The setting of this
film is Nome Alaska of 1900 and it’s based on a play titled Birthday Gift by
Ladislas Fodor. Sam McCord and
George Pratt are partners in a gold mine in Nome. They strike it rich and George sends Sam to Seattle
Washington to bring back his fiancée Jenny Lamont and also obtain heavy drilling
equipment. George has been
committed to and waiting to reunite with his fiancée. When Sam gets to Seattle he learns she is maid and already married to
a butler. Instead, he returns with
Angel. She falls in love with Sam
and she misunderstood what he said about George. Sam leaves her off at a hotel in Alaska but she runs into
con man Frankie Cannon. They know
each other from Seattle and Angel wants nothing to do with Frankie. She throws a suitcase out the window
and screams for help. Sam
retrieves her and they head for the mine.
Sam has heard that there must be a guard on the mine at all times
because of claim jumpers. One of
these men is the con man Frankie.
When Sam and Angel get to the mine, George becomes enraged and rejects
Angel. George’s brother Billy is
definitely interested in Angel but he’s 17?
I would’ve hated
living in Nome during this time period because of the constantly muddy streets
in the town!! There is a LOT of
drinking plus gambling in the saloon and a LOT of brawls. Conman and saloon owner Frankie is always operating
and on the lookout for the next new scam.
Sam is pig-headed and he can’t get the idea in his head that Angel is
actually in LOVE with him!! I was surprised that none of the scenes are filmed in Nome or Alaska? 3 ½*
(I liked this movie, especially the song North to Alaska)
122
min, Romance directed by Henry Hathaway with John Wayne, Stewart Granger, Ernie
Kovacs, Fabian, Capucine, Mickey Shaughnessy, Karl Swenson, Joe Sawyer, Kathleen
Freeman, John Qualen, Stanley Adams.
Note: Imdb 7.0 out of 10, 43% critic 77%
audience on Rotten Tomatoes, TCM Leonard Maltin 3* out of 4* user rating
average 3* out of 5*, Amazon 4.7* out of 5* with 403 reviews.
Special
Note: Filmed in Hot Creek, Inyo
National Forest; Big Bear Lake, Big Bear Valley, San Bernardino National
Forest; Point Mugu and Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California. Originally, this film was to re-team
John Wayne and Dean Martin after their huge success with Rio Bravo of
1959. Howard Hawks was set to
direct again. Richard Fleischer
was also hired to direct but he learned there wasn’t a script? He also talked to Capucine and he
thought she was wrong for the role of Angel. Capucine said that Wayne wore lifts in his shoes? You can see Wayne without his wig when he falls backwards from being
punched? Granger and Fabian are playing brothers
but Granger is 30 years older than the 17-year-old Fabian. The day after Johnny Horton recording of
the theme song was released, he was killed in a car crash. It reached #1 in the country chart and
#4 on the Hot 100 plus 23 in the UK.
No comments:
Post a Comment