The Wild North (1952)

97 mins | Drama | 28 March 1952

Director:

Andrew Marton

Writer:

Frank Fenton

Producer:

Stephen Ames

Cinematographer:

Robert Surtees

Editor:

John Dunning

Production Designers:

Cedric Gibbons, Preston Ames

Production Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp.
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HISTORY

The film's working titles were The Wild North Country, The North Country and The Constable Pedley Story. HR news items include Tudor Owen, Terry Wilson, Ed Jauregi, Paul Stader, George Bruggeman, Bert LeBaron, Bob Morgan, Lew Smith , Jack Sterling, Chris Schonberg and Allen Watson in the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. HR news items, the film's pressbook and a feature article in the Nov 1952 issue of AmCin reveal the following information about the production: The character of "Constable Pedley" was inspired by a turn-of-the century North West Mounted Police officer named Albert Pedley. The constable was sent to capture a criminal in 1904, a particularly harsh winter in Canada. Despite months of loneliness and cruel weather, and falling victim to the "white madness" of snow country, Pedley carried on and brought his prisoner to justice. Most of the film was shot on location in and around Jackson Hole, Wyoming and along the Clearwater River in northern Idado. According to various contemporary sources, backgrounds were shot in Feb and Mar 1951 in Sun Valley, as well as along the Hood River and Galena Pass in Idaho. An 8 Apr 1951 NYT feature article on the production indicated that filming, which could not take place across the Canadian border due to inclement weather, was scheduled to resume in June at "actual sites" of Pedley's journey near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, but other sources, including the film's pressbook, indicate that only American locations were used.
       The Wild North was the first film to be shot on ...

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The film's working titles were The Wild North Country, The North Country and The Constable Pedley Story. HR news items include Tudor Owen, Terry Wilson, Ed Jauregi, Paul Stader, George Bruggeman, Bert LeBaron, Bob Morgan, Lew Smith , Jack Sterling, Chris Schonberg and Allen Watson in the cast, but their appearance in the released film has not been confirmed. HR news items, the film's pressbook and a feature article in the Nov 1952 issue of AmCin reveal the following information about the production: The character of "Constable Pedley" was inspired by a turn-of-the century North West Mounted Police officer named Albert Pedley. The constable was sent to capture a criminal in 1904, a particularly harsh winter in Canada. Despite months of loneliness and cruel weather, and falling victim to the "white madness" of snow country, Pedley carried on and brought his prisoner to justice. Most of the film was shot on location in and around Jackson Hole, Wyoming and along the Clearwater River in northern Idado. According to various contemporary sources, backgrounds were shot in Feb and Mar 1951 in Sun Valley, as well as along the Hood River and Galena Pass in Idaho. An 8 Apr 1951 NYT feature article on the production indicated that filming, which could not take place across the Canadian border due to inclement weather, was scheduled to resume in June at "actual sites" of Pedley's journey near Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, but other sources, including the film's pressbook, indicate that only American locations were used.
       The Wild North was the first film to be shot on the newly developed Ansco Color professional film. According to an M-G-M News article on 2 Apr 1951 and AmCin, John Arnold, M-G-M's executive director of photography, and John Nicholaus, head of the studio's film laboratory, had worked with Ansco for ten years to develop the new process, which had significant improvements over Ansco's earlier reversal 35mm color film. According to press releases and the AmCin articles, advantages to the new Ansco Color over other processes was that it could be used in standard black and white cameras and was "processed in the studio laboratory with essentially the same facility as black and white film...[making] possible many time-saving steps in the handling, development and screening of daily rushes." An additional advantage noted in AmCin was that the film was particularly good for "day for night" shooting, which was used significantly in The Wild North.
       According to a news item in The Toledo Blade that was dated 31 Mar, but did not specify a year, Paul Richardson, who was on leave from the U.S. Naval Academy, decided to confess that he had killed a man on 18 May of the previous year after sitting through two showings of The Wild North. The article quoted Richardson as saying that a line in the film, "The world is too wide to run away from sin," prompted his confession. The film's actual line, which was delivered by the dying "Father Simon," was "There's no wilderness wide enough to hide a sin."

