The Wild North (1952)

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.

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.

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).

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!