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Don't Believe the Hype

Did you people see the same film I saw?

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

I enjoyed both Corey and Granger performance. However, I especially liked Corey's strong character performance in "The Wild North". Corey's understated character contrasts well with the mountain man persona of Granger. In later years, Corey always was cast in submissive, retiring roles which really did not suit him. Corey projects a strong 'quiet' type of presence and with a high level of integrity. Cinema photography and accuracy is especially fabulous in this movie. No fake Hollywood sets for this movie.The story builds as the character development becomes apparent. Viewers begin to identify and feel for the characters making the story even more vivid and realistic. The best compliment I can pay this movie is that it allowed me to feel like I was up North with them during the trek!

Stewart Granger is a woods wise French Canadian trapper who's killed a man and Wendell Corey is the rookie Mountie sent to bring him back for trial.Problem is that this is Granger's ballpark they're playing in and it's one long journey back to some semblance of civilization. But strange as it may seem, Corey proves his mettle and a strange respect grows between both men.Granger and Corey have good chemistry between them, they'd have to or the film would be unwatchable. MGM put in some good action sequences involving wolves attacking their camp and a breathtaking whitewater canoeing challenge. The Wild North also features good location photography in some rugged regions of Idaho serving as the Canadian northwest. Oh, and there's Cyd Charisse who dances not a step as a beautiful Indian woman with a thing for Granger. Reason enough right there to watch the Wild North.

Stewart Granger made a number of very exciting outdoor adventure films. The Last Hunt, King Solomon's Mines and The Wild North all appeared when he was at the height of his popularity. The Wild North is exceptionally exciting with his canoeing down a raging river and fighting off a pack of ravenous wolves. The only small criticism would be with his rather tortured French accent. He plays the role of a French trapper pursued by the Royal Mounted Police. The movie must have been shot on location somewhere in Canada or Alaska. The scenery is very beautiful and quite harsh. I saw this film on TV and noticed it was not available in any format. I wish it was available on DVD or that someone could provide a copy in VHS. I would love to own this film.

TCM just showed The Wild North today, in a version that had closed captioning added and looked as if it was digitally remastered since its last broadcast on TCM some years ago. Maybe Time-Warner will finally release the DVD of the movie in the near future. MGM in the early fifties turned out a series of high quality star vehicles, which were taken for granted then. With its small cast, The Wild North is like another movie of the period, The Naked Spur, which also deals with bringing a prisoner in. The Wild North has fine location photography in Idaho, a script that moves along and even some photographic effects courtesy of A. Arnold Gillespie. By 1956, with the forced sale of its Loew's theaters, the firing of Dore Schary as head of production and the end of contract system for studio talent, MGM went into a slow death spiral. There would be no more studio pictures like The Wild North, as MGM cut its output and filled a big chunk of its slate of releases with independent productions and movies made overseas. But at least I now have The Wild North on DVD, recorded from today's broadcast, as a souvenir from a vanished era in Hollywood history.