Call of the Klondike (1950) User Reviews

What's the trouble at Healy's Crossing?

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 14 July 2013]

Call of the Klondike is directed by Frank McDonald and adapted to screenplay by Charles Lang from a story by James Oliver Curwood. It stars Kirby Grant, Anne Gwynne, Lynne Roberts, Tom Neal, Russell Simpson and Marc Krah. Music is by Edward J. Kay and cinematography by William Sickner.

Northwest Mountie Rob Webb (Grant) and his cunning pooch Chinook investigate a number of strange disappearances out in the sticks at Healy's Crossing. Joining them on the trail is Nancy Craig (Gwynne), whose father is one the men who have mysteriously vanished whilst searching for gold at the local mine.

Out of Monogram Pictures, Call of the Klondike is the second of eight films that featured Northwest Mountie Rob Webb and his dog Chinook. Running at just over an hour in length, the premise is simple. Man and dog investigate dastardly doings, suspects file in, the baddies are not hard to figure out and it will lead to some fist-fights, detective work, a pretty dame and a hooray ending. Location work is out of Big Bear Valley/Big Bear Lake (San Bernardino National Forest) in California, which is a beautiful backdrop, while for this one the presence of a creepy mine adds a dash of dark intrigue to the narrative.

The acting will not shake your boots and production value of course isn't high, but everyone knows what is needed to play out an honest murder mystery that entertains while it's on. 6.5/10

Satisfactory for what it is, your typical action filled northern.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 19 January 2023]

Corruption in the great outdoor brings out once again the heroic mountie Rob Webb (Kirby Grant), anxious to find out what has happdned to the disappearing licals, with the help of his fearless dog Chinook and the beautiful Anne Gwynne, daughter of one of those missing. This leads then to the corrupy Lynne Roberts and Tom Neal, with support from Russell Simpson and Marc Krah in breaking the case. Chinook seems to know who is good and who is bad so there are several scenes where the peppy pup jumps on various bad guys. You just know that the bad guys who are out to gain control of some gold mine claims are going to be exposed and dealt with accordingly, so it is no surprise how fast it happens.

Some great outdoor sets make life in the northwest look quite exciting, and in black and white, it looks much more realistic than it probably would have had it been made in color. The good guys are tough but really good, and the bad guys are equally tough but really evil, so it becomes the desire to see good win over bad and for Grant, who has been down this territory several times, as a mountie, to get the bad guy as well as his good woman. Chinook is fun to watch, a well-trained dog, and the film moves at a steady pace, seldomly dragging and not outstaying its welcome. I've seen most of the other films in this series, and they're pretty decent, easy to watch yet quickly forgettable because of the similar plots and resolutions.