The Spoilers

There are two kinds of John Wayne movies: The Westerns and The Rest. This one falls uniquely between the two, however. Not a western, yet set in Alaska in 1900 (like another Wayne vehicle, North To Alaska). There’s a gold claim at stake, a crooked sheriff, a more crooked judge and a small lawless town, yet it doesn’t feature heavily into the western mentality until perhaps right near the very end. Plus, the very un-western Marlene Dietrich stars as a sexy and crafty hotel owning hussy.

"You could do worse than with a dude like me..."

It turns out that when Alaska became part of the United States, it was every man for himself in grabbing up land. Then, the law slowly crept into the distant state and everyone had to prove ownership to keep their claim. Ray Glennister (John Wayne) is a fella who’s been away for a while, leaving his true love Cherry Mallotte (Marlene Dietrich) to mind her hotel alone while he’s been gone. However, upon his return an unscrupulous dude wants to grab his claim, stating he’s from the courts. When Glennister concedes to his mine being held whilst the courts prove his case, the courts delay too long and it is discovered they’re baddies intent on stealing from the lucrative mine while they pretend to be working for the law. Now with his partner in tow, Glennister has to bust himself out of jail and rescue his safe full of gold from the bank and get his mine back.

Starting out a little slowly, the film does at least build up some steam by the time it reaches the end. John Wayne plays himself playing a western hero playing John Wayne playing himself, of course, whilst Ms Dietrich plays her usual affronting brand of seductress. A couple of throwaway gags in the beginning seem to foreshadow a film that never arrives; that is, a comedy. Whilst beginning rather lightheartedly, the film is soon swept up in the drama of the lawless land and we are only left with a string of token jokes in the shape of Ms Dietrich’s black maid, Annabelle. Some of these are downright offensive by today’s standards, and include John Wayne speaking like a stereotypical black and white minstrel to Annabelle herself! Jaws agape and hand over mouth, we pressed on anyway toward the ending. This features a pretty cool stunt (for 1942) and then the pissiest and strangest fight scene I’ve ever had to review. There are moments in the bitter struggle of around five minutes, in which the film is actually speeded up to make the urgency more apparent.

Unfortunately, it just looks comical like when Benny Hill does it. Oh well.

1942. Black and white. 4:3. Sound good?

Loaded with film artefacts that include every sort you can think of, time hasn’t been entirely kind to this old film. However, the Sony DVD Center has come to the rescue with as good a print as could possibly exist. The balances are okay, but there are occasional instances of glare and jittering. Some of the herringbone jackets are the worst though. They actually seem to writhe with a life of their own, there’s so much movement in them.

Otherwise, the black and white picture looks fairly alright. It’s certainly watchable, anyway.

Dolby Digital stereo sure beats mono, which is the usual fare for a film this old and cheaply produced, so thanks for small marvels. Dialogue is all nice and clear, though occasionally a tad imperceptible, but the music and sound effects are all okay. There are some silly punch sounds in the final fighting and the fight goes on long enough for you to get sick of them too. Generally though, better audio than expected.

This mine’s been picked clean. Not a scratch (apart from the film stock).

Another harmless bit of John Wayne fun, but for the appalling race jokes. There is a hilarious sign in the background somewhere in here (I’ll leave you some surprises!) that states: "Manufacturer of Incorruptible Teeth!" that I just loved, and that explains the And I Quote... line to this review for anyone all that curious.

Fans of Wayne’s early work will enjoy his cocky swaggering and fans of Dietrich will be thrilled with her as-ever solid performance. I’d call this one a desperate rental or a diehard collector’s movie, or one for Father’s Day if you’re really, really stuck for a gift idea.