Reviews
Call of The Yukon
Adventuring author Jean Williams is living in the wilds of Alaska alongside the Eskimo people gathering material for her novel. She befriends several animals who become her loyal friends such as a pair of bear cubs whose mother has been killed by hunter Gaston Rogers, a talking raven and the bereaved collie Firefly who will not leave the grave of her master, a game warden killed in the line of duty. The community is imperiled by a pack of wolves and wild dogs, led by a wild dog called Swift Lightning, who are killing all the reindeer. With the supply of fresh meat gone, the Eskimos are migrating to lands with more food. Hunter Gaston agrees to take Jean to Nenana, Alaska, along with his furs by dog sled. Jean, who despises Gaston as being more savage and blood thirsty than the four-legged predators, is followed by her loyal animals.
Duration: 70mins
Release: 1938-04-18
Rating: 4.7
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6/20/2022
What is probably most interesting about this rather routine chilly wilderness story is the fact that the credit roller cites the efforts of the many, entertaining and loyal, beasties who chip in to make this actually quite endearing at times. The human efforts are less remarkable, however, as a writer "Jean" (Beverley Roberts) arrives in a remote Alaskan outpost seeking information for her novel. Beset by horrendous weather and a wolf pack, the village decamps onto the boat of local pelt trader "Hugo" (Lyle Talbot) except, that is, our writer and local trapper "Gaston" (Richard Arlen). They are stranded, alone, in the settlement - besieged by the nasty wolf "Swift Lightening", but having their own little menagerie to play with too - until the climate turns even more hostile and they end up sheltering in an even more remote log cabin awaiting rescue amidst their animal family. It's a sort of "Call of the Wild" style affair, and it is good to see that the animals get their shot at romance too - but the glaciers surrounding their Arctic environment move more quickly than the pace; neither of the humans offer us much by way of entertainment and aside from some cute bears in the snow footage and some impressive photography of their bleak environment, this film would amount to really very little.