Plot
In Skagway in 1900, Jack Thornton announces to a crowded bar that he is going home after striking it rich in the gold fields. However, he loses most of his money gambling first. Then he runs into an old pal, "Shorty" Hoolihan, just released from jail after serving a sentence for reading other people's mail. Shorty tells Jack that the contents of one letter he read is worth a million dollars. It contained a map to a rich gold strike; prospector Martin Blake died before he could stake his claim to it, but the letter was mailed to his son John. Shorty had to eat the map when he was apprehended, but reconstructed it as best he could from memory.
Jack's luck changes when he pays $250 for Buck, a savage St. Bernard dog, to keep him from being shot by an arrogant Englishman named Smith. Jack and Shorty head off for the Yukon with the map, Buck and other dogs. Along the way, they rescue Claire Blake from wolves. Her husband is Martin Blake's son and had the original map; he left to look for food and did not return. She refuses to leave without determining John's fate, but Jack drags her away. Sharing the hardships of the trail on their way to Dawson, her initial loathing of Jack gradually melts away.
Once they reach Dawson, Jack proposes she join forces with them, as she knows what parts of Shorty's map are wrong. She agrees. However, they still need a stake. Smith bets a thousand dollars against Buck that the dog cannot pull a heavily loaded sled weighing a thousand pounds a hundred yards. Buck manages the feat, enabling them to buy what they need.
After the trio set out in search of Martin Blake's find, a barely alive John Blake is found and brought in. He talks Smith into backing him and joining him on the trail to the site, but does not trust the Englishman and his two henchmen.
The three reach their destination and find it to be all they had hoped. Shorty leaves to file a claim. Jack and Claire wait and eventually acknowledge their love for each other. Buck, in the meantime, feels a strong urge to join a pack of wolves; he frequently leaves to spend time with a female wolf.
When Blake and Smith reach the site, Smith has Blake strangled, then holds Jack and Claire at gunpoint. The intruders take the gold they have already gathered and destroy anything that would enable the couple to leave. The villains then leave in their canoe, but it overturns and they drown, weighed down by the stolen gold, within sight of Jack and Claire.
Buck finds John Blake, still alive, though in bad shape. They nurse him back to health. Jack wants to keep Claire anyway, but she will not go along. Jack then recommends that John leave to get proper medical attention before the weather makes it impossible. John and Claire leave.
Jack acknowledges Buck's desire to answer the "call of the wild", and releases him into the wilderness. Buck is shown with his new family of half-dog, half-wolf pups, playing in the woods.
Jack is soon joined by Shorty, who arrives with news of their claim and a new cook, whom he won in a crap game.
Production
In an article written for TCM in 2012, John M. Miller noted that the film benefits from “..a real chemistry between the two leads. That chemistry resulted in one of the best-kept secrets in Hollywood history; had it not been well kept at the time, two famous careers could have been essentially destroyed.” [1] Loretta's daughter, named Mary Judith Clark, (aka Judy Lewis) was born on November 6, 1935, transferred to an orphanage; and more than a year and a half later, ‘adopted’ by Young. Her mother told Judy who her father was in 1966. Young told her story through the authorized biography Forever Young: The Life, Loves, and Enduring Faith of a Hollywood Legend; The Authorized Biography of Loretta Young, by Joan Wester Anderson, published after Young's death. " See the Wikipedia articles on Judy Lewis and Loretta Young for more information (with extensive citations) too detailed for this space, including Young's reaction to a 1998 television program on date rape, in which she suddenly recognized her encounter with Gable.
This was the last film released under the Twentieth Century Pictures' banner before it merged with Fox Film Corporation to create 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation.
Release
The 1935 film was produced by Twentieth Century Pictures before the May 31, 1935 merger that created Twentieth Century-Fox, and so it was released as a Twentieth Century-Fox film.
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She received numerous honors including an Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and three Primetime Emmy Awards as well as two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her work in film and television.
The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London, published in 1903 and set in Yukon, Canada, during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, when strong sled dogs were in high demand. The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck. The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley, California, when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska. He becomes progressively more primitive and wild in the harsh environment, where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs. By the end, he sheds the veneer of civilization, and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild.
Joseph Leo Mankiewicz was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six.
Judy Lewis was an American actress, writer, producer, and therapist. She was the secret biological daughter of actors Loretta Young and Clark Gable.
