Spawn of the North (1938)

Great Film overall

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

None of the other reviews have mentioned that SPAWN OF THE NORTH is in fact a remake of THE VIRGINIAN, with a change in locale from Wyoming to Alaska. There is also one other notable change. While Akim Tamiroff is Trampas and Henry Fonda steps into Gary Cooper's boots as The Virginian, the emphasis has been shifted to the likable but shady Steve character (Richard Arlen in the '29 talkie, George Raft here). SPAWN OF THE NORTH would itself be remade in 1954 as ALASKA SEAS, with a nice cast including Robert Ryan, Brian Keith, and Gene Barry in the roles played by Raft, Fonda, and Tamiroff respectively. On its own terms SPAWN OF THE NORTH is very effective entertainment, thanks to the guiding hand of director Henry Hathaway as well as its cast, not only the aforementioned stars but also experienced scene-stealers John Barrymore and Lynne Overman in support.

The opening music sounds like it could be from a jungle flick, though a title card calls attention to Old West parallels for fish pirates on the Alaskan frontier in the early 1900's. Prior to finding this film in a second hand shop, I had never heard of it, and to maintain the suspense, I didn't read the video sleeve, hoping that the combination of Fonda, Raft and Lamour would deliver. It's not too bad, set as it is in an unlikely venue of Arctic glaciers and salmon spawning grounds, with the Western parallel of good guys against bad guys only lacking the obligatory black hats.Henry Fonda and George Raft seem an unlikely duo to co-star, and each is acceptable in their respective assignments. Fonda's role as Jim Kimmerlee is a little more fleshed out and philosophical than Raft's Tyler Dawson. There's an interesting scene where Jim responds to Dian's (Louise Platt) lament over what she sees as naive for the native Indians to perform ceremonial prayer for a successful fish harvest. Jim points out that it's no more hypocritical than praying for rain when a farmer plants his wheat. I thought that was great.True to their respective natures, Jim's boat is 'Old Reliable', while Tyler Dawson's (Raft) is 'Who Cares', enough said subliminally to hint at what's going to happen. Interestingly, the 'pirates' of the film are cast as Russian thugs who raid the legal fishing nets, led by a seaman appropriately named 'Red' (Akim Tamiroff). When Dawson throws in with Red, it sets up a dramatic confrontation between Jim and Tyler that leads to Dawson's redemptive moment in the film's climax.Along the way, Dorothy Lamour and Louise Platt stand by their men, Dawson and Kimmerlee respectively, right or wrong. It's a different role for Lamour if you're used to her 'Road' pictures with Hope and Crosby. Platt has the kind of looks that will have you wondering where you've seen her before, but you probably haven't. She appeared in only a handful of films between 1939 and 1942, but one of them was John Ford's acclaimed Western epic "Stagecoach".True to his Western film roots, director Henry Hathaway called on a few veterans of the genre for supporting roles here. Fans will recognize Stanley Andrews, Duncan Renaldo and Fuzzy Knight, even though fishing boats replace stagecoaches."Spawn of the North" was recognized with an Oscar for Paramount's creation of special photographic and sound effects for the picture. The Academy might have also come up with something for the film's uncredited scene stealer, Slicker the sea lion. Every scene with Slicker was something special, the best being his team up with Fonda to put one over on Louise Platt's character, that was simply great!

This is a real good movie. Henry Fonda and George Raft Play the rival fishermen. Near the end of the movie George Raft is shot. While resting in bed he smokes a cigarette and the smoke comes up out of the bullet holes in his chest!? I remember when I was in high school. We were learning about first aid. The teacher told us about never giving a cigarette to an injury victim. Then he told us about a Humphrey Bogart movie where after being shot he smoked a cigarette and the smoke came out of his chest. I searched for years and found out it was the "Spawn of The North", With GEORGE RAFT not Bogart. Watch for this movie on AMC or TCM, just to see this scene. It is well worth watching, with fine acting and great scenery.

Some surprisingly violent action scenes are the highlights of this Alaska-set adventure tale of boats and salmon fishermen, which plays like a disguised Western. Unfortunately, they're lost in a sea of footage (almost two hours), and the savvy viewer can see the ending coming from halfway to Skag