“THE TRAIL OF ’98”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 605, 6 March 1929, Page 14

“THE TRAIL OF ’9B”

FILMED IN THE SNOW COUNTRY After enduring hardships unequalled befor on a motion picture location, members of “The Trail of ’98,” which Clarence Brown made for MetroGold wyn ?Mayer, all agreed with the director that the time spent at an altiture of 12,000 ft in the midst of recordbreaking blizzards, terrific gales and a temperature 20 degrees below zero, had proved to be the hardest location trip ever suffered by a company filming motion picture scenes. Thousands of tons of snow on the mountain peaks continually threatened to engulf the plays and technicians. Part of the danger was obviated by using dynamite to blast the more dangerous drifts and send them crashing dotvn the mountain-side past the camp. Days of snowfall, however, again piled up these mighty drifts where they hung like the sword of Damocles over the heads of the players. Even the blasts of the locomotive whistles at the camp were liable to precipitate the heavy drifts into swiftly moving avalanches weighing hundreds of tons. Cases of frost-bite were numerous, and every precaution had to be taken against freezing the face or other parts of the body. Despite the difficulties encountered, some of the greatest motion picture scenes ever photographed were obtained. This was due not only to the grandeur of the location, but to the unswerving loyalty of the players and staff. Dolores Del Rio, Ralph Forbes and Karl Dane head the cast of 15,000 players.