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GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS
SOURCE CITATIONS
SOURCE
DATE
PAGE
American Cinematographer
1 Apr 1951
p. 126
American Cinematographer
Mar 1952
pp. 106-107, 122-24
Box Office
19 Jan 1952
---
Daily Variety
15 Jan 1952
p. 3
Film Daily
24 Jan 1952
p. 6
Hollywood Reporter
15 Feb 1951
p. 4
Hollywood Reporter
9 Mar 1951
p. 17
Hollywood Reporter
16 Mar 1951
p. 4
Hollywood Reporter
23 Mar 1951
p. 10
Hollywood Reporter
9 May 1951
p. 6
Hollywood Reporter
13 Jun 1951
p. 4
Hollywood Reporter
14 Jun 1951
p. 8
Hollywood Reporter
15 Jun 1951
p. 8
Hollywood Reporter
20 Jun 1951
p. 3
Hollywood Reporter
25 Jun 1951
p. 5
Hollywood Reporter
2 Jul 1951
p. 6
Hollywood Reporter
13 Jul 1951
p. 12
Hollywood Reporter
17 Jul 1951
p. 4
Hollywood Reporter
18 Jul 1951
p. 6
Hollywood Reporter
15 Jan 1952
p. 3
Los Angeles Examiner
22 Mar 1952
---
Los Angeles Times
24 Mar 1952
---
MFB
Feb 1952
p. 39
Motion Picture Herald Product Digest
19 Jan 1952
p. 1193
New York Times
8 Apr 1951
---
New York Times
10 May 1952
p. 17
New York Times
12 May 1952
p. 21
Newsweek
17 Mar 1952
---
The Toledo Blade
March 31
nd
Variety
9 Feb 1951
---
Variety
6 Aug 1951
---
Variety
16 Jan 1952
p. 6
CAST
PRODUCTION CREDITS
NAME
PARENT COMPANY
DISTRIBUTION COMPANY
NAME
CREDITED AS
CREDIT
DIRECTORS
Asst dir
Asst dir
PRODUCER
WRITER
Wrt for the screen by
PHOTOGRAPHY
Dir of photog
Dir of photog, rapids seq
Process shots for rapids seq
Cam op
Asst cam op
ART DIRECTORS
Art dir
Art dir
FILM EDITORS
Film ed
Film ed
SET DECORATORS
Set dec
MUSIC
Mus score
SOUND
Rec supv
VISUAL EFFECTS
Spec eff
MAKEUP
Makeup created by
PRODUCTION MISC
Prod mgr
Tech adv
STAND INS
Singing voice double for Cyd Charisse
COLOR PERSONNEL
Col consultant
SOURCES
SONGS
"Northern Lights," music and lyrics by Charles Wolcott.
SONGWRITER/COMPOSER
DETAILS
Alternate Titles:
The Constable Pedley Story
The North Country
The Wild North Country
Release Date:
28 March 1952
Premiere Information:
London opening: Jan 1952; Los Angeles opening: 22 Mar 1952
Production Date:
Mar 1951; early Jun--mid Jul 1951
Copyright Info
Claimant
Date
Copyright Number
Loew's Inc.
11 January 1952
LP1445
Physical Properties:
Sound
Western Electric Sound System
Color
Ansco Color
Duration(in mins):
97
Length(in feet):
8,738
Length(in reels):
11
Country:
United States
Language:
English
PCA No:
14909
Passed by NBR:
Yes
SYNOPSIS

At the turn of the century, French Canadian trapper Jules Vincent canoes to a riverside town and cheerfully adopts a stray cat. In the town saloon, Jules is attracted to a Chippewa Indian girl who sings there. While they are talking, a boorish drunk named Max Brody asks the girl for a hug. Jules knocks Brody out after a scuffle, and later drunkenly promises to take the girl north to her people. The next day, Jules does not remember his promise, but tells her that he will honor it. As the pair and the cat, whom Jules names "Ajidaumo," are leaving, Brody runs after them to apologize, then asks to come along, saying that he is good at navigating the rapids. After Jules agrees, they push off, but when they land in McQuarrie, Brody is not with them. Jules takes the girl back to her village, where they tell the chief that Brody was acting recklessly on the rapids. He was accidentally killed when Jules fired a warning shot that went awry because of the movements of the canoe. While they are in the village, North Western Mounted Police officer Constable Pedley arrives to seize some stolen horses. Although Pedley is only looking for horses, the chief advises Jules to go north into the wilderness. Back in McQuarrie, Pedley's sergeant tells him that Brody's body was found and Jules is suspected of his murder. After failing to get information from Callahan, the local store owner and a friend of Jules, Pedley goes to Jules's cabin, where he finds the girl and Ajidaumo. The girl denies knowing where Jules is and says that he is innocent ...

