Considering the rip-roaring Northwest epics of the old silent days, you would reasonably expect The Call of the Wild to be a robust spectacle... It falls so short of being even faintly wild, however, that it has a peculiar charm about it.

Slightly preposterous, but good entertainment.

I don't know whether or not Darryl Zanuck meant it that way, but Twentieth Century's production of The Call of the Wild is certainly a comedy. At any rate, Jack London must be whirling in his grave.

Jack London's The Call of the Wild has been a difficult book to adapt to film, but this William Wellman-directed entry is still the best. It's probably one of the more interesting films from the first half of the '30s.