The Trail of the Lonesome Pine

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The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
first edition cover
First edition cover
Author John Fox, Jr.
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Western, Romance
Publisher Charles Scribner's Sons
Released 1908
Media Type Print (Hardback)
Pages 223 pp
ISBN NA
The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Directed by Henry Hathaway
Produced by Walter Wanger
Written by John Fox, Jr. (novel)
Grover Jones
Horace McCoy
Harvey F. Thew (screenplay)
Starring Sylvia Sidney
Fred MacMurray
Henry Fonda
Cinematography Robert C. Bruce
W. Howard Greene
Distributed by Paramount
Release date(s) February 19, 1936
Running time 102 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is a 1908 romance novel/western novel written by John Fox, Jr.. The novel became Fox's most successful, and was included among the top ten list of bestselling novels for 1908 and 1909. The novel has been adapted numerous times for both stage and screen, the most notable being a 1916 silent Cecil B. DeMille production and a 1936 adaptation helmed by Henry Hathaway. The 1936 version was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for Louis Alter and Sidney D. Mitchell's "A Melody for the Sky." It was also awarded the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Color Film. Hathaway's version marked the first time the Technicolor process was used for outdoor filmmaking.

page illustration from the first edition novel
Enlarge
page illustration from the first edition novel

The novel was adapted into a successful stage play by Clara Lou Kelly, and was designated the "official outdoor drama" by the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1994. Since 1964, the play has been performed in an outdoor theater in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, the hometown of the novel's author. [1]

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

Set in the Appalachian Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century, a feud has been boiling for over thirty years between two influential mountain families: the Tollivers and the Falins. The outside world and industrialization, however, is beginning to enter the area. Coal mining begins to exert its influence on the area, despite of the two families feuds. Entering the area, enterprising "furriner" (foreigner) John Hale captures the attention of the beautiful June Tolliver, and inadvertently becomes entangled in the region's politics.

[edit] Novel vs. film adaptations

The 1916 DeMille adaptation features an additional plot angle of Hale being a revenue agent seeking out "moonshiners." It also omitted much of the subplot concerning the Falin family. Henry Hathaway's 1936 version, which was the first feature film to be filmed outdoors in Technicolor, remains relatively faithful to the original novel. At least three other major film adaptations exist with varying degrees of faithfulness to Fox's novel.

[edit] Cast

1916 1936
Actor Role Actor
Charlotte Walker June Tolliver Sylvia Sidney
Thomas Meighan Jack Hale Fred MacMurray
Earle Foxe Dave Tolliver Henry Fonda
Theodore Roberts Judd Tolliver Fred Stone
not featured Thurber Nigel Bruce
not featured Melissa Beulah Bondi
not featured Buck Falin Robert Barrat
Milton Brown Buddie Tolliver George McFarland
not featured Tater Fuzzy Knight
not featured Corsey Otto Fries
not featured Sheriff Samuel S. Hinds
Hosea Steelman Clay Tolliver Alan Baxter

[edit] External links