That was an excellent one.

Sadly Over-hyped

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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.

I was unfortunate enough to see this last week. The book has long been a favorite of mine; the movie is a disaster.Garnet, Florinda, and Oliver were completely miscast---poor Gwen Bristow must still be whirling in her grave after seeing what Hollywood had done to her wonderful saga. Some of the minor roles (John Ives, the Handsome Brute) were adequate as were the sets and costumes. However,the main characters completely failed to resemble their literary counterparts, and their acting was wooden and totally unconvincing. The book is a wonderful story brimming with action and should have made an exciting and colorful movie. Instead, it is incredibly boring and tedious. What a shame!

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.

Jubilee Trail represented one of the last attempts of Herbert J. Yates to get the American movie public to accept his wife Vera Hruba Ralston as a star. Again she didn't score with the public and pretty soon Vera and Republic Pictures were history.Actually Republic Pictures really ended the day that John Wayne got shed of his long term contract with Republic. Yates made more money loaning him out to other studios than he did with the films that actually starred the Duke. After all, Duke's loanout services were pure profit, no overhead expenses involved in producing high budget epics that befit his growing star status.John Wayne couldn't have saved Jubilee Trail because the central characters here are two women, Vera and Joan Leslie. Vera's running from a mysterious past in New York and she hooks up with Joan and her new husband John Russell. Russell is traveling west with a pack train of supplies for he and his brother Ray Middleton. Russell also has a past himself that involves some kanoodling with the owner of a local ranchero and a small bundle of joy he only finds out about just as he's starting west.Middleton's real upset about the marriage as they've ruined plans for a merger between the two families. He takes an unreasoning dislike to Joan Leslie and is determined to gain control of the child she's carrying now after Russell is killed.It really is more soap opera than horse opera. There's an Indian attack sequence, but I'm sure it's in there so western fans can have a little action. There's also a nice gun battle between Forrest Tucker and two bad guys in Middleton's employ looking to steal Leslie's child after it's born. Middleton is the kind of villain you are more likely to see on daytime soaps.Tucker has the hero role, but he really does little between the action sequences but look solemn and declare his love for Leslie. Pat O'Brien has a supporting part as a cashiered army surgeon who drinks to forget his troubled past. And presiding over it all once they reach California is Vera at Jim Davis's saloon.Vera's got the Marlene Dietrich part here, but Jubilee Trail would have been a whole lot better if Yates had gotten Marlene Dietrich for the part.