North to Alaska is a 1960 comedic western directed by Henry Hathaway and starring John Wayne and Stewart Granger. The film script is based on the play Birthday Gift by Ladislas Fodor.
The film featured Johnny Horton's hit song of the same name. Though Horton had sung several popular movie tie-in songs, this was the first one that actually appeared in the film being sung over the opening titles.
Plot
After striking gold in Alaska, George Pratt (Stewart Granger) sends partner Sam McCord (John Wayne) to Seattle to bring back his fiancée. Finding that George's girl had already married another man, Sam brings back prostitute "Angel" (Capucine) as a substitute. There is a misunderstanding: she thinks Sam wants her for himself and begins to fall in love with him on the boat trip back.
George is rejected by the girl, though his young brother Billy (Fabian) is very interested. Meanwhile, con man Frankie Canon (Ernie Kovacs) tries to steal their claim.
Production
North to Alaska was the first in a three-film contract for Wayne with 20th Century Fox. Alaska having become the 49th State in 1959, the location was much discussed by the average American at the time. The film's working title was Trail of the Yukon,[1] the first choice of director by Wayne and Fox was Richard Fleischer. However, Fleischer attempted to bow out, disliking the script and fearing he would be blamed for a Wayne box office failure. Fleischer falsely blamed the female lead Capucine for his displeasure, knowing that Capucine's lover, the agent and producer Charles K. Feldman (whom Fleischer felt to have undue influence at Fox), would ask that he be replaced.[2] Spyros Skouras wanted the budget of the film reduced; that Hathaway did by reducing location shots.[3]
Most of the film was shot in Point Mugu California, not Alaska,[4] although the landscape is evocative of old Nome and the gold fields northeast of there. (Alaska's gold rush should not be confused with the more famous Klondike rush of Canada; the Nome gold fever began in 1899 as Klondike's was waning; many Klondikers rushed to Nome and prospectors worked the gold-rich beach sand where passengers arrived via barge-style ferries. John Wayne's gold workings would have been inland but the exact location is never stated). The town of Nome as pictured in the film, circa 1900, was similar in appearance though not a perfect replica. Without docks due to variable tides, settlers and prospectors were ferried ashore as shown. The Wayne and Granger "honeymoon" cabin scenes were filmed along steaming Hot Creek near volcanic Mammoth Mountain. Mt. Morrison appears in the background of many shots.
A good account of life in the Nome gold camp, as seen in "North to Alaska" between 1899 and 1901, is "Fool's Gold" (out-of-print), a book penned by saloonkeeper Jed Johnson. He owned Nome's notorious Ophir Saloon.
Cast
References
External links
