Wonderful Movie

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I'm the last person to say, "The movie was OK, but the book was better." The problem here is that other than the title and the name of the dog, there is no connection between the two. While the movie is a decent story involving the Yukon with lots of adventure, the whole plot of the book went by the wayside. Of course, we have two big stars of the early cinema, Clark Gable and Loretta Young, with romance the object, and a big race as the climactic moment. So it has pretty good quality and storytelling. But it is misleading to use the title of the Jack London book. It's like doing a Poe movie called "The Pit and the Pendulum" and having no pit and no pendulum. If I were to evaluate the movie on its own merits, I would say it is about average.

Nature seems to have a way of fighting back against those who try to steal its natural resources. Those searching for gold in the Yukon are prey to all sorts of natural obstacles, from the rushing rivers of cold, flowing water as well as the often non-stop snow that often comes with blizzard conditions. The men who went there often never came back, and those who did found a new sense of respect for nature's wrath.Jack London's tale of brave and villainous men is also a love story of man's desire to conquer the great outdoors. It is a story of the devoted friendship of man and dog, and often, the dog is more the hero than the human. For Clark Gable, the desire for gold doesn't come without its risks, and with a loyal St. Bernard by his side, the adventure he finds will be more valuable than gold.Keeping his prize St. Bernard is not without its challenges, betting it on a challenge that he can pull a thousand pounds. But the dastardly Reginald Owen isn't about to loose gracefully, and makes great effort to win back his loss. Along the way, Gable meets stranded Loretta Young who believes that her husband died in a blizzard. With the help of the friendly St. Bernard and jovial Jack Oakie, they set up camp and find a sudden romance that only fate can interrupt.With great scenery and some thrilling action sequences, this seems slight on plot but that doesn't stop it from being often thrilling. Directed with gusto by the legendary William Wellman, this never sags. There's even some light humor, particularly an adorable sequence when the dog heads off to the howling of wolves and briefly makes an adorable new friend. DVD prints run short by almost 20 minutes making me wonder what ever happened to the full, original print, and if this is one released for T.V. broadcasts.

This is pretty good, as adaptations go. The author of the story, Jack London, was quite a guy and came up with some gripping adventure stories. In life, he was an oyster pirate in Oakland, a prospector in the Yukon, a correspondent in the Far East, a member of the artist's colony in Carmel, and finally an isolated heroin addict in a house near Napa, dying alone at forty.I haven't read the story since high school but, as a movie, it stands on its own. Clark Gable is the prospector and gambler who fits very well into the north woods. His comic sidekick in Jack Oakie. The dog he wins is Buck, a St. Bernard, who is enormously willful and strong, and is torn between allegiance to his master and "the call of the wild," meaning that out there in the forest is a pack of wolves and one of them is in estrus. Gable has the same problem. He and Oakie manage to rescue a lost damsel, Loretta Young, looking petite and pretty and plump lipped. But she's married and, uh, well, she and Gable obey the call of the wild.They did in real life too. Loretta Young was whisked out of town to bear a daughter. A few years ago, long after the two miscreants had disappeared down the memory hole of everyone but withering old movie buffs, a photo of her appeared in the press. Unfortunately for her, she looked much more like Gable than Young, except no visible mustache. She passed away only a few weeks ago, or I wouldn't have written this.William Wellman directed with his usual dash. It's not long, it's packed with action, and if you pay attention it raises some interesting moral and philosophical questions. Are we really that different from the beasts? How much slippage should we expect to see between nature and culture?

Based very loosely on the Jack London novel,this is a star-vehicle for the rough and likable Clark Gable.Thrown in there's a dog named Buck and Jack Okie as his comic sidekick, for Gable to bond with.Then there's beautiful Loretta Young for him to romance (which he also did in real-life,resulting in an illegitimate child.)Shot on location in Washington State the movie has a rugged outdoor look from which it benefits immensely.The portrait of the rough and tumble gold mining town of Skagway looks almost authentic.The performances are pretty standard.Gable is his rough and likable self,Jack Okie,the likable buffoon ,Loretta Young,a good love-interest and Reginald Owen a despicable villain.All in all an entertaining adventure movie.