The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936)

Touches You

Sorry, this movie sucks

How sad is this?

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film, shot mostly outdoors, starts out a bit dated. (Sylvia Sydney and family come across slightly comic...) But then...one gets caught up in the real agony of these fictionalized Hatfield and McCoy families... They've feuded and murdered each others...for years. Beulah Bondi (the mom) is the visual barometer of this murderous situation. She, almost like an inner city mom of a teen male, expects the bullet which will take out her beloved family member (young Henry Fonda). SPOILER: Spanky McFarland is the charming little boy who is the center of attention...and his later death sparks the agonizing actions of the main characters.Recommended: Suitable for family viewing...for any film buffs of old time quality color movies---and for schools/homeschools where they wish to discuss a quality film about unforgiveness, unresolved hate, and the damage it does to later generations.

Just watched this Technicolor Paramount feature (The first of the kind that was shot outdoors) on YouTube. While it had stars like Fred MacMurray, Henry Fonda, and Sylvia Sidney, the main reason I was interested in this movie was because of one Spanky McFarland, who at the time was still a member of "Our Gang". This was a compelling story of a couple of feuding families and one outsider played by MacMurray who's trying to build a railroad around both respective groups' areas. There's also a romantic rivalry between Fonda and MacMurray for Sidney. Also appearing were Beulah Bondi, Nigel Bruce, and Samuel Hinds as the Sheriff. (If anyone is familiar with me, they know my favorite movie is It's a Wonderful Life and I like noting actors in that movie in other films like Bondi and Hinds who were married in the latter) Then there's Fuzzy Knight who's a charmer as something of a Greek chorus singing songs like "Twlight on the Trail" and the Oscar-nominated "A Melody from the Sky". Incidentally, while Knight sings the latter, Fonda whistles and Spanky hums and this was a couple of years before Spanky's "Our Gang" co-star Alfalfa sung part of this tune in the short The Little Ranger (which McFarland doesn't appear in). Anyway, this was a fine showcase for the Technicolor photography as kudos to director Henry Hathaway for making every scene count as this was a most entertaining drama with a couple of touching, though tragic, scenes at the end. So on that note, I highly recommend The Trail of the Lonesome Pine.

It's a wonderful movie - good story - well written & well acted by a better than ordinary cast. Spanky Mac Farland was a jewel in his role & Fred MacMurry & Henry Fonda performed well. Buelha Bondi proved to be a surprisingly good (to me, at least), actress. She carried more than her share of the movie. The scenery, the filming of that beautiful area, the first movie, shot outside, in color, should have won an Oscar. I'm still disappointed that it didn't. if you haven't seen it - SEE IT!!!

I saw this movie when I was 15 years old and never forgot it; I now have a copy of it and watch it often and enjoy it as much as when it first came out in 1936.