Call of the Yukon (1938)
Call of the Yukon (1938)
„Call of the Yukon“ is a 1938 action adventure film directed by B. Reeves Eason and John T. Coyle. The screenplay by Gertrude Orr and Bill Peet is based on the 1920 novel „Swift Lightning“ by James Oliver Curwood.
A fur trader guides a writer and her animals to safety in the Yukon territory when wolves are about to attack.
The film finds writer Jean Williams coming to a Eskimo settlement, Topek village, in search of material for a novel. The locals fear „Swift Lightning“, a half dog-half wolf that leads a vicious wolf pack. To escape the merciless winter and the wolf pack, the entire village leaves on a boat brought there by the local white trader, Hugo. He, in love with Jean, vainly attempts to persuade her to leave also. The only other person that stays is trapper Gaston Rogers.
The plot comes to a grinding halt for a while showing Jean playing with her other companions, Firefly, Winkey and two bear cubs. Swift Lightning comes to the village prowling for food, finds love instead with Firefly, the Collie, and they depart for the hills. Conditions worsen and Jean and Gaston are forced to leave, but she insists they go by way of Nenana to see the gigantic yearly ice-break, which is somewhat akin to jumping from the frying pan into the fire, but they had all this footage shot by Norman Dawn which would have gone to waste otherwise. As expected, in such situations, the ice breaks earlier than usual, and Jean and Gaston are caught in the flow, losing their dogs and sled. A wandering trapper finds Gaston's sled, and Hugo sends a search plane from Nenana, and instructions are dropped telling of a deserted cabin nearby. Jean and Gaston find the cabin, and so does Swift Lightning and Firefly. And Hugo and his St. Bernard, Buck also show up. A double triangle of love problems soon develops between the humans and the animals, with Hugo and Buck the early betting-line favorites but one would do better to take the odds and bet on Gaston and Swift Lightning, or go back and check on which human and which animal was billed above the others.
Cast:
- Richard Arlen – Gaston Rogers
- Beverly Roberts – Jean Williams
- Lyle Talbot – Hugo Henderson
- Mala – Olee John
- Garry Owen – Conner
- Ivan Miller – O’Malley
- Billy Dooley – Watchman
- Al St. John – Joe
- Charles Anthony Hughes – Bill
- Nina Campana – Knudka
- Swift Lightning – Swift Lightning
- Firefly – Firefly - the Collie
- Buck – Buck - The St. Bernard
- Toughie the Bear – Toughie
- Roughie the Bear – Roughie
- Winkey the Talking Raven – Winkey
- Sherry Hall – Ed
- Jimmy Lono – Topek
- Frank McCarroll – Trapper
- Emory Parnell – Swenson
„Call of the Yukon“ ist ein Action-Abenteuerfilm von 1938 unter der Regie von B. Reeves Eason und John T. Coyle. Das Drehbuch von Gertrude Orr und Bill Peet basiert auf dem 1920 erschienenen Roman "Swift Lightning" von James Oliver Curwood.
Ein Pelzhändler bringt eine Schriftstellerin und ihre Tiere im Yukon-Gebiet in Sicherheit, als Wölfe anzugreifen drohen.
In dem Film kommt die Schriftstellerin Jean Williams in die Eskimosiedlung Topek, um Material für einen Roman zu suchen. Die Einheimischen fürchten "Swift Lightning", einen Halbhund und Halbwolf, der ein bösartiges Wolfsrudel anführt. Um dem erbarmungslosen Winter und dem Wolfsrudel zu entkommen, verlässt das gesamte Dorf auf einem Boot, das der örtliche weiße Händler Hugo dorthin gebracht hat. Er, der in Jean verliebt ist, versucht vergeblich, sie zu überreden, ebenfalls zu gehen. Die einzige Person, die bleibt, ist der Trapper Gaston Rogers.