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Across the SiWersheet
''Tke CKeckaKcos" and "Wanderer of the Wasteland"
Reviewed by
ADELE WHITELY FLETCHER
WHEN we heard that "The Chechahcos" (pronounced Chee-Chaw-Koz) was the first picture actually to be filmed in Alaska, we decided that it would be interesting, much from the same standpoint that the neverto-be-forgotten "Nanook of the North" was interesting. However, this is a far, far hail from the good old Nanook.
We cannot, for the very life of us, understand why the producers of this picture went to such lengths in the name of such a cheap and melodramatic story. A Chechahcos, it seems, is in the vernacular of Alaska, a newcomer, a "tenderfoot." So the story takes its odd name from its principal characters, who were among the men and women that flocked to the Klondike in those frantic days of the gold-rush. This era affords much material which would lend itself to a splendid dramatic story — however, it is absent from this production.
Nor are the characters portrayed by capable actors and actresses. It has been explained to us that a good cast in this instance was an impossibility because no prominent people were either willing to submit themselves to the rigors of a sojourn in the snowy wilderness or to give the time to this one picture which the journey in itself would have necessitated. However, we think the burden of the poor story would have been heavy, even for an exceptional cast.
The star of this production is the glacier formations . . . those walls of ice and snow . . . slow-moving, ever in the direction of some river or sea into which they crash, terrifying and awe-inspiring masses of white. They
"\7anderer of the "Wasteland" is one of the most interesting pictures we have ever seen. The entire film, which is based on the Zane Grey story of the desert, is filmed in color. It promises well for the motion pictures to come when every production will be reflected in the beauty of natural colors
roared into the sea many times during the story's length but every time we thrilled with terror. No dramatic cataclysm manoeuvred by an allstar cast ever moved us as these cataclysms of ice and snow.
As a matter of fact, his production is invested with innumerable scenes of rare
white beauty. We cannot help hoping that the producers of "The Chechahcos" will ship their cameras again to the northern snowfields and bring us back an authentic story of those dramatic days when the gold-rush made life up there a chance and an adventure. We believe they have the vision of a pioneer or they would not have attempted the impracticability of filming a feature production in such a difficult country. It was in their selection of a story that their perspective became blurred. For "The Chechahcos" is a chromo in a marvelously beautiful frame. (Continued on page 119)
"The Chechahcos" (pronounced Che e-C hawKoz) is the vernacular for tenderfoot in the white wilds of Alaska
The producers" of this picture have given us a poor story badly acted; but have presented it upon a marvelously beautiful and wonder f ul stage
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