The Trail of '98 is a 1928 American synchronized sound action-adventure/drama film featuring Harry Carey and Dolores del Río about the Klondike Gold Rush. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score, with sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film was originally released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in a short-lived widescreen process called "Fantom Screen". The film is based on the 1910 novel of the same name, written by Robert W. Service.

Plot

Cast Dolores del Río as Berna Ralph Forbes as Larry Karl Dane as Lars Petersen Harry Carey as Jack Locasto Tully Marshall as Salvation Jim George Cooper as Samuel Foote (The Worm) Russell Simpson as Old Swede Emily Fitzroy as Mrs. Bulkey Tenen Holtz as Mr. Bulkey Cesare Gravina as Henry Kelland (Berna's Grandfather) Doris Lloyd as Locasto's procurer E. Alyn Warren as Engineer Johnny Downs as Mother's boy (as John Down) Ray Hallor as Brother Jim Ray Gallagher as Brother Joe Francis Ford as Gold Commissioner's assistant (uncredited) Roscoe Karns as Man on ship (uncredited) Jacques Tourneur as Extra (uncredited) Lou Costello performed uncredited stunts for Carey and possibly even del Rio.

Music The film features a theme song titled "I Found Gold When I Found You", by William Axt (music), and Hazel Mooney and Ev. E. Lyne (words).

Production The film was shot on location in Denver and The Great Divide, Colorado, Truckee, California, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, and in various locations in Alaska, including Skagway and Copper River.

While shooting the rapids sequence, four stuntmen drowned in the Copper River, including Jerome Bauten, Howard Daughters,Rose, Bob. "WALKING WITH DEATH FOR A LIVING: FOR NINETEEN YEARS BOB ROSE AND THE MEN OF HIS STRANGE PROFESSION HAVE BEEN TAKING THE RAP OF DANGER FOR THE FILM STARS THAT HAVE THRILLED YOU. WHEN HE BECAME A STUNT MAN THERE WERE 150 MEN IN HIS TRADE. TODAY THERE ARE SEVEN LEFT. WITH A GRIPPING TOUCH OF PATHOS HE TELLS YOU WHY." Los Angeles Times (1923-1995), Sep 30, 1934, pp. 2. and Ray “Red” Thompson, who trained horses for cliff dives. Hollywood, TV documentary mini-series, episode 5 “Hazard of the Game“, Thames 1980; Arthur Wise & Derek Ware, Stunting in the Cinema, Constable, London, 1973, pp. 45 & 53. Bobby Rose was among the few stuntmen who survived.

Home media A complete print of the film exists with a synchronized musical score and sound effects, and it became available on DVD as part of Warner Bros.'s manufacture-on-demand titles in March 2009.

See also Harry Carey filmography List of early sound feature films (1926–1929)

References

External links

Magnified Grandeur - The Big Screen, 1926-31, David Coles, 2001