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2.6/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 2.6/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Trails of Adventure remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you like movies that feel like they were stitched together with twine and sheer willpower, maybe. But honestly, most people today will find Trails of Adventure about as exciting as watching a clock tick. It’s for the folks who get a kick out of silent-era grit and don’t mind a plot that’s thinner than a slice of deli ham.
The whole thing starts with a trip to New York, which is just an excuse to get Jim Gordon out of the desert so the bad guys can start acting up. It’s all very predictable. You’ve got your classic mustache-twirling types and a hero who just happens to be in the right place at the right time.
The scenery here is supposed to be the Mojave, but it feels like they filmed it behind a barn in someone’s backyard. The horses look bored. I’m pretty sure the horses know the script is bad. 🐴
There’s this moment where Bill Merritt saves Jane from a runaway car, and the way they act it out… it’s just awkward. It feels like they were holding their breath the whole time. It lacks that spark you see in something like The Champ. It’s just people standing around waiting for the next line of dialogue.
The plot involving the crooked lawyer, Fred Kane, gets so muddy you’ll forget who is cheating who. One minute they are talking about mining claims, the next we are at a hotel. It feels like the writers got distracted by a shiny object and forgot to finish the scene. It’s not quite as disjointed as Plane Nuts, but it gets close.
I found myself wondering if anyone in the cast actually knew how to mine anything. They hold the tools like they’re afraid they’ll break a nail. It’s all theater. You can almost feel the director shouting from off-camera to 'look more worried' or 'look more heroic.' It’s exhausting to watch.
If you really want to see how a story like this should have been handled, go watch The Sunset Trail instead. It has way more heart, even if it’s also a total relic of the past. Trails of Adventure just feels like it was made to fill a slot in a double feature that nobody asked for.
Anyway, I probably shouldn't have finished it. But that's the thing with these old movies—you hope for a hidden gem and usually just end up with more dust.
IMDb —
1929
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