It always amazed me the way MGM could come up with a small budget movie - using major stars, a combination of small time directors, along with the involvement of their mainstream resident production staff. This low budget pic was a classic example - well acted by an above average, handsome cast, directed by expert low budget tradesman Joseph H Lewis and photographed by the marvellous Harold Lipstein. It would have been a treat to either watch these two work together or to know who actually designed many of the creative shots these imaginative men regularly produced together - all achieved with such little money and time! With access to all the professional resident MGM background staff available to them, their challenging tasks would have been made less a chore than when employed by lesser studios or producers (as is evident on their final two movies together)
However, it could also be imagined that these major studio benefits could have brought with them the added pressure of individual 'star' temperaments - along with additional time constraints due to other project commitments. Young Lee Aaker was a natural to end up as a child star on TV (Rin Tin Tin, etc), considering his very young age, he could command a range of rather convincing emotions. Cast here, as the young lad stranded in a life and death struggle to survive in the Canadian wilderness, he acquits himself quite well. Since years had passed between my last viewing I expected this could have dated badly and been a difficult watch, to my pleasant surprise it mostly came up looking reasonably good. Thanks again to those talent crews and stars from the past. This is recommended as a purely nostalgic time passer.
