Searching for John Wayne in the Alabama Hills - LaNUBlog News: =>

John Wayne was the archetypal screen cowboy, embodying the rough independence of the American west for generations of film fans. Now, newly discovered still photographs offer fresh insight into a western he made that was last seen more than three-quarters of a century ago.
Kent Sperring was raised in Ocala, Florida, in the 1940s by his mother, a widow who worked as a chemist's clerk.
"Money was kind of scarce," he said.
Luckily, he could see "a double-feature western for nine cents" at the Ritz theatre on Saturdays. The movies made an impression.
"You came away from the movie knowing that if you did something bad or wrong, you were going to get punished for it," he said.
Wayne and other good cowboys wore white hats. The bad ones wore black hats.
"It was almost that clear-cut," he said. "If you watched the films long enough, you'd see that those bad guys - they didn't end up too well."
Wayne plays a retired captain who seeks revenge for his father's death
The films were wildly successful. Today, Wayne ranks as one of the most popular film stars of all time, admired by Sperring and countless others.
Yet despite Wayne's iconic stature, one of his films is missing.
The Oregon Trail, released by Republic Pictures in 1936, was shown in theatres - then disappeared. There are no known remaining prints.
In the film Wayne plays John Delmont, a retired army captain who falls in love with a frontier woman played by Ann Rutherford, who later appears in Gone With the Wind. The plot hinges on the discovery of a journal bound in black that once belonged to Delmont's father.
Reading the diary, Delmont learns that his father has been killed or was left to die by a renegade - and vows to hunt down the killer.
Earlier this year Sperring, a retired telephone company manager in Duluth, Georgia, discovered 40 still photographs taken on the sets of The Oregon Trail.
He came across the photos while ordering Wayne memorabilia from a video store, Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinee, in North Hollywood.
"They sent me the negatives," said Sperring. "I think they did it by mistake."
Wayne holds his a diary in The Oregon Trail
Decades ago, photographers would take pictures of actors, either during a scene or after it had been shot, with an 8in by 10in (20cm by 25cm) camera. The photographs, known as movie stills, were then displayed in glass cases outside of theatres.
Sperring scanned the stills into a computer and sent them to the Lone Pine Film History Museum in Lone Pine, California, so they could be stored in the archives.
These photographs and other promotional material are the film's lasting legacy. They provide insight into the film, showing the locations where it was shot and other details about the production.
The promotional materials are also striking images. Aside from the stills, three posters remain. Painted in garish colours, Wayne fords a river in a stagecoach pulled by a team of wild-eyed horses.
Only fragments remain of The Oregon Trail, featuring Wayne and Rutherford
The Lone Pine museum, which celebrates the western film genre, hosts an annual film festival.
This year it will take place from 11-13 October and will feature Jake Thorne in The Life and Legend of John Wayne.
Lone Pine museum director Bob Sigman, former president of Republic Pictures, started his own search for the film a decade ago. He prides himself on his hard-nosed approach to the film world. He is the kind of person who says: "I've been in this business a long time."

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