Like many of John Wayne's films in the 1960s, this one had a lot of self-parody--some which worked very well and some which didn't. When the movie first began, I groaned because of the awful and awfully stupid bar fight scene. Why? Well, because in this and a later fight, such supposedly funny things were added such as the sounds of tweeting birds when someone was knocked out and another guy whose hat flew up in the air when he was punched (like a cartoon character). These funny moments were painful--NOT funny. Fortunately, the film only did this a few times and the rather light spirit of the film (aside from these scenes) was enjoyable and welcome.

John Wayne, of all things, plays a romantic lead--or at least as romantic as his tough persona would allow. It seems that he is leaving his gold mine in Alaska to fetch more equipment AND his partner's (Stewart Granger) fiancée. Unfortunately, when he goes to get her, she'a already married. On a lark, he asks a prostitute (Capucine) to return with him for Granger, but naturally his plans go awry.

A cute script, some BAD action scenes and decent acting--while NOT one of Wayne's better films, it's still very satisfying and will no doubt please his fans.

The story is rather minimal, also there is little substance to the characters. However, I can overlook these in a way, but this was entertaining and was never meant to be complex and all that. It has beautiful cinematography and scenery. It has great music and a truly terrific title song. It has a sparkling script. It has skilled direction. It goes along at a decent pace. It has two fun performances from John Wayne and underrated Stewart Granger. And North to Alaska has one of the wildest and wackiest bar-room brawls I have seen in any movie. Overall, I liked North to Alaska, it was entertaining. 8/10 Bethany Cox

North to Alaska is one of the most northerly western to be brought out, playing mostly in Nome. The movie is complete fiction, but the location and how it looked there during the gold rush are surprisingly correct. After Klondyke, Nome had a kind of second rush, but since most people searched for gold in/near the rivers - like Sam (Wayne) and his companions did - the real rush came to Nome after a local was chased away from his claim and as he started to wash at the beach(!) he found a real bonanza! Nome had no haven, which is shown in the movie: ships (mostly arriving from Seattle) had to anchor before the coast and freight and passengers had to be brought aland by smaller vessels. Also characters like Frankie are realistic, for crooks where indeed not hesitating to kill people or steal claims (as I mentioned above). How it looks in Nome is also realistic: however most of the year frozen, in the short period the ice melts, the streets were one ditch of thighhigh mud; Frankie is made aware of that fact very firsthand.

Humanity note: After Sam brought a girl from Seattle to Nome, which was an silly alcohol decision, he regrets it and leaves her in town so she could take the next boat back. Also in this movie there are people offering apologies, even Sam himself; try to find regret and apologies in other westerns!

Music: The title song by Johnnie Horton is a real C&W hit.

Totally: The movie is very entertaining, funny, human and realistic in historical context. A good film for the whole family!