When I watched "Alaska Highway" I had a reaction that many might not have. That's because as I watched the aging Richard Arlen muddle through this bad film, I couldn't help but think of him in his glory days when he was a leading man in GOOD films--such as the Oscar-winning "Wings" back in 1927. The years were not good to his career as by the mid-1930s onward, he appeared in mostly third-rate films by fourth-rate studios. Now instead of a handsome leading man, he was just another journeyman actor.
This is the sort of film they only made during WWII. It's a propaganda film designed to help boost the war morale as well as make a few bucks in the process. Its backdrop is the building of the Alaskan Highway, but it's really just another familiar love triangle flick. The Major is responsible for a group of engineers who are trying to get this road completed within six months. After all, it will help the US and Canada get soldiers and supplies to Alaska in order to fight the Japanese (yes, while it's not talked about much in history books, the Japanese did attack and even occupied portions of Alaska).
There is a monkey wrench, however, that gums up the works. The Major has two idiots for sons (Arlen and William Henry) who both have fallen for the same girl (cute Jean Parker--who I always thought looked a lot like Ann Sothern). Can these two knuckleheads set aside their hormones and machismo long enough to do their bit to help America rule supreme?! Will the Americans STILL manage to win the war? What do you think?! The film suffers from some bad writing (Parker's character is insane--or at least in the way she was written), bad dialog and is just not that interesting. You know it's not a very good movie when the comic relief (featuring the cruel but funny antics of Joe Sawyer) are by far the best thing about the film. Probably not worth your time. Watchable but nothing more.