Call of The Yukon (1938)

What is probably most interesting about this rather routine chilly wilderness story is the fact that the credit roller cites the efforts of the many, entertaining and loyal, beasties who chip in to make this actually quite endearing at times. The human efforts are less remarkable, however, as a writer "Jean" (Beverley Roberts) arrives in a remote Alaskan outpost seeking information for her novel. Beset by horrendous weather and a wolf pack, the village decamps onto the boat of local pelt trader "Hugo" (Lyle Talbot) except, that is, our writer and local trapper "Gaston" (Richard Arlen). They are stranded, alone, in the settlement - besieged by the nasty wolf "Swift Lightening", but having their own little menagerie to play with too - until the climate turns even more hostile and they end up sheltering in an even more remote log cabin awaiting rescue amidst their animal family. It's a sort of "Call of the Wild" style affair, and it is good to see that the animals get their shot at romance too - but the glaciers surrounding their Arctic environment move more quickly than the pace; neither of the humans offer us much by way of entertainment and aside from some cute bears in the snow footage and some impressive photography of their bleak environment, this film would amount to really very little.