AllMovie

This is Cecil B. DeMille at his most dressed-down. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine takes place in the Virginia mountains. Jack Hale (Thomas Meighan) is a revenue officer sent to track down some moonshiners. While on his hunt, he meets and falls in love with June Tolliver (Charlotte Walker), the daughter of the very people he's looking for. The Tolliver family see this love affair as their opportunity to outsmart Hale and get him out of their way. Led unwittingly by June, Hale almost falls into their trap, but the girl's father (Theodore Roberts) comes around -- in the end he destroys his still and gives his daughter's hand to Hale. DeMille's handling of this drama with its simple setting won him notices that were nearly as good as the ones he got for the Geraldine Ferrar spectacles he was also making at the time.