CALL OF THE WILD
US, 1976, 100 minutes, Colour.
John Beck, Jim Bohan, Billy Greenbush, Bernard Fresson, John McLiam?, Donald Moffatt.
Directed by Jerry Jameson.
Call of the Wild is loosely adapted from Jack London's popular story of Alaska at the turn of the century. The film focuses on Buck the dog and the achievement of the dogs in the North. It makes for an enjoyable romantic action adventure.
The Call of the Wild continued to be popular with several television versions between the 70s and 2005. There was a television series but the three main films were closely based on Jack London’s novel.
1. The entertainment value of the film? Techniques?
2. The importance of location photography, colour, the atmosphere of the Klondike, the late 19th century? Snow, isolation, the town, goldmines? The atmosphere of the immensity of this world? The contrast with the civilised world? Musical score?
3. The reputation of Jack London? The respect of the screenplay for his novel, plot? The importance of so much in the narrative and voice-over? What did the narrative contribute to understanding the characters, appreciating their situations, understanding of the dog?
4. The judge? The almost humanising of the dog, the dog as a symbol of humane things? Civilisation, wildness? Heritage?
5. The initial presentation of the dog, the name, the tone? San Francisco, the judge, the fireplace, the comfortable 19th century? The indications of the lost heritage? The brutality of the dog’s being betrayed and sold? Suffering on the voyage? The audience being led to identify with the dog?
6. The distance from San Francisco, suffering, the dog being ill-used? Arrival, the fight, training the dog, his being clubbed by his master? Bought, used? The man who tested the dogs, his claims about training? The buyers, the people watching?
7. The comparison with humans and the dog? The type of man that went to the Klondike? Gold, greed, cruelty, survival?
8. John Fenton as the hero, character, friend, gold? Wanting to buy the dog? The meeting by accident with Francois? The bonds between the two, symbolised in the rivalries? Training of the dogs, pulling of the sled? The distances, falling into the snow, freezing? The camps? The importance of the fights between the rival dogs, symbol of the rivalry between the two men? The audience being immersed in the experience of the Klondike? The encounter with the blind man and his dreams? His going in circles and getting nowhere?
9. The focus on the dog, losing his name, identified with the dog from California? The narrative explaining his receiving of the civilised trait, the American of the Wild instinct? Fight with the dog, exhaustion and cold?
10. John and his disillusionment? The fight with the two men, wounding? Accidents of fate, men using one another in the world? The rules and laws of the Klondike?
11. The bonds between John and the dog, training, exhilaration, finding of gold, the possibility of the future?
12. The contrast of the way of life in town, Rosmary and the fight in the saloon, the prospector and his bet? Buck and his pulling the sled, winning the bet? The effect on John?
13. The parallel of the success of John and his goldmine with Buck and his hunting, going out for days, hunting in the packs, killing the deer?
14. The pathos of the tableau of the death of the miners? The brutality of the revenge of the dog? Audience sympathies with this vindication? The final call of the wild, the dog going back to his origins? Symbol of human beings who must go on to civilisation? The animal symbolising the goals and drives of people? The film successful as a mining and animal film?
