Arctic Manhunt
Cast & Crew
Ewing Scott
Mikel Conrad
Carol Thurston
Wally Cassell
Helen Brown
Harry Harvey
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
After being released from prison following a seven-year sentence for the $250,000 robbery of an armed truck, Mike Jarvis is continually hounded at his sister Lois's home in Greenport, Washington by Carter and Landers, two insurance investigators who are determined to retrieve the stolen money. Mike recovers the money from its hiding spot above his mother's grave, and heads for Nome, Alaska, to meet up with his partner-in-crime, Frank Hogg. Once there, a hotel clerk tells Mike that Frank is hiding from the police in a distant Eskimo village. Mike hires an Eskimo guide to take him to Frank, but the guide deserts him in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness after being whipped for overturning their dogsled. He is fortunate enough, however, to stumble across Reverend John Douglas, a missionary, who is on his way to the Eskimo village to treat Frank for diphtheria. When Douglas is killed in an accident on the way to the village, Mike is forced once again to struggle alone in the Arctic wasteland, and along the way, loses his bag of money. He miraculously makes his way to the Eskimo village just in time for Frank's funeral. Mike then assumes Douglas' identity and, with his money seemingly lost forever, takes up the missionary's work at the village. He soon becomes romantically involved with Narana, a Westernized Eskimo woman. Mike confesses his past to Narana, but she tells him that his good work for the village is all that matters to her. Meanwhile, Carter and Landers arrive in Nome in their continued search for Mike, and learn from the Eskimo guide that he is somewhere in the Alaskan wilderness. Later, in the spring, Tooyuk, Narana's ex-boyfriend, returns from a trip to Nome with the stolen money, having found Mike's bag along the trail. As soon as he is reunited with his riches, Mike prepares to return home, but Narana refuses to go with him. When Carter and Landers arrive at the village, Mike flees on his own, but is trapped when the ice starts to break around him. As Narana, Tooyuk, and the insurance investigators watch, Mike dies in the freezing Arctic waters.
Director
Ewing Scott
Cast
Mikel Conrad
Carol Thurston
Wally Cassell
Helen Brown
Harry Harvey
Russ Conway
Paul E. Burns
Quianna
Chet Huntley
Howard Negley
Michael Cisney
Joe Bernard
Herbert Heywood
Rosa Turich
Jack George
Iron Eyes Cody
Roque Ybarra
Charles Rivero
Jack Gargan
Crew
Robert Boyle
Oscar Brodney
Leslie I. Carey
Carmen Dirigo
Al Fields
Russell A. Gausman
Irving Glassberg
Leonard Goldstein
Billy Grady
Bernard Herzbrun
David S. Horsley
Joe Lapis
Otto Ludwig
Joel Malone
Kay Norton
Milton Schwarzwald
Ewing Scott
John Sherwood
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The film begins with the following written statement: "We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Alaskan Territorial Officials whose splendid cooperation made possible all exterior scenