Rex Beaches 1906 novel had been done 2 times as a silent film, twice as a sound film prior to this outing. So the plot had been used and reused with slight differences. This one pretty much follows the same plot.
The 1942 version with Marlenea Deitrich, and John Wayne is better that this one for star power. The 1930 version starring Gary Cooper was once in a late show tv package in the 1960's but is now considered a lost film. The silents are impossible for most modern viewers to watch. That brings us to 1955.
Rory Calhoun is a fairly big name actor, while Jeff Chandler is most comfortable in formats other than westerns which even though this is Alaska, it plays mostly as a Western. Anne Baxter is okay here. In fact the whole cast is okay. That's the problem, as this film really adds nothing to the previous versions and the stars are not as good as the John Wayne / Randolph Scott version.
This version is currently on Grit. Would love it if the channel could run the Scott/Wayne/Dietrich version with this as a double feature. If they could run the Cooper version too, it would make an interesting triple. Especially with all those bulb head commercials the channel runs. If they could remake it today and make it more of an "R" rated film, it could actually sell tickets. With a good cast, it could be re-made well and use some modern effects and some :mature loving plot to update it.
