How the western was done in 1923

THE western grew up with 1923’s “The Covered Wagon,” a sprawling epic about the settling of the Wild West in the late 19th century that was shot on location in Utah and Nevada with a cast of thousands. James Cruze, a former actor who had directed some Fatty Arbuckle and Will Rogers comedies, helmed the sagebrush saga, which was the second film to play at the newly opened Egyptian Theatre. This Wednesday, it will screen at the venerable movie palace as part of the Egyptian’s 85th anniversary celebration. Daniel Redfield provides the live piano accompaniment.

Based on the novel by Emerson Hough, an eyewitness to the tumultuous and often bloody settling of the West, the drama revolves around two caravans that set out for Oregon from what is now Kansas City. Along the way, they encounter the hardships of hunger and the elements, along with an Indian attack.

Lois Wilson stars as Molly Wingate, the daughter of one of the leaders of one caravan; J. Warren Kerrigan is Will Banion, the leader of the other caravan who falls for Molly; and Alan Hale plays Sam Woodhull, Molly’s brute of a fiance.

Westerns were an immensely popular genre in the late teens and early ‘20s thanks to superstars Bronco Billy and Tom Mix. But audiences had never seen anything like “The Covered Wagon.”

“ ‘The Covered Wagon’ blazed the trail for the epic western, a sub-genre that encompasses such films as ‘The Iron Horse,’ the two versions of ‘Cimarron,’ ‘How the West Was Won,’ ‘Cheyenne Autumn,’ ‘Little Big Man,’ ‘Dances With Wolves’ and others,” says film historian Joseph McBride, via e-mail.

“Before ‘The Covered Wagon,’ most westerns had been more intimate in scope,” he adds. “Francis Ford, Thomas H. Ince and D.W. Griffith, among other filmmakers, had gone to some lengths to broaden the visual scope of the genre, but had been limited in their budgets and range. James Cruze took the plunge to turn the western into the true epic of our history that it is.”

Cruze insisted on reality. The Indians who battle the white invaders were played by real American Indians, and the pioneers’ beards were also real. Said Cruze: “There wasn’t a false whisker in the picture.”

After extensive scouting, Cruze found a location -- in the Snake Valley of Nevada -- that could double for many areas. It was a mammoth undertaking to get the crew of more than 100 carpenters, technical staff and actors to the isolated area. He also hired a thousand extras from the area for $10 a day, as well as 750 Indians who made extra money selling souvenirs to the movie crew. The cast and crew lived in tents during the eight weeks of location filmmaking.

Some of the 400 covered wagons seen in the film were original vehicles used by the people who settled in that area of Nevada. The others were built on location.

“This film propelled Cruze to the front ranks,” says film historian Leonard Maltin. “He was already established, but from this point on he was an A-list director. His next epic was ‘Old Ironsides,’ which is a great movie. Unfortunately, his career petered out by the time of the talkies. He never quite maintained” his status.

“Covered Wagon,” which cost $782,000 to make -- a mammoth price tag for its time -- was an enormous box office hit. “They sold a special souvenir program book, and they even had a special theme music,” says Maltin.

“The one thing I found interesting is the fact that the film wasn’t that many years removed from the settling of the West,” he adds. “Now it’s like ancient history to us, but they were re-creating something that was still tangible. It is like us going to back to Normandy now, as we have, or going back to Iwo Jima. It is still within people’s lifetimes. And there were people alive in 1923 who were eyewitnesses.”

Contemporary audiences, says Maltin, may find “Covered Wagon” ponderous and cliched.

“The problem with a movie like this is that it has to be seen in its proper context,” he says. “What may seem like a cliche to us today was in many cases invented by this film. You can’t ever forget this was the film that set a standard that people copied and emulated.”

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susan.king@latimes.com

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‘The Covered Wagon’

Where: American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Price: $7-$10

Contact: (323) 466-FILM or go to www.americancinematheque.com