VALLEY OF THE GIANTS

US, 1938, 79 minutes, Colour.
Wayne Morris, Claire Trevor, Frank Mc Hugh, Alan Hale, Donald Crisp, Charles Bickford, Jack La Rue, John Litel, Russell Simpson.
Directed by William Keighley.

Valley of the Giants sounds like a Ray Harryhausen film about prehistoric times. However, the Valley of the Giants is a redwood trees valley in California at the beginning of the 20th century.

The film was one of the earliest films made in Technicolor (as was director William Keighley’s God’s Country and The Woman in the previous year). Keighley directed films generally in black and white although he began The Adventures of Robin Hood with James Cagney but was replaced by Michael Curtiz with Errol Flynn. He made a number of comedies including The Man Who Came to Dinner, dramas like The Street With No Name and finished his directing career with Errol Flynn and The Master of Ballantrae.

This film is particularly relevant for the 21st century. It is a big critique of the crooked lumber barons who wanted to exploit the Californian forests, cutting down the trees and simply moving on. The hero of the film, played by Wayne Morris, is a lumberjack but has plans for reforestation and the preservation of the tree heritage. Quite a lot of sentiments are expressed about the value of the environment, trees and the reality and their symbolism.

Wayne Morris is a hard-hitting hero. Claire Trevor plays the saloon girl with the heart of gold, yet again. Frank Mc Hugh does bumbling comedy. Alan Hale, whose character’s name is Ox, throws his weight around with great effect, stealing the show in many sequences. Donald Crisp is a banker. Charles Bickford is the heavy, the unscrupulous baron who is not afraid to call himself and his colleagues crooks. Jack La Rue is the partner in the saloon.

The film is colourful, brief. The strong Technicolor portrays the redwood forests effectively as well as some of the techniques of cutting down the timber and transporting it? There is melodramatic climax at the end involving the dynamiting of a bridge and the barriers to a dam. The film, set in 1902, is a frontier story with many aspects of the western.

1. A brief entertaining action film? The American frontiers at the beginning of the 20th century?

2. The new Technicolor process, effectiveness? The bright colours? Milwaukee, the tracks to the west? California, the forests? The frontier town? The action sequences? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the redwood trees and the valleys?

4. The background of the timber industry in the 19th century, the exploitation of the forests, the unscrupulous businessmen, taking the wood but not replanting? This film’s focus on the environment, ecology, reforestation?

5. The portrayal of Fallon and the businessmen? In Milwaukee, their deals, conspiracy? Fallon going west? His setting up Ed and Lee to run a saloon, a gambling centre for the lumberjacks? His fellow conspirators?

6. Lee, her background in the saloon, partnership with Ed, his unspoken love for her? Her not noticing? Travelling west, the wagon, the felling of the tree? The encounter with Bill Cardigan? The attraction? Her going fishing with him, his giving her the information about the bank note, her passing it on to Fallon?

7. Cardigan, his organisation of his property, the timber workers and their independence, their homes? His being a hero? The port and the transportation of the logs? The encounter with Lee, the attraction, fishing, telling her too much?

8. Fallon and his schemes, his toughs throwing the people out of their homes? Their reactions, banding together, Bill and his leadership? Andy Stone and his support? The weak sheriff in the pay of Fallon? Hendricks and the land deeds and his being in Fallon’s employ? The twisting of the law, the claims and their being discounted? The boat coming in with the land-grabbers, Fallon paying them for their land? His ownership of the land? The irony of Ox, trying to steal the documents, the accidental setting of the building on fire and its destroying all the documents?

9. Bill, his help with the people, Ox and his rescuing the old man, giving him his home? His going to Sacramento, the lawyers and their inability to do anything? His return to fight?

10. The financial situation, Stone and his note to Bill? Fallon and his standover tactics, the inspector from Sacramento? Bill and his urging the workers to gather together, to produce more lumber, to repay the note, get the property back from Fallon?

11. Lee, the confrontation with Fallon, her change of heart, going to warn Bill about the sabotage? Ox not believing her? She and Fingers in the runaway carriage? Fingers and his gambling, taking Lee’s side? Carrying the dynamite? The train carriage on the edge of the bridge? The rescue?

12. Ox, his working for Fallon, turning against him, rescuing the old man, the fight in the bar, his love of a brawl, burning down the office? His helping with the breaking of the dam wall?

13. The lumberjacks, their support of Bill, the tactic to get Fallon’s men out of the way, putting the dynamite on the bridge? The train, the runway, the dynamite exploding, the logs going downriver?

14. The fight with Fallon, rescuing him from the dam, Fallon’s change of heart, moving on?

15. The happy resolution? American individualism and leadership? The community? The glimpse of corporate barons and crooks? The film made thirty-five years after the events? Topical? The relevance to the 21st century and ecology?