Can anyone tell me if " The Oregan Trail" (1936) movie is on vhs or dvd? I can not find it.

captainspurkat,

Welcome to the John Wayne message board!! If there's a place you'll find the answer to your question, this is it!

We've tried a couple of web sites where we routinely search for videos, and came up dry on that title.

Sorry 'bout that :( . Maybe others have some other sources.

Chester

Hi!
I would need help with that one, too! The Oregon Trail is considered a "lost film" of John Wayne's. To my knowledge it has not surfaced yet. The most common version is, that when some of the studios put their libraries together - I think this was in the 30s, when they could not foresee that Wayne's films would become valuable - they had two Oregon Trails - two different films with the same title. Keeping the 35mm original takes up space, so they dicided they wouldn't really need two films with same title. Guess which one they threw out. It is however possible that there might be a 16mm print - somewhere over the rainbow.
If you can find it anywhere on tape, let us know!

We just posted in the Alamo thread, in General Discussions, regarding "lost" footage. I wonder if the Library of Congress has these movies stashed away someplace, and if there is a way to find out?

If they have Little Rascals movies, why wouldn't they have John Wayne movies?

Chester

Is it at all possible that the John Wayne family may have this film. The problem with this movie is that it is lost unlike "The High And The Mighty" and "Island in the Sky" which simply have not yet been released. Is there any film bodies that could be contacted regarding this movie and has anyone on this board seen this movie. What other John Wayne movies if any at all are considered lost.

B)

captainspurkat,

Welcome to the board, this is a great place to talk, trade John Wayne.

I must confess that I've seen a VHS copy of The Oregon Trail at a video store in Nashville, Tennessee. The bad news is it has been 12-13 years ago. I did remember seeing it, and was going to get it, but decided not to because I was trying to collect all the "A" movies before his "B" movies, and The Oregon Trail is a "B" movie. Never been released on DVD.

That is one I wish I did get. I am sure that some will tell me I am mistaken, and might be mixing it up with The Big Trail. I do remember seeing it, and that was before The Big Trail release.

I'll keep my eye on it.

Cheers, Hondo B)

Hondo

That would be good if its about somewhere, simply a matter of just looking for it. Maybe a thourgh search of the Web may yeald some positive results. Does anyone else know anything about this movie.

:agent:

Captainspurkat :rolleyes:

Welcome to this board :huh: If anyone can help you the people here can :unsure:

Monique :chickawow:

Hello,
"The Oregon Trail" was in a preview on a Marengo Films DVD. I emailed them and asked them when it was coming out, but have not yet received a reply. :search: The website is Marengo Films (http://www.marengofilms.com). On a web search I found this message board. I hope this will help me find forthcoming John Wayne Movies on DVD. My father and I enjoy his movies and we are collecting them on DVD.

John

That would be the first time Oregon Trail becomes available. Please inform us here when it is released. I just checked the homepage and saw that I have a DVD from this company, the serial "Shadow of the Eagle". What I didn't like though is that for this release the distributor CUT OUT all the beginnings and endings of the 12 chapters (on VHS, they were still in). I mean: how can anyone go and cut the CLIFFHANGER out of a serial: that's the whole point! To see the hero hanging there, and then the titles: Come back next week. In this new DVD version, they just cut all the chapters together as a seemingly never-ending story without indication where the cliffhanger was. Too bad.

But if the manage to get us The Oregon Trail I'll think different about this company, of course!

Ok; received a reply from Marengo Films:

Not at this time... we were going to do that film but could not find a
suitable print. We are working on a line of buckaroos... and may stumble
upon it yet.

I hope someone finds a good print and puts it out on DVD. :(

looks like a dead end but I hadn't my hopes up too high anyway since it's known that the studio destroyed the remaining 35mm print years ago. Our only hope is somebody might find a 16mm. Keep looking!

As I understand it there were three versions made the Duke wayne version was retained at Republic and whe the studio folded the can was opened and on account of the make up of the film has disintegrated to dust and that was the only copy. This is mentioned in one of the biographies of the Duke but I'm not sure which one it is.

I wanted to update this thread about The Oregon Trail. I have contacted Marengo Films to inquire an update on this movie. I will be in touch on the development.

Cheers B)

:New Update:

I was in contact with the company laintyler was in contact with back in September 2003.

They check out my request, and said that the movie is copyright with Republic Pictures which is owned by Paramount Pictures. They have this movie according to my source, and they have not announced any release of this movie.

I haven't contacted Paramount yet, but according to my source they do have the masters of The Oregon Trail. We may have this copy yet, and it appears that this is not a lost film. Let's hope!

Cheers B)

This is good news. I don't expect this is a good movie, but any movies with John Wayne in it is a welcome release.

Has anyone here seen it or met/talked to anyone who has seen it?

Regards
Popol Vuh

Popol Vuh,

The word is that Paramount has the rights to this movie. They have not released it. We don't know if they will release it or not. I plan to contact them about this movie and ask if they in fact have the masters of the movie. And if they do, will they release it anytime soon.

My contact told me they have a bad copy of the movie, but do not have the rights to make the film into a DVD and release it to the market. They will not pursue this under law. So we are depending on Paramount to do this movie for us and maybe release it.

That's all the information I have. Having the rights doesn't necessarily mean they have any master negatives. We'll have to wait and see about that. Studios take their time answering e-mails.

Cheers B)

Hi Hondo.

Yes I undertood you right the first time, but this means that there is hope. After all the major releases are out I feel that there is a good chance of everything possible will be released. Let's face it. If the film is released the chances are that it's not a very good movie, but since I have sat through most of his B-westerns and enjoyed them I would welcome it.

My real question was if anyone had seen it or knew of anyone who had seen it.

BTW, isn't this thread in the wrong forum?

Regards
Popol Vuh

Originally posted by Popol Vuh@Jan 14 2006, 03:59 PM
BTW, isn't this thread in the wrong forum?
25354
Popol Vuh,

How right you are! And moving it was easier than ever, now that Kevin has re-organized the board. :D

So now it has been moved from The Trading Post to its proper place.

Chester :newyear: