The Chechako
Cast & Crew
Hobart Bosworth
Jack Conway
Myrtle Stedman
Hettie Gray Baker
Gus C. Peterson
Film Details
Synopsis
Kit Bellew, San Francisco journalist, makes a prospecting trip to the Klondike with his uncle, who thinks that Bellew has become a mollycoddle. Given the nickname "Smoke" by the other prospectors, Bellew toughens up in the Klondike and decides to stay when his uncle departs. Bellew and his companion Shorty miss out on a gold stampede when Joy Gastell, the daughter of an old prospector, diverts the stampede to the wrong location to give the old-timers a chance to stake claims. Joy eventually makes up for her deception by helping Bellew to the rights to half of a million-dollar claim. After many adventures, Bellew is captured by Indians but escapes with the help of the chief's daughter, who dies during the escape. Bellew returns to Dawson and to Joy, whom he loves.
Director
Hobart Bosworth
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
London's novel was first printed in Cosmopolitan from December 1911 to May 1912. Bosworth, Inc. filmed The Chechako, originally titled Smoke Bellew, in the early part of 1914 in Truckee, CA. According to items in the Jack London collection, Bosworth, who originally planned the film as a seven-reeler, later intended to release the film in two parts of six reels each, but the commercial failure of the previous films in Bosworth's Jack London series made Paramount demand that Bosworth cut the film to five reels. Paramount planned to release the film on November 23, 1914, but at the last minute the film was withdrawn from the release schedule and Bosworth's The Country Mouse was substituted. According to an item in the London collection, Bosworth planned at one point to sell the film to Universal, but it is unlikely that it was ever released by any company. A modern source gives two additional cast members: Joe Ray as Shorty, and Gordon Sackville as Big Olof. London's novel was filmed again, as Smoke Bellew, by Big 4 Productions in 1929, with Conway Tearle and Barbara Bedford starring and Scott Dunlap directing (see AFI Catalog of Feature Films, 1921-30; F2.5184).
