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Author
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Topic: When the North Wind Blows (Feature)
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Steve Klare
Film Guy
Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted January 26, 2008 08:34 AM
When the North Wind Blows
(Color, 6x400’, Viacom)
We sometimes talk about “Super-8 stories” on this and other forums, of great adventures and discoveries we’ve had as a result of our time with this great little format. The feature film “When the North Wind Blows” is one of mine.
I’ve been a great lover of nature for decades. I grew up in a family that went camping several times a year, and later on in life took to canoeing, hiking and mountain biking as means of getting outdoors and experiencing the Creation. Today my wife and I take our little boy out there as often as we can, because we love to share it with him as my parents did with me. So when I saw Derann had a 200 footer called “Wildlife Interlude” (reviewed separately on this forum), I had to have it. I found a beautiful little film of wildlife and mountains and blue skies, backed by a wonderful musical score. In the opening title it was described as an extract from some feature called “When the North Wind Blows”. There seemed to be an entire story that was missing from the extract, so now I had to see that feature. The quest was on!
“When the North Wind Blows” is kind of an elusive film as far as home entertainment goes. It was produced a few years before home video took off, and is simply not available on Region 1 DVD. There were rumors of rare old NTSC VHS copies, so I kept poking at E-bay hoping one day one would pop up. Imagine my shock when it showed up feature length on Super-8: both a movie I really wanted to see AND my favorite format!
The story is of a kind we didn’t see a lot of either long before 1970 or very long after. It was the era of “Ecology” (remember that word?) John Denver filled the airwaves, and Granola filled supermarket shelves. In the movies, people were casting off their suits and ties, growing beards (…especially the men) and taking to the woods to reunite with nature. “North Wind” is one such movie.
There is an interesting little political wrinkle to it. It is obviously set in the Russian Far East. The hero is named Avakum, and his best friend is named Boris. They talk about the Ussuri and Siberia and Lake Baikal. Boris has a picture of Tzar Nicholas on his mantle. Yet most of the time this movie is described as being set in Alaska. I’m betting the Cold War had a lot to do with this sudden jump across the Bering Straits, but the Siberian Tigers that feature so prominently in the film have not come anywhere near Alaska within recorded history, so Russia it is!
The story is simple; Avakum (Henry Brandon) is an old trapper who is having a harder and harder time getting by because of the dwindling wildlife in the region. One day he is on a tiger hunt when a big cat attacks his friend’s son. Ava tries to shoot the tiger but accidentally kills the boy instead. Thinking he’s accused of murder, he flees civilization, and eventually adapts to life among these same tigers. Boris (Herbert Nelson) , knows that his son’s death was an accident, and spends the rest of the film trying to find Avakum and tell him he’s innocent and should came back to the village. In the year that follows, Ava survives the harsh Siberian winter and finds himself at home beyond civilized life, to the point where when Boris finally does find him, it is a very touching goodbye, since the two old friends have drifted apart and have to remain in their separate worlds. The story is interesting for having characters of opposing outlooks, yet none are “bad guys”. Boris narrates the story, and even though Avakum is the hero, you feel bad for him when he regrets the loss of their friendship when Ava won’t return to civilization.
This movie premiered in 1974. I’m sure after “Jaws” came out a year later a film about a man living harmoniously with a huge carnivore would have seemed a little far fetched. So the first time Ava fell asleep at his campfire 5 feet from a 300 pound tiger I felt a suspicion he was going to become a late night snack, but all was well. A little suspended disbelief goes a long way sometimes, I guess. Besides, with the Hero digested mid-film, what would be on those other three reels?
Dan Haggerty appears as a trapper arrived to capture tigers for zoos. Soon after “North Wind”, the same studio would star him in the very similar story “the Life and Times of Grizzly Adams”, which grew to much greater prominence, spun off a TV series and made Dan Haggerty a celebrity.
“North Wind” was filmed in the Canadian Rockies, and the scenery is spectacular. This is one of those films that were meant to roam free on the big screen. Sticking it on a little picture tube just wouldn’t do it justice, even if that was a choice in this case. The scenes of the tigers in the snow are wonderful. More energetic passages in the film are richly backed by orchestral music, but the quieter times by a haunting, gentle piano score.
I have no idea how old the Viacom Prints of this film are. Mine is slightly red faded, just to the point where most of the colors are still true and vibrant, but at times things like birch trees become slightly pink. The sound track is excellent for the most part, with the dialog just a little muddy here and there.
I know that this was also available as a 200 and 400 foot extract from Walton, and of course “Wildlife Interlude” which originally was a Walton as well but now a Derann.
My reels are marked “ENG” and the box has an alternate title in Portuguese, so I have a feeling that Portuguese dubs are out there somewhere; something to consider if you ever run across a print and want to buy it. (-doubly so if you don’t speak Portuguese!)
There is kind of a guilty pleasure in watching a film like this that is so rare on video. On the nights it lights up my screen I get a satisfied feeling that it may be playing nowhere else on the continent!
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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...
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Osi Osgood
Film God
Posts: 10204
From: Mountian Home, ID.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted January 26, 2008 07:55 PM
"Sun Classics" was the short lived studio that made this film. They also produced "The Late Great Planet Earth", as well as a feature about "monsters" (Loch Ness, Bigfoot), as well as "Starbird and Sweet William" and, of course, thier biggest hit, "The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams", which became a TV show.
A Number of Sun classics moves became optical sound super 8 features, "Starbird" and "Grizzly Adams" included.
I saw about four of these wildlife features offered all at ponce on one day, and then I never saw them again. great review.
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"All these moments will be lost in time, just like ... tears, in the rain. "
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