Dante's Inferno is a 1935 American drama horror film starring Spencer Tracy and loosely based on Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. The film remains primarily remembered for a 10-minute depiction of hell realised by director Harry Lachman, himself an established post-impressionist painter. This was Fox Film Corporation's last film to be produced under the Fox Studios banner before the company merged with Twentieth Century Pictures to form 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation.
Wintertime is a 1943 Twentieth Century-Fox musical film directed by John Brahm and starring Sonja Henie and Cesar Romero. It also features Woody Herman and His Orchestra.
Sally Blane was an American actress who appeared in more than 100 movies.
Hello, Frisco, Hello is a 1943 American musical film directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Alice Faye, John Payne, Lynn Bari, and Jack Oakie. The film was made in Technicolor and released by 20th Century-Fox. This was one of the last musicals made by Faye for Fox, and in later interviews Faye said it was clear Fox was promoting Betty Grable as her successor. Released during World War II, the film became one of Faye's highest-grossing pictures for Fox.
Second Honeymoon is a 1937 American screwball romantic comedy film directed by Walter Lang and starring Tyrone Power, Loretta Young and Stuart Erwin. Based on a story by Philip Wylie it was distributed by Twentieth Century-Fox. A comedy of remarriage, it was overshadowed by the similar The Awful Truth released the same year.
Ramona is a 1936 American Drama Western film directed by Henry King, based on Helen Hunt Jackson's 1884 novel Ramona. This was the third adaptation of the film, and the first one with sound. It was the fourth American feature film using the new three strip Technicolor process. It starred Loretta Young and Don Ameche.
Song of the Islands is a 1942 musical comedy film starring Betty Grable and Victor Mature. It was directed by Walter Lang and released through 20th Century Fox.
Key to the City is a 1950 American romantic comedy film starring Clark Gable and Loretta Young as mayors who meet in San Francisco, and despite their contrasting personalities and views, fall in love.
The Great American Broadcast is a 1941 American musical comedy film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Jack Oakie, Alice Faye and John Payne. It was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Sweet and Low-Down is a 1944 film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Benny Goodman and Linda Darnell. The film was a fictionalized version of life with Goodman, his band, and their manager while entertaining at military camps. The song "I'm Making Believe" was nominated for an Academy Award.
The Call of the Wild is an American silent adventure film based on the popular 1903 book by Jack London. The film was written and directed by Fred Jackman and produced by Hal Roach. The feature was released on September 23, 1923, and distributed by Pathé Exchange.
Rise and Shine is a 1941 American comedy crime film directed by Allan Dwan and starring Jack Oakie, George Murphy and Linda Darnell. It was produced and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. It is inspired by the 1933 autobiography My Life and Hard Times by James Thurber.
Claudia is a 1943 American comedy-drama film directed by Edmund Goulding, and written by Morrie Ryskind. The film stars Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Ina Claire, Reginald Gardiner, Olga Baclanova, and Jean Howard. The film was released on November 4, 1943, by 20th Century Fox. The film was based on a Broadway play of the same name from 1941. It is followed by a sequel in 1946 Claudia and David.
Thanks for Everything is a 1938 American comedy film directed by William A. Seiter, written by Curtis Kenyon and Harry Tugend, and starring Adolphe Menjou, Jack Oakie, Jack Haley, Arleen Whelan, Tony Martin and Binnie Barnes. It was released on December 23, 1938 by 20th Century-Fox.
Navy Wife is a 1935 American drama film directed by Allan Dwan and written by Sonya Levien and Edward T. Lowe Jr. It is based on the 1935 novel Beauty's Daughter by Kathleen Norris. The film stars Claire Trevor, Ralph Bellamy, Jane Darwell, Warren Hymer, Ben Lyon and Kathleen Burke. The film was released on November 29, 1935, by 20th Century Fox.
The Call of the Wild is a 2020 American adventure film based on Jack London's 1903 novel of the same name. Directed by Chris Sanders, in his live-action directorial debut, and his first film without a co-director, the film was written by Michael Green, and stars Harrison Ford, Omar Sy, Cara Gee, Dan Stevens, Karen Gillan, and Bradley Whitford. Set during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, the film follows a dog named Buck as he is stolen from his home in California and sent to the Yukon, where he befriends an old outdoorsman and begins a life-altering adventure.
