User reviews

The Wild North was shot in the Boulder Mts of central Idaho, near Sun Valley Resort. My father, Clayton Stewart, was the resort's contact with MGM and for years helped directors find the right settings for movies. I can take you to the exact locations of the outdoor scenes, some of which were: along upper Big Wood River not far from Russian John Forest Service Ranger Station; along Big Wood near where the North Fork comes into the main channel; along the front of the Boulder Mountains near where Baker Creek comes in, and near Boulder Creek; up Trail Creek above Trail Creek Cabin; and on Galena Summit. Sun Valley resort supplied the trained dog teams and sleds. I was a girl when the movie was shot, and when the Sun Valley portion of the film was finished, Stewart Granger gave me the snowshoes he had used in the film, which I still have. I also have a set of black and white photos taken by Dad during the filming. This is an exciting adventure movie with a breathtaking setting and some great wilderness action.

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!

I first saw The Wild North when I was just fresh back from Korea in 1953. I was so impressed by the story and the scenery that I returned to the little movie theater down the block to see it three more times before it was replaced on the bill. The action is terrific and the scene where the wolves attack Wendell Corey and Stewart Granger makes your heart pound. The setting is breath taking and the ending is perfect. The Movie makers paid great attention to detail, right down to the Tea Cartons and the Tobacco packages. I loved it. If they ever release it again, I'll see it for the fifth time.

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.

This colorful picture is set in the North wildness , in the Canadian mountains, , and specifically at the treacherous jungle of ice plenty of wild wolf attack , wild avalanche and a fight for life against fury of claws and fangs . A man called Jules Vincent (Stewart Granger) and an Indian woman (Cyd Charysse) hide from the world and join their love in the heart of the wilderness . There takes place a killing and Jules escapes being pursued by a merciless mounted police officer . As the trapper goes on the run accused of a crime and is pursued by a rugged and determined lawman . Both of whom will take on death struggle with a pack of wolves , thundering terror of the avalanche , wild rapids and many other things .

This exciting film deals with a Wild Love Story in the Wild North and contains adventures , thrills , an enjoyable romance and colorful outdoors well filmed by cameraman Robert Surtees who photographs splendidly the snowbound scenarios . It is nonetheless a little failed , being necessary a right remastering . Plenty of a Hollywood all-star cast as Stewart Granger, Cyd Charysse , and Wendell Corey ; however ordinary script complications muddle the tale . It was also Stewart Granger's first western , the fore-runner of many in the later stages of his career such as ¨Gun Glory¨ ¨North to Alaska¨ , ¨ The last hunt¨and ¨Old Surehand¨ saga . Cold and ills affected the crew and actors but they surprised for her resistance . Interesting though sometimes boring screenplay by Frank Fenton , an expert Western screenwriter who wrote successes such as ¨Ride Vaquero¨, ¨Escape from Fort Bravo¨ , ¨River of no return¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ and ¨The Jayhawkers¨. Special mention to musical score by the classical Bronislau Kaper , a great composer expert on impressive atmosphere in Noir cinema and epic films . Filmed on location in exciting color , all grandeur of the wilderness captured in breathtaking Ansco color ; in fact , this was MGM's first movie in Ansco color , a brilliant process which they developed themselves . The new technical coped specifically well with the impressive scenery filmed on location in Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming, and Idaho , USA .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Andrew Marton , though with no originality and some moments result to be a little tiring . The Budapest-born Marton came to Hollywood with the great Ernest Lubitsch in 1923 . Director Andrew Marton likes lots of big , noisy explosions , when he doesn't know what else to do . Andrew was noted for the quality of his action images in such films as ¨King Salomon's mines¨, a noteworthy movie in several respects . Marton was a specialist on Wartime movies as : ¨The thin red line¨ , ¨The longest day ¨and adventure movies as ¨African Texas style¨, ¨Around the world under the sea¨, ¨Clarence , the cross-eyed lion¨, ¨Green fire¨ a film hardly distinguished on itself , and ¨King Salomon's mines¨(1950) co-directed by Compton Bennett and Andrew Marton directed the second unit , he then was tasked with replacing Compton Bennett as director after the latter had been taken ill . One of his more prestigious assignments came about by chance to lay in some excellent work as second-unit director , notably in charge of the chariot race for William Wyler's ¨Ben-Hur¨ (1959), as well as of the Normandy invasion sequences for the World War II . After his contract with MGM expired in 1954, Marton founded his own production company in conjunction with fellow Hungarian émigrés Ivan Tors and Laslo Benedek . He later concentrated on TV adventure series, helming the pilots, respectively for "Daktari" (1966) and "Cowboy in Africa" .

An adventures movie which predates some aspects of "river of no return" (Mitchum rebuilding a family with Monroe and a young son) by three years; the underlying subjects is the necessity for man to find himself a family : that's the trapper realizes when the film begins; a thing that the duty-above -all Javert-like longs for all along the story (he admits he's got nobody ,and he envies his prisoner who's got somebody waiting for him,were she a half-breed in a shack )

This adventures movie is at least as much a psychological drama : the events (the wolves,the meeting with two lost men) take a back seat to Granger/Corey relationship , a strange love /hate relationship ,a mutual admiration and a cat and mouse play:but who's the cat ? The pictures on location are splendid indeed and this odyssey looks like an initiatory journey ,mainly for the mountie.

Like Marilyn Monroe in "river of no return ", Cyd Charisse is a chanteuse in the first sequence ;and there's also a brat ,who,although no part of the family ,sides with the trapper who urges the shopkeeper to give him chocolate.

I first saw this movie in 1952 at a theater in Chattanooga tenn when it first was released. It mesmerized me then and has done the same 10 to 20 times I have seen it since. It has a reality to it that is totally lacking in most hollywood films. And maybe the main reason its to my liking is Steward Granger. He was the narrator of the books on tape title ( call of the wild ) and he made the experience infinitely more enjoyable and exciting for me . Thanks ,my name is barney and I am 68 yrs. I hope ted Turner will release this title to dvd or vhs at some point from his film library.

Jesus. I never want to hear "baby" pronounced that way for the rest of my life. The scenery was nice though.

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.

What awesome scenary provides the setting for this classic 1950's formulated drama! Solid performances by all actors.

It does seem like a scene vanished from the Turner classic version that I was watching. The jump in the film between scenes early in the movie seemed out of place. And, once you discovered a certain event had occured it seemed unlikely that this important scene was on the cutting room floor.

There's no other reason to view this pile of garbage!

Granger and his cartoonish French accent, Charisse as a First Nation girl, and Corey with his typical one-note performance should be more than enough to convince you to save your time and watch something else!

Script was haphazard and the direction was childish, but I have no idea if it mattered.

Bad film!

I am surprised that no videos or DVDs have been made of this movie. Certainly one of the best Stewart Granger movies I have ever seen (second only to Scaramouche).

French-Canadian trapper Jules Vincent (Stewart Granger) comes into town for some drinking. He's taken with Indian saloon singer (Cyd Charisse). He has a fight with drunken mountain man Max Brody. They bury the hatchet the next day. The trio end up traveling North together. Later, Brody's dead body is found in the river and Jules is assumed to be the murderer. Canadian Mounted Police Constable Pedley (Wendell Corey) is ordered to bring in the suspect.

They need to show the incident right away. It could be a good action scene. More than that, the rooting interest needs some better clarity. There may be power to the story if it's kept somewhat a question but I still prefer the other way. There are some good cat and mouse games after the two get together. This is the type of story that requires some cold outdoor filming which isn't done back then. The interior sound stage is not good for this film. It is a snowy epic and it needs to constantly show the exterior grandeur. The mountain is always awesome. This is fine but I can see some needed improvements if it's ever remade.

Jules (Stewart Granger) is a French-Canadian trapper working in the back country. Early in the film, another trapper is getting fresh with a native lady (inexplicably played by Cyd Charisse) and Jules stugs him. The next day, he and the drunk who groped the lady make up and travel briefly together with the native woman. Now here is where the movie gets strange....in one scene the three are traveling in the river in a canoe and in the next there are only two of them and Jules is talking about how he had to kill the drunk. Huh?? Such an important part of the movie....and it's entirely missing?! Strange.

The plot of the rest of the film consists of Jules going back to the wilderness to avoid capture...and a dedicated Mountie (Wendell Corey) chasing him and ultimately capturing him. But it's in the middle of winter and it will take some time for them to return to civilization for a trial....and Jules has many opportunities to escape. But he IS a decent guy and although he could have killed the Mountie several times, he cannot bring himself to do that either.

This film has a huge problem...no matter how good it is, the plot is still very thin. Man kills another, is chased, captured and, possibly, brought back to defend his actions...period. Not a lot to that. Add to that the scene oddly missing that I mentioned above, and it's a movie that is, at best, a time-passer.

I saw this film when it came out in theatres back when I was a kid & when I saw it on TCM awhile ago, it still socked me right in the kisser with its breathtakingly beautiful cinematography, fast paced action, suspense, and wonderful characters. Stewart Granger is totally believable as the wanted fur trapper, Cyd Charrisse is as beautiful as I remember her, and Wendell Corey is fantastic as the stalwart Mountie who always gets his man. This movie is in my personal list of Top 10 favorite films...ever! I finally got to make a DVD of it from TCM the other night & I've watched it 5 times since then without ever getting tired of it. The closing scene...Wendell Corey in his RCMP costume with a tiny kitten on his shoulder & the snow covered mountains behind him is a picture that I will carry with me to my grave. Absolutely a film to be treasured by anyone who loves great movies!

Is this what Hollywood thought of Canda?

Stewart Granger with the lamest frenchie accent of all time. Not to mention the fakiest fake tan. Cyd Charisse as an Indianigenous. And Wendel Corey boring the shyt out of everyone as a Mountie.

Frankly, I was insulted.

Watch this movie with Canadian friends and a bottle of Crown Royal.

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.

I have not seen this movie in a long,long,long time.However I can not ever forget it! The beautiful Canadian Rockies,where I believe it was filmed was breath taking!The scene where Wendell Corey and Stewart Granger are camping and have to avoid wolves is as exciting moment as any adventure film I've ever scene! My congratulations to Director Andrew Marton (1952) for making a 48 year old,want to see it again!

In a time of action movies,with far out special effects,sex,profanity and plots that seem to run together with next months movies,this one has suspence that is believable and yes with a beautiful Cyd Charisse!

Stewart Granger was incredible as the French-Canadian main character, although it was surprising at first to hear him using an accent rather than his famous usual voice. Wendell Corey was sometime criticized as wooden or dull, but that was entirely right for the character of the Mountie who is sent to arrest Granger. The film is clearky largely shot on location rather than in the studio. Obviously the casting of Cyd Charisse as a native American would never have been allowed today, but this film was made in 1951.