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At the turn of the century, French Canadian trapper Jules Vincent canoes to a riverside town and cheerfully adopts a stray cat. In the town saloon, Jules is attracted to a Chippewa Indian girl who sings there. While they are talking, a boorish drunk named Max Brody asks the girl for a hug. Jules knocks Brody out after a scuffle, and later drunkenly promises to take the girl north to her people. The next day, Jules does not remember his promise, but tells her that he will honor it. As the pair and the cat, whom Jules names "Ajidaumo," are leaving, Brody runs after them to apologize, then asks to come along, saying that he is good at navigating the rapids. After Jules agrees, they push off, but when they land in McQuarrie, Brody is not with them. Jules takes the girl back to her village, where they tell the chief that Brody was acting recklessly on the rapids. He was accidentally killed when Jules fired a warning shot that went awry because of the movements of the canoe. While they are in the village, North Western Mounted Police officer Constable Pedley arrives to seize some stolen horses. Although Pedley is only looking for horses, the chief advises Jules to go north into the wilderness. Back in McQuarrie, Pedley's sergeant tells him that Brody's body was found and Jules is suspected of his murder. After failing to get information from Callahan, the local store owner and a friend of Jules, Pedley goes to Jules's cabin, where he finds the girl and Ajidaumo. The girl denies knowing where Jules is and says that he is innocent of murder, but Pedley says that running away makes him look guilty. Some time later, as Jules is trapping, he sees his old friend, Father Simon, half frozen in the wilderness. He takes the priest into his shack, but Simon dies after telling Jules that he is too good a man not to go back. At the same moment, Pedley appears. Jules tells him that Brody's death was self-defense, and offers him hospitality, even as Pedley places him under arrest. After helping to bury Simon the next morning, Pedley tells Jules that he is a good man, but must face the charges. They then start out on the trail to McQuarrie, with a handcuffed Jules walking ahead of the dogsled. Along the way Jules makes attempts to undermine Pedley's confidence in his ability to get them back to McQuarrie, but Pedley remains firm and the two men grow to respect each other. One night, two strangers, Ruger and Sloan, approach their campfire after losing their own dog team. Ruger, who recognizes Jules and sees his handcuffs, secretly suggests that they get rid of Pedley. The next morning, Jules tells Pedley about Ruger and Sloan's plan, and when they try to execute it, Jules helps Pedley to overpower them. Ruger and Sloan are then sent away, but given directions to Jules's shack to keep them from starving. Some time later, Pedley leaves Jules at camp while he tries unsuccessfully to get his bearings. On the way back, he catches his leg in a beartrap and Jules comes to his rescue. Pedley must release Jules from his handcuffs to free the leg, prompting Jules to start to leave. He changes his mind, though, and Pedley lets Jules stay without the handcuffs. The next night, wolves attack the campsite. Jules is able to frighten them off with a shotgun, but not before Pedley is badly wounded. Jules cautorizes the wound, but Pedley is so traumatized that he cannot speak or act rationally. Jules takes over and guides him to McQuary, then takes him to his own cabin, where the girl and Ajidaumo are waiting. After helping Pedley to bed, the girl chastises Jules for bringing him back, but he tells her that he could not let Pedley die or be disgraced. A few days later, while the girl is shopping at Callahan's, he tells her that the sergeant has come looking for Jules and that it is just a matter of time before he, like most of the village, deduces that Jules has returned. Jules now realizes that he must do something to help Pedley, a lonely man who earlier said that Jules was lucky to have a home, a girl and a cat. Hoping that facing death once more will snap Pedley out of his malaise, Jules buys an old canoe and takes Pedley to the rapids. As they try to navigate, Jules feigns reckless disregard for their safety, thus bringing Pedley back to life. When Jules fails to be more careful, Pedley fires a warning shot and the two tumble into the water. Onshore, Pedley pulls Jules to safety and thanks him. Later, at a hearing, Pedley testifies that in the rapids he feared for his life and had used his rifle against Jules just as Jules had against Brody. Hearing this, the sergeant lets Jules go free. Jules and the girl walk toward the river, but Jules turns back and gives Ajidaumo to Pedley so that he can build his own home around her.

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Legend
Viewed by AFI
Partially Viewed
Offscreen Credit
Name Occurs Before Title
AFI Life Achievement Award

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