Call of the Wild

If you are a lover of Jack London's CALL OF THE WILD, then you probably should skip this film, as it takes a lot of liberties with the book. In many ways, the original story is really forgotten and it's only a very rough approximation of the book. So, as a rendition of the original it stinks. BUT, if you ignore the book and just watch it for the fun of it and let go of your preconceptions, it's a wonderful film for anyone except Literature teachers.

Clark Gable is at his best and Loretta Young is absolutely beautiful in the film. While I never thought she was one of the prettiest actresses, the cinematographer really did his work and make her look radiant (I mean that in a good way--not in the CHARLOTTE'S WEB way). Jack Okie is fine as the loyal friend and the movie strongly concentrates on people and not the dog--now that's an interesting choice, huh? Overall, one of the better adventure films of the era and well worth watching.