one of my absolute favorites!

To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

The Big Trees is directed by Felix Feist and adapted to screenplay by John Twist and James R. Webb from the novel written by Kenneth Earl. It stars Kirk Douglas, Eve Miller, Edgar Buchanan, Patrice Wymore and John Archer. Music is by Heinz Roemheld and cinematography by Bert Glennon.In 1900, the Congress of the United States passed a law which made a young man in Wisconsin decide to prove-that money grows on trees.Enter Kirk Douglas as unscrupulous lumber Barron Jim Fallon, who sets off to Northern California to make a fortune out of the giant trees that have grown there. But his two-faced tactics rub too many people up the wrong way and he is in danger of losing his heart to Alcia Chadwick (Miller).Bringing in the Sheaves.A remake of Warner Brothers' 1938 Valley of the Giants, The Big Trees is one of those films that looks good on the page but plays out as rather dull. When the trees are the best thing in your movie then you know you got problems! Cast are mostly fine, even Douglas gives it a good go, this in spite of it being a final studio assignment worked for free to get himself out of his Warner's contract. Narrative features worthy topics such as religious faith, care of the land and the evil of greed, and a couple of fine action sequences involving a train and a dam briefly lift the spirits. But the journey to these destinations is a very slow one, the script just isn't perky or intelligent enough to hold the attention, whilst the ending can be seen from way back in Wisconsin. We do get a nifty song and dance number, The Soubrette on the Police Gazette, performed by Wymore, that is enjoyable if oddly out of sync with tone of the movie. Prints of the film available haven't helped either, where the Technicolor looks washed out and not doing justice to Glennon's photography out of Orick, California.Tough to get through and instantly forgettable, avoid unless you happen to really dig trees. 3/10

The scene when the people from the forest "read" history on a redwood may have inspired Hitchcock and his screenwriters for a famous moment in "Vertigo" when Kim Novak and James Stewart walk through the trees(it is not in the original French novel)Deforestation has become one of the main concerns of our time,which gives "the big trees" a contemporary ecological feel.Kirk Douglas portrays a greedy man one of his rare parts of a disagreeable man (however there were three of these nasty persons in his 1952 work "ace in the hole' aka "the big carnival" "detective story" and this movie).In " the big trees" ,it will take tragedies and the love and faith of a woman to take him back on the right track.The forest landscapes are splendid and make the viewer feel how much people need the protection of these big trees.

The movie talks about a greedy lumberman called Jim Fallon (Kirk Douglas) who tries to make himself the owner of a redwood with impressive trees called ¨Sequoias¨ placed on California . A group of religious Quakers care the rousing trees like a holy mission . As a Quaker colony tries to save the giant sequoias from a timber baron . Meanwhile , Kirk falls in love with the leader (Eve Miller) , befriends a kind old man (Edgar Buchanan , a real scene stealer) and confronts enemies . Fallon will have to confront some of his own workers to vanquish the battle . The film deals upon the taking on amongst nasty timbermen and peaceful homesteaders .The picture blends action western , a love story , thrills and stimulating outdoors . The landscapes with the Sequoais's woods are spellbound and breathtaking . There are excellent action sequences , as a train derailing where Kirk Douglas demonstrates his energy as action hero . Acting by main actors is top notch similarly to support cast (Edgar Buchanan , Patrice Wymore , Alan Hale and John Archer) in which everybody is awesome . Cinematography by Bert Glennon is glamorous and colorful but is quite worn-out ; in fact , in 2002 the rights to this film became public domain . This film compellingly directed by Felix Feist results to be a remake from ¨Valley of giants (1938)¨ by William Keighley with stock footage taken from this film and was starred by Wayne Morris , Claire Trevor and Alan Hale . The flick will appeal to landscape lovers and Kirk Douglas fans . Rating: Good . Well worth watching .

In his autobiography, The Ragman's Son, Kirk Douglas was telling about how badly he wanted to get out of his Warner Brothers contract. He made Jack Warner and offer he couldn't refuse, a picture for nothing, zero, zip, bupkis and he'd be released. Jack Warner took him up and the result was The Big Trees.Now getting a top star to work for nothing, you'd have thought that Warner would get him something good. Instead Kirk Douglas was saddled with an even worse than usual programmer and something he described as the worst film he ever made.Kirk is a two fisted lumber baron who goes out to the Northern California area to cut down those giant redwoods. A Quaker group who's settled there, ain't having none of that and the story unfolds.The players all look so totally bored. And the way the script is written you have absolutely no liking for Douglas's character Jim Fallon or believe it when he switches sides. In fact the villain of the piece, John Archer is treated like a doormat by Douglas when he was working for him. Watching the movie I couldn't blame him for knifing Douglas in their business. Ditto when gal pal Patrice Wymore sells a dam to Douglas's enemies and momentarily throws our hero for a loop. Best thing you could say about this is that it does have some nice special effects with Kirk Douglas riding on the runaway lumber train. The scene in How the West Was Won was copied and improved with Cinerama from the Big Trees.They should have just left the forest alone.