North To The Klondike 1942 Loosely based on Jack London's Gold Hunters Of The North, story by William Castle, screenplay by Clarence Upson Young, Louis Sarecky and George Bricker, directed by Erle C Kenton.
I'm always on the lookout for any film that has a connection to William Castle. He's one of my favorite film makers and it's getting rarer to find a film I haven't seen yet. Sadly his involvement in North To The Klondike only extends to writing the story.
It's basically a Western land grab film with a crooked trading post owner trying to cheat the farmers out of a gold mine. Lon Chaney Jr plays the trading post and saloon owner. He's got a gang of scum to help him out. Broderick Crawford plays the hero, he comes to the remote Alaskan community at Lon's request. Broderick is a mining engineer but while he was traveling there the situation changed and Lon doesn't need him. He tells Broderick that the mine failed while he was travelling and offers him some expense money and a boat ride back.
That Evelyn Ankers with Broderick, she's the romantic interest. Lon has eyes on her and that causes some friction. Lon is working behind the miner's backs to drive them from the area. He doesn't want to share any profit from the mine. He burns the settlers winter supplies and kills the man who was sent down river to reorder. Lucky for the locals Broderick can save the town.
Andy Devine plays a local guy, Dorothy Granger and Evelyn Ankers are the ladies. Lloyd Corrigan plays the local doctor, Willie Fung and Keye Luke play local Chinese guys who befriend Broderick and help him save the town.
It's a pretty standard plot but cast does well with what they had. The area around Big Bear Lake in California makes a nice scenic fill in for Alaska. I liked the characters and enjoyed the story. There's a fair bit of humor and that's always welcome. You can check out the movie on YouTube. It's not the best copy but it's the first I've seen of it.
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