The Big Trees

(1952)

Drama / Western

89 minutes

Directed by Felix Feist

Cast:

Kirk Douglas as Jim Fallon 
Eve Miller as Alicia Chadwick 
Patrice Wymore as Daisy Fisher aka Dora Figg 
Edgar Buchanan as Walter 'Yukon' Burns 
John Archer as Frenchy LeCroix 
Alan Hale Jr. as Tiny 
Roy Roberts as Judge Crenshaw 
Charles Meredith as Elder Bixby 
Harry Cording as Cleve Gregg 
Ellen Corby as Sister Blackburn

The Big Trees, directed by Felix Feist, is a dramatic film distributed by Warner Brothers and released in 1952.

When Federal laws regarding timber harvesting change in 1900 Jim Fallon decides to leave his less than successful business in Wisconsin to take advantage of the situation.  His goal is to cut and harvest the huge redwoods in Northern California, thus making a fortune.

When he arrives in Northern California he discovers that there is a religious sect living in the area. Their beliefs include a great respect for nature and the amazing trees, and they even hold their church services outdoors in the forest .

Personalities and wills clash as Fallon wants to begin the process of harvesting the trees and the members of the religious community try to persuade him to leave the forest as it is, and the pressure mounts as Fallon knows there are competitors close behind him, even more unscrupulous than he is.

Eventually seeing the group’s point of view, and falling for one of the members of the group, Alicia Chadwick, Fallon then is faced with the challenge of fighting the other lumber barons who are trying to take the land and the trees.

Note:

It has been reported that, wanting to get out of his contract with Warner Brothers, Kirk Douglas offered to do The Big Trees for nothing, and was released from his contract by Jack Warner.