NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

GazerRise Fantastic!

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

jarrodmcdonald-1 The film is a combination of western, melodrama and musical. The action sequences are quite good, and there is humor, too. Even if you have not read the book by Gwen Bristow, it is obvious that producer Herbert Yates has omitted key chunks of the narrative, presumably to keep the focus on his wife, Vera Ralston, who stars in this project.But the omissions hurt the picture. Indeed, too many liberties have been taken while transferring Bristow's epic story to the big screen: the New York prologue is eliminated; we do not see the death of the California woman who kills herself and her baby; the Russian character is introduced at the Hale ranch, not in San Francisco. And the film spends its final half hour in Los Angeles.There are other changes. For instance, we do not get a scene in which Garnet (Joan Leslie) learns she's pregnant; and at one point, she has her arm in a sling, though we have no idea why she's been injured at the ranch. Apparently, there was an earthquake, but those scenes were either edited out or not filmed at all.Despite the imperfections, the film is more enjoyable than one would expect it to be. It is told from the point of view of the western female; and at its heart, the story celebrates the friendship of pioneer women.

gamay9 TCM is going crazy. First, 'Beat the Devil,' worst Bogart film ever made. When I get to Heaven and meet Bogie, I will not bring this title up for fear he'll send me to hell.Next, they air 'Jubilee Trail,' not a western; rather a bad soap opera(was there ever a good one)? I wrote TCM about their frequent repeats, concentrating too much on 'stars,' and failure to air 'cult' films, black (dark) comedies and sexy foreign movies, with stars such as Judy Geeson ('....round the Mulberry Bush), Brigitte Bardot (anything), Nicole Aubrey (Seven Deadly Sins - which I have on DVD). Also, what about 'Montenegro,' best dark comedy I have ever seen.If TCM airs movies uncut, let's see some sex and nudity, not the American version of foreign films.As for 'Jubilee Trail,' thumbs w-a-a-a-a-a-y DOWN!

5November I have a poster of Jubilee Trail on my wall and at the top it says, "The Greatest American Drama Since Gone With the Wind." Now that's a howler and yet I've always liked this unusual western. Nothing quite like Jubilee Trail on a rainy Saturday afternoon with cookies and milk. It's about the settling of California but is short on action and long on dialogue... not for the typical western watcher perhaps. It kind of reminds me of "Johnny Guitar" (made the same year by the same studio) with two women as the leads. Here they are not protagonists but great, supportive friends. Top-billed is Vera Ralston (married to the studio head) but the real star is the always-enchanting Joan Leslie and this is one of her finest moments. Forrest Tucker, John Russell, Jim Davis, Buddy Baer and others who have worked with Leslie and Ralston before make this film look like a happy working experience for all. We couch cowboys are the winners.

Charles Reichenthal JUBILEE TRAIL is close to a disaster, and it particularly distressing to see lovely and very talented JOAN LESLIE reduced to a namby-pamby secondary role to the awful Vera Ralston. Ralston, of course, was a stellar Olympic figure skating champion who arrived in Hollywood to skate her way into a couple of films for Republic Pictures' boss Herbert J. Yates (who fell in love with her, married her, and spent years and money on trying to convince the public that she could act.) Ralston's acting was poor but less annoying in those films in which she was surrounded by professionals (e.g. MURDER IN THE MUSIC HALL and ANGEL ON THE AMAZON). But Yates kept pushing the envelope, and Republic's expensive western JUBILEE TRAIL is one of the nadirs. Lots of money obviously spent on the film, but Ralston, as a 'dance hall' performer (hmmm) is all over the place with shrieky acting techniques, an overabundance of makeup, and a plump-ish body. It is truly one of the lowest acting exercises. Photography, though, is quite good, and Yates' money expenditures are obvious in other facets of the production. John Russell is the best in a large supporting cast. Joan Leslie remains the central character around whom the plot is moved along. She is beautiful and tries to do the best with some of the awful dialog. (She plays a nice newlywed who, for some unfathomable reason, befriends Ralston.). What a waste!!! If life were fair, Leslie, by this time, would have been an appreciated talent whose abilities were growing with her own maturity.