbury shows us by nearly pulling it off. Watching Lone Star Wayne movies is usually a case of seeing a classy performance in search of a vehicle; here Wayne never finds the right handle and proves this film's most surprising disappointment.

dougdoepke Great alpine scenery. Yes, I know, there's a story too, but who needs it with all the terrific vistas to marvel at. Lone Star didn't just ride around California's Owens Valley on this one. No sir, they got right into some of the best mountain panoramas of the Southern Sierras. Nearly every frame has something picturesque to look at.Maybe you can follow the plot. I couldn't. Something about a gold mine and some baddies who speak Frenchified English about as well as I can. Poor Verna Hillie, she has about ten lines in the whole movie. Still, it does get tiresome looking at all those ugly guys. Then too, watch Noah Beery Sr., who has the look and voice of a first rate villain. Definitely, he should have played the lead bad guy. Still there are some good touches-- the broken bottle (how clever), the race down the river (scope out that waterfall), and the great Earl Dwire (no actor, but with a face that would scare Frankenstein).The only advantage most A Westerns have over this lowly programmer is script quality. Sure, that's a biggie, but otherwise this little V W can hold its own against the sleeker Cadillacs of the day.

Mike-764 Rod Drew is sent by a friend to locate his long lost daughter Marie, who he believes is in Northwest Canada. En route by train, Drew meets his old friend, a half breed named Wabi, who immediately becomes involved in a murder frame up and the two jump from the train wanted men. Tracking down clues to Marie's whereabouts, Drew and Wabi make their way to an abandoned cabin and find a map that Drew's friend and a partner made, showing the location of a treasure. Wabi takes Drew to a trading post run by Newsome and assisted by his daughter Felice (whom Wabi loves). Benoit, who works as a clerk in Newsome's store, tries to grab the map so he can get the treasure for LaRocque, a trapper and the film's bad man. Noting that Drew and Wabi are wanted men, LaRocque has one of his men kidnap and impersonate a Mountie, and get the map when they arrive back at the cabin, however Drew gives them a fake map, and he, Wabi, and Ryan (the Mountie) go after the treasure, while LaRocque and his men close in on Newsome's cabin to get the map. A very enjoyable B film with what seems like better directing and production values than seen in previous Bradbury films, which probably due to the fact that its based on the Curwood novel, rather than being an original Bradbury story. Nice cinematography highlight the film and overshadow the wooden acting by the entire cast, especially by Frazer and Dwire as the villains. Much of the start of the movie has character introduction which gets the film off on a wrong foot, but the film settles in and becomes enjoyable. Rating, based on B westerns, 7.

Spondonman This has always stood out from the (star) pack for me, almost wholly because of the scenery and the sympathetic photography. The screenplay storyboard is plain to read as you're watching, stilted dialogue ending abruptly at scene ends, trip wires pulling down horses galore, a rope yanking a shot baddie offa his horse, reflecting mirrors directing light at the subjects etc.The usual Golden Age convention leftovers from Edwardian times are also apparent - suspicion of murder falling naturally upon the head of a person of mixed parentage, the handy ethnic minority (French) ready to be the bad guys to a man, beautiful heiresses innocent and untarnished by money etc. Plenty of chasing about, silent fight scenes, an undeveloped love affair, hair-raising stunts with various stuntmen and stunthorses and a confusing climax.OK - but I still love and recommend this one!