Why so much hype?

Great Film overall

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

When Rock Hudson is critically injured it's his wife who fills in the leadership role in Back To God's Country with the help of a large Great Dane named Wapi. She has to because Hudson is critically injured with a broken leg as they make a dog sled run out of town.They've got reason to want to get out of town. Hudson is a schooner captain who puts in at a river port in the Klondike and is afraid of getting iced in. But the local kingpin Steve Cochran who is a merchant among other things has taken a fancy to Hudson's wife Marcia Henderson who voyages with Hudson as part of the crew. Cochran creates a lot of subtle contrivances to keep them in his town that get less subtle as time goes on.The MGM film All The Brothers Were Valiant was out at this time and I had a lot of trouble believing that Ann Blyth was on Robert Taylor's ship. The same here for Henderson though she's more equipped skill wise for ship duty.The film descends into melodrama, but I did like the winter cinematography for Back To God's Country.

This film is set in the Canadian north. 'The Hollywood Reporter' described it as a somewhat placid yarn on the 22nd September 1953. 'Variety' deemed it okay on the 23rd September 1953, but its box office potential was doubtful. I agree.