I actually liked Wolf Call. Was it a great picture, not really, nor was it nothing like Jack London's Call Of The Wild or even the 1934 film version with Clark Gable and Loretta Young ( although her sister Polly Ann ( Natalie) is in the movie. I also saw Movita ( Towana) in other films and she was hotter before. No what I liked was the character growth in Mike ( John Carroll). He went from one of the "Idle Rich" who played games with Natalie and others in that social class ( such as stealing a police dog), and would drink and not get up until the afternoon ( although he had an engineering degree and could have worked). His father disgusted with his behavior sends him to check on a uranium mine in Canada. There he meets half breed Towana), and falls in love with her ( despite being engaged to Natalie). Spoilers ahead: He finally grows up and fights bad guys and saves the mine from being sold ( her father is able to separate radium from the uranium), and decides to remain in Canada and obviously marry Towana. The character growth in Mike is what makes the movie and character growth is always good. I give it 7/10 stars. 6 plus 1 for being one of the better Monogrsm movies.
6 Reviews
Regenaration Plot - Relocated and Revisited
horn-522 March 2007
Basics: Playboy son of hard-working, self-made millionaire. Likes girls, drinking and his only ambition is to do more girls and more drinking. Mother dead. (Cost of extra character unneeded for plot purposes.) Father disgusted with son. Father ships son off to "make a man of him." Son none-too-happy with sudden life-style change.
Set-Up: Playboy Michael "Mike" Vance, Jr. (John Carroll)is night-clubbing in New York City with Natalie (Polly Ann Young.) Natalie is shallow. Mike doesn't care. Mike and Natalie join a scavenger hunt and break-in a pet shop to get something they require for the treasure-hunt prize. While there, Mike frees (as seen in the credits) Smokey (Grey Cloud), a police dog, and Smokey follows Mike home. The next day, Mike's father (Guy Usher), disgusted with Mike's spoiled and care-free lifestyle and hangovers, sends Mike to the Vance Canadian Radium Mine to report back whether or not the mine is worth keeping. Mike takes his new best-friend Smoky with him.
Son meets Life-style changing people sequence: In Canada, Mike meets a priest, Father Devlin (Peter George Lynn) and Grogan (John Sheehan), an Irish mine worker, and when Mike gets into a fight---to prove he isn't your everyday sissy-boy playboy---with "Bull" (John Kelly), the impressed Groagn and Father Devlin befriend him. Mike meets with Carson (Wheeler Oakman), the mine superintendent, who tells Mike that the mine is losing money and should be sold to Radium Syndicate Ltd., Inc., because the cost of shipping radium is too high for a single owner. But Mike also meets the Indian maiden, Towanah (Movita)who begs him not to sell the mine, and she introduces him to her father, Dr. McTavish (George Cleveland), who is perfecting a new process of reducing radium which will make the cost of shipping it negligible. After explaining the definition of negligible to Mike, Doc McTavish also explains that Towanah is only half-Indian maiden. Towanah McTavish's mother is also dead. Actually, Towanah is half-Indian but 100% maiden. Or, claims to be.
Mike-is-smitten and the-plot-thickens sequence: Carson declares that the McTavish process is no good, and then informs Mike Sr. that his son has the real scoop and is only staying in Canada because of his affair with Towanah. The down-hearted Mike Sr. decides to sell the mine.
The Boy Gets Tested Sequence: When Mike and Father Devlin try to contact Senior by radio, Carson destroys the set, and Mike discovers that he is in league with Radium Syndicate Ltd., Inc. to get control of the mine so they can have a monopoly on radium and keep the prices up. They already have Madame Curie's stash. From this point forward it is open war between Mike and Carson. Mike escapes from Carson's henchmen with the help of Towanna and Father Devlin, and attempts to fly to New York to get to his father before he sells the mine. He has only twelve hours to do this. But, Carson and his henchmen (including of course, Roger Williams who was everybody's henchman)sabotage the airplane, and Mike crashes in the mountains.
The Boy Comes Through (with the help of a dog) Sequence: Smokey, who has been rather quiet since leaving New York, finds Mike in the mountains, and Smokey's uncredited mate---but he has been busy off-camera---keeps the wolves away while Smokey finds Father Devlin. He and Towanah and Grogan rescue Mike, Father Devlin uses the plane's radio to contact Vance, Sr., and the mine is saved. Why Mike didn't do that before taking off in a sabotaged airplane is left unexplained, to the dismay of the nit-pickers.
The Boy Becomes A Man Sequence: When Mike's grateful father comes to take him home, Mike realizes his love for the half-Indian/all Maiden Towanah and breaks his engagement with Natalie. Then, with Towanah at his side, he decides to remain in Canada and start life anew.
Set-Up: Playboy Michael "Mike" Vance, Jr. (John Carroll)is night-clubbing in New York City with Natalie (Polly Ann Young.) Natalie is shallow. Mike doesn't care. Mike and Natalie join a scavenger hunt and break-in a pet shop to get something they require for the treasure-hunt prize. While there, Mike frees (as seen in the credits) Smokey (Grey Cloud), a police dog, and Smokey follows Mike home. The next day, Mike's father (Guy Usher), disgusted with Mike's spoiled and care-free lifestyle and hangovers, sends Mike to the Vance Canadian Radium Mine to report back whether or not the mine is worth keeping. Mike takes his new best-friend Smoky with him.
Son meets Life-style changing people sequence: In Canada, Mike meets a priest, Father Devlin (Peter George Lynn) and Grogan (John Sheehan), an Irish mine worker, and when Mike gets into a fight---to prove he isn't your everyday sissy-boy playboy---with "Bull" (John Kelly), the impressed Groagn and Father Devlin befriend him. Mike meets with Carson (Wheeler Oakman), the mine superintendent, who tells Mike that the mine is losing money and should be sold to Radium Syndicate Ltd., Inc., because the cost of shipping radium is too high for a single owner. But Mike also meets the Indian maiden, Towanah (Movita)who begs him not to sell the mine, and she introduces him to her father, Dr. McTavish (George Cleveland), who is perfecting a new process of reducing radium which will make the cost of shipping it negligible. After explaining the definition of negligible to Mike, Doc McTavish also explains that Towanah is only half-Indian maiden. Towanah McTavish's mother is also dead. Actually, Towanah is half-Indian but 100% maiden. Or, claims to be.
Mike-is-smitten and the-plot-thickens sequence: Carson declares that the McTavish process is no good, and then informs Mike Sr. that his son has the real scoop and is only staying in Canada because of his affair with Towanah. The down-hearted Mike Sr. decides to sell the mine.
The Boy Gets Tested Sequence: When Mike and Father Devlin try to contact Senior by radio, Carson destroys the set, and Mike discovers that he is in league with Radium Syndicate Ltd., Inc. to get control of the mine so they can have a monopoly on radium and keep the prices up. They already have Madame Curie's stash. From this point forward it is open war between Mike and Carson. Mike escapes from Carson's henchmen with the help of Towanna and Father Devlin, and attempts to fly to New York to get to his father before he sells the mine. He has only twelve hours to do this. But, Carson and his henchmen (including of course, Roger Williams who was everybody's henchman)sabotage the airplane, and Mike crashes in the mountains.
The Boy Comes Through (with the help of a dog) Sequence: Smokey, who has been rather quiet since leaving New York, finds Mike in the mountains, and Smokey's uncredited mate---but he has been busy off-camera---keeps the wolves away while Smokey finds Father Devlin. He and Towanah and Grogan rescue Mike, Father Devlin uses the plane's radio to contact Vance, Sr., and the mine is saved. Why Mike didn't do that before taking off in a sabotaged airplane is left unexplained, to the dismay of the nit-pickers.
The Boy Becomes A Man Sequence: When Mike's grateful father comes to take him home, Mike realizes his love for the half-Indian/all Maiden Towanah and breaks his engagement with Natalie. Then, with Towanah at his side, he decides to remain in Canada and start life anew.
When The Wild Is Calling You
boblipton14 August 2021
Polly Ann Young and John Carroll get drunk and steal a German shepherd from a pet shop. Carroll's father, Guy Usher -- you can see the family resemblance in their mustaches -- tells him he's going to work, fly up to Radium City and see if the mine there can be made to pay. So Carroll and the dog head off to the land of voyageurs so Carroll can sing love duets with Movita and the dog can get tight with wolves.
Nominally based on the novel by Jack London to avoid paying royalties, this modernized version tries to be all things to all people: ROSE-MARIE and rough-house philosophy and science booster. As a result, of those and its cheap Monogram budget, it seems mildly ridiculous. Fred Jackman Jr's nice location photography around Big Bear Lake was dimmed by a muddy print, and the sound cut out at odd moments.
Nominally based on the novel by Jack London to avoid paying royalties, this modernized version tries to be all things to all people: ROSE-MARIE and rough-house philosophy and science booster. As a result, of those and its cheap Monogram budget, it seems mildly ridiculous. Fred Jackman Jr's nice location photography around Big Bear Lake was dimmed by a muddy print, and the sound cut out at odd moments.
It's just okay....nothing more.
planktonrules19 July 2021
According to IMDB, "Wolf Call" is based on the novel "The Wolf Call" by Jack London. Well, I tried a Google search and could NOT find any mention of this novel nor could I find it on Wikipedia. Now I am not saying it doesn't exist...but it seems likely it doesn't. So, I am not sure on which story this film is based....if any at all.
Mike (John Carroll) is a bit of a playboy. His father wants to see Mike grow into a decent man and to get him away from his dopey girlfriend and his boyish ways, he sends Mike on a mission to the middle of no where in Canada to inspect a mine he owns. Mike's job is to determine whether or not they should keep this mine* open or not.
One there, Mike has some run in with some jerks and meets a native girl, Towanah...with which he falls in love. And, the jerks try to keep Mike from keeping the mine open because, well, they're jerks! Can Mike manage to convince his father to keep this mine running?
This film is okay....just okay. A decent enough time-passer but offering little that would make it a must-see film.
*The plot says it's a radium mine but if I am not mistaken, radium is made through processing uranite and I would think they'd refer to it as a uranite mine. Of course, I am no expert on this.
Mike (John Carroll) is a bit of a playboy. His father wants to see Mike grow into a decent man and to get him away from his dopey girlfriend and his boyish ways, he sends Mike on a mission to the middle of no where in Canada to inspect a mine he owns. Mike's job is to determine whether or not they should keep this mine* open or not.
One there, Mike has some run in with some jerks and meets a native girl, Towanah...with which he falls in love. And, the jerks try to keep Mike from keeping the mine open because, well, they're jerks! Can Mike manage to convince his father to keep this mine running?
This film is okay....just okay. A decent enough time-passer but offering little that would make it a must-see film.
*The plot says it's a radium mine but if I am not mistaken, radium is made through processing uranite and I would think they'd refer to it as a uranite mine. Of course, I am no expert on this.
That howling you hear is the wolves being forced to sit through this groaner.
mark.waltz16 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't think I'd find laughter in this with the action and adventure I assumed there would be in a movie based upon a Jack London story, but indeed I did every time that John Carroll and Movita break into song. This isn't "Rose Marie", the Mountie musical, and if the Mountie always gets their man, here the critic gets the stinker. The story involves a wealthy playboy (Carroll) who is sent by his father (Guy Usher) up north to check on one of the mines they own. He abandons current gal pal Polly Ann Young (Loretta's very similar looking sister) and ends up with spunky native girl Movita whom I can proudly say would have been no threat to Acquanetta a few years later.
The story basically has Carroll discovering that there is indeed radium in their mine, and dealing with a variety of bad guys who want to get their hands on it. The bottom line is that the rich city boy grows up, learns some responsibility, and finds real love with a real woman. The wolf call of the title is basically the howling call between a wolf and their desired canine mate, sometimes even one of man's best friend. Stereotypical characters and cliched writing makes this a pretty lame, rushed "B" picture, with George Lynn providing spiritual guidance as the local minister and George Cleveland providing wisdom as the local doctor. At just an hour, this should have been less painless, and had they removed the two unnecessary songs, it would have been totally humorless and thus an even more waste of time.
The story basically has Carroll discovering that there is indeed radium in their mine, and dealing with a variety of bad guys who want to get their hands on it. The bottom line is that the rich city boy grows up, learns some responsibility, and finds real love with a real woman. The wolf call of the title is basically the howling call between a wolf and their desired canine mate, sometimes even one of man's best friend. Stereotypical characters and cliched writing makes this a pretty lame, rushed "B" picture, with George Lynn providing spiritual guidance as the local minister and George Cleveland providing wisdom as the local doctor. At just an hour, this should have been less painless, and had they removed the two unnecessary songs, it would have been totally humorless and thus an even more waste of time.
Indian love call of the wild
clanciai25 July 2021
This seems to be something like a hotch-potch with nothing of Jack London in it whatsoever but maybe casually inspired by some of his tales - there are some wolves howling, there is a dog being allured by them, there is a beautiful half Indian girl all dressed up like in an Indian masquerade for tourists, but then there is a lot of bustle about radium and a mine of it - this doesn't look like Jack London at all. And all those workers and interested parties of the mine, including some picturesque Irishmen, don't seem to mind at all that radium is supposed to be radioactive. Maybe it wasn't in those days. But the most surprising point is that the protagonist John Carroll sings, and by singing he attracts that half Indian girl who sings as well. This is now tilting at great risk to a musical in the mountains, and you almost expect Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy to pop up, like in a Sigmund Romberg operetta, but there are no more than two songs - the rest is all about radium, the dog and the wolves and intrigues about the mine. It's not a bad film and not a bad story, but Jack London would have shaken his head in utter dismay not knowing whether to laugh or to cry.
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