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This film is set in the Canadian north. 'The Hollywood Reporter' described it as a somewhat placid yarn on the 22nd September 1953. 'Variety' deemed it okay on the 23rd September 1953, but its box office potential was doubtful. I agree.

When Rock Hudson is critically injured it's his wife who fills in the leadership role in Back To God's Country with the help of a large Great Dane named Wapi. She has to because Hudson is critically injured with a broken leg as they make a dog sled run out of town.

They've got reason to want to get out of town. Hudson is a schooner captain who puts in at a river port in the Klondike and is afraid of getting iced in. But the local kingpin Steve Cochran who is a merchant among other things has taken a fancy to Hudson's wife Marcia Henderson who voyages with Hudson as part of the crew. Cochran creates a lot of subtle contrivances to keep them in his town that get less subtle as time goes on.

The MGM film All The Brothers Were Valiant was out at this time and I had a lot of trouble believing that Ann Blyth was on Robert Taylor's ship. The same here for Henderson though she's more equipped skill wise for ship duty.

The film descends into melodrama, but I did like the winter cinematography for Back To God's Country.

A means of transport on snow or ice, consisting of two runners and an open cabin, pulled by horses, reindeer, or dogs. A typical means of transport in the Far North, a hostile environment that tests the moral strength of the protagonists. The central figure of the film is the female one, the object of desire, but also the deciding factor. Thanks to her tenacity and courage, she saves her husband's life and manages to get their hunter to die.

In the Northwest region of Canada, the unscrupulous trader Paul Blake (Steve Cochran), together with his accomplice (Hugho'Brian), try to prevent the ship's captain Peter Keith (Rock Hudson) from sailing up the river to the Pacific Ocean. After killing his steward Shorter (Chubby Johnson), they mortally wound him, but his wife Dolores (Marcia Henderson) decides to attempt a desperate journey to save his life.

Joseph Pevney's direction (5.5) shows all his skill in staging mass-market adventures, without frills or experimentation; the screenplay by Tom Reed (5.0) adapted from a short story by James Oliver Curwood, takes up the version of the 1919 silent film of the same name; from a technical point of view (5.5) the photography of the boundless snow-covered landscapes and the music, melodramatic and tense, are of particular interest; the cast (5.0) appears listless and not very credible, especially Hudson, excessive and wooden.

Best moment: a woman alone with a greedy and violent man, his gun is unloaded, but she does not give up anyway, she grabs everything within reach, in order to defend her virtue and her honour. Worth seeing if you want an hour of pure adventure, without frills or involvement.

BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY, based loosely on two silent films, leans on the strength of b-starlet Marcia Henderson, a personal favorite from curios like THE HYPNOTIC EYE and CANYON RIVER...

She saves both the picture and her ship captain husband, played by newly-famous heartthrob Rock Hudson, almost solely beaten-up by main menace Steve Cochran before unfairly teamed by Cochran and his more ambiguous partner-in-crime, a randomly crooning Hugh O'Brien...

A rather strange little adventure featuring a faithful killer dog and a confusing heist-plot involving a load of coveted cargo on Hudson's boat: one that must set sail before being frozen into dock, and much of the initial time's spent making up for the sheer loss of it: Rock and chubby partner Chubby Johnson go after two arrant sailors, who turn out being a red-herring distraction all along...

The second half has a severely injured, pill-popping Hudson being sledded around by his wife, yet it's never exactly clear why or where. Eventually, Cochran's on their trail... one sled after another.... but the best scenes had occurred back at the neat looking, matte-painted town during his dark-eyed attempt at seducing the assertive ingenue...

Henderson, far prettier without the caked-on, circus clown makeup, is a bland match for Hudson but has terrific anti-chemistry against Cochran, who outwardly looks the leading man but usually plays the heavy...

From cheating with Virginia Mayo first against Dana Andrews in THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES and then James Cagney in WHITE HEAT, he's always great at not being a good person, and is much better than Rock is the hero, headlining this particular ride while it's Marcia Henderson's vehicle throughout.

I am sure that Joseph Pevney was a better director for this movie than it would have been by Douglas Sirk, who was at first supposed to direct. Sirk was a master for melodrama, as Alfred Hitchcock was for suspense and smooth terror. So for such a mostly outdoor adventure flick, Joseph Pevney was the best choice for Universal Studios; Nathan Juran or Jack Arnold could have perfectly made it too. It is a brilliant movie, with a shining Rock Hudson who was here in his rising period, straight to stardom. And Steve Cochran is so terrific in the villain role, a wonderful, juicy villain as we all like. Yes, a true excellent adventure film from Universal studios, even a remake of a silent film from 1919 that I saw a long time ago, and that I don't remember. And what a surprise to see here Rock Hudson - the good guy - fighting with his fists against the villain and LOSE THE FIGHT, lying on the carpet.... The same surprise as he showed in George Steven's GIANT where he was also involved in a fist fight and lost during the scene in the bar, against a strong man.