Review of The Great White Trail

The subject chosen by the Whartons for their first independent production is one that will prove interesting to most moving picture patrons. Leopold D. Wharton wrote the scenario and directed its production. Long experience in filming mystery and crime serials has not been the best school for a man who undertakes the writing and production of a serious story in which normal human beings are supposed to go through the reasonable tribulations of life even as it is lived in the outposts of Alaska. Certain fundamental laws of dramatic construction must be observed and the motives that actuate the characters must stand the test of being born of common sense or all the anguish of the heroine and the noble conduct of the hero go for naught. The author has also made the mistake of having these two characters take turns at losing their wits. Fortunately, the greater part of the weak incidents come in the first part of the picture. The readiness of the husband to believe the worst of his wife and his promptness in turning her and her baby out of the house do not give him a very good start with the spectator, especially as the man he suspects is his wife's brother. Sixteen years later the entire family are found in Alaska and, after great trials and tribulations, are reunited. In telling this story the producer has taken advantage of the winter climate of the Northwest, and introduced many snow scenes of great beauty. A few minor details of production will not bear close examination, but the general impression is favorable to the picture. A comic butcher boy is lugged into the story, the author and the actor both doing their best to justify his presence. The photoplay is fairly well acted. Doris Kenyon and Paul Gordon head the company. – The Moving Picture World, June 30, 1917