The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
The earliest documented telecasts of this film occurred in Syracuse Sunday 10 April 1949 on WHEN (Channel 8), in Detroit Tuesday 26 April 1949 on WXYZ (Channel 2), in Fort Worth Monday 30 May 1949 on WBAP (Channel 5), in Cincinnati Monday 12 September 1949 on WCPO (Channel 7), in Atlanta Friday 23 September 1949 on WSB (Channel 8), in Los Angeles Wednesday 2 November 1949 on KTSL (Channel 2) and Saturday 4 February 1950 on KECA (Channel 7), and in Philadelphia Monday 28 November1949 on WFIL (Channel 6).
Store owner 'Noah Beery ' challenged leading lady 'Verna Hillie' to a drinking contest on location.
The inset stills on Photos 4, 6 and 7(video box covers) are not from "The Trail Beyond." All three are the same still and that still is from "The Lucky Texan." Typical of video distributors' art work attitudes....a tree is a tree. Use anything if it shows John Wayne. This still also shows Lloyd Whitlock and George "Gabby' Hayes, and neither is in "The Trail Beyond. "