Greenes Please don't spend money on this.

Numerootno A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

JohnHowardReid Producer: Henry Hathaway. Copyright 1960 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York opening at the Paramount: 10 November 1960. U.S. release: 7 November 1960. U.K. release: 1 January 1961. Australian release: 19 January 1961. 10,967 feet. 122 minutes.SYNOPSIS: In the Alaska of 1900 three gold prospectors, Sam McCord, his partner George Pratt, and George's kid brother Billy, strike it rich. With his new wealth, George can now marry his Seattle fiancée of three years standing and Sam agrees to go and fetch her while George builds a honeymoon cottage. But once in Seattle Sam learns that George's French fiancée got tired of waiting and married someone else. Reluctant to disappoint his friend, Sam invites another French girl, a honky-tonk entertainer named Michelle, to accompany him back to the gold mine. Thinking he intends her for himself, the girl accepts.NOTES: Fox's most successful film at the U.S./Canadian box-office for 1960-61. Initial domestic rentals gross: around $4.8 million. Number 12 at the Australian box-office for 1961.COMMENT: Besides being one of the most entertaining films to issue from Hollywood during the year, "North to Alaska" is a wonderful example of professional film-making at its finest. Uniting the first-rate writing talents of John Lee Mahin, Martin Rackin and Claude Binyon, the screenplay is a thoroughly enjoyable burlesque of such standard clichés of Yukon folklore as the old prospector who strikes it rich, the flat-broke gambler with a heart of gold, the young greenhorn courting fame, riches, and fair lady — a heroine purer than the driven snow. These familiar elements are deftly transformed into John Wayne's virile prospector, Ernie Kovac's nervous card-sharp, Fabian's unwillingly protected innocent, Capucine's graceful prostitute. These characters are involved in a story that is both witty and diverting, set against a background designed to provide the director with the maximum opportunity for scenic effect.Certainly no director could have realized the scenario in a more capable fashion than Henry Hathaway has done. And as he was also producing, he was able to hire hundreds of extras (and a competent 2nd unit director, Richard Talmadge, to help him handle them) and fill the magnificent sets created by Duncan Cramer and Jack Martin Smith with a wealth of authentic detail. Atmosphere is also provided by Lionel Newman's rousing score. The film has no less than three glorious brawls, two of which are amusingly punctuated by inappropriate music — the carefree strains of a nickelodeon and the hymnal cacophony of a Salvation Army band.Whether capturing the swirling cerise rapids of the conifer and white Alaskan wilderness or the deep forest greenery of former-day Seattle, whether lingering over the ocher shimmering of an Aurora Borealis or the teeming foreshores of Nome, Leon Shamroy's color photography is both smoothly proficient and aesthetically pleasing.Superbly edited by Dorothy Spencer, the film moves at a brisk, effervescent pace. There are a number of scenes — such as Fabian's attempt at seduction and Stewart Granger's false celebration — which in the hands of a lesser editor or a less talented director, could have become either embarrassing or verbose. Both these pit-falls have been skilfully avoided, and despite the slightly sordid nature of the subject matter, Hathaway has treated it with such a high degree of intelligence and sophistication as to render any charge of vulgarity ineffectual.Acting is of an unusually meritorious standard throughout. The principals are excellent, with Mickey Shaughnessy and Stanley Adams taking honors in supporting slots. It was also pleasing to see Joe Sawyer, in a minor role as the Commissioner, looking as hale and hearty as ever."North to Alaska" is the very epitome of all that is best in Hathaway films: A robust, vigorous, manly quality, combined with a gifted deployment of location backgrounds, an inventive use of camera angles, and the highly accomplished management of action.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . NORTH TO ALASKA's Hollywood "pitch" must have been, "Elvis meets The Three Stooges." Often the biggest stars nurture the largest inferiority complexes, sometime to the detriment of their twilight years flicks. Take John Wayne, for example. After he turned 40 in 1947, most of his remaining 62 theatrical films come off more like variety shows, crammed full of stunt casting (such as NORTH's Bieber-like "Fabian," and Twiggy-like "Capucine") and the padding of seemingly endless extraneous detours (such as the Logger's Picnic and the Wreck-a-Sluice Shoot-out in NORTH, not to mention its spoof-like Casino and Mud brawls) in an aging star's admission that the force of his personality is no longer enough to carry a picture by itself. When you trim off an hour or more of this packed-on fat clogging the arterial action of these 60-plus Wayne flicks, you're often left with just 20 or 25 minutes devoted to the primary characters and resolving their core conflicts. Wayne crams too much misogyny (or abuse of women) into his "Sam" character for NORTH to be viewed in a humorous vein, and if Fabian is actually feeling as bad as he looks while singing here, he should get off the pot and swallow lots of Ex-Lax!

wes-connors "John Wayne and Stewart Granger strike it rich in this rousing comedy-adventure set in the heyday of the Alaskan gold rush. When prospectors Sam McCord (Wayne) and George Pratt (Granger) hit the mother lode, George asks Sam to go to Seattle and fetch his sweetheart, Jennie, but she has already married someone else. Determined to bring George to a new life, Sam invites a salon dancer (Capucine) back to Nome as Jennie's replacement," according to the film's promotional description.The synopsis is also given in rockabilly singer Johnny Horton's excellent "North to Alaska" crossover hit, which was released just prior to the film, and served as an excellent promotional tool. All of this occurred simultaneously with Mr. Horton's sudden death in a car accident - which is an ironic tragedy, considering this film's celebration of alcohol.Teen idol Fabian (as Billy Pratt) performs "If You Knew" (a lesser tune). Filling the pin-up boy part in the Wayne formula for box office success, Fabian is surprisingly good as a comedian, especially in the "drunk" scene with Capucine. A fine comic, Ernie Kovacs (as Frankie Canon) isn't able to do much with his role. Wayne is funnier. Upping the level to near "Three Stooges" levels, director Henry Hathaway guides the cast through a lot of mud, not so much blood, and several kegs of beer.****** North to Alaska (11/3/60) Henry Hathaway ~ John Wayne, Stewart Granger, Fabian, Capucine

disdressed12 i really enjoyed this comedy/western/.the comedy aspect of it actually does work here,without sacrificing any of the conventions of the Western genre.the comedy doesn't overpower the western elements and the western elements don't overpower the comedic elements.the film is fast paced and fun.there's a romance angle that works because it's not spread on too thick.being part comedy,this one is obviously more lite hearted than your typical western,and everyone is more than equal to the task.John Wayne can certainly be funny when he wants to be,as he has demonstrated on other films.the melding of the two genres works well here in my opinion.for me,North to Alaska is a 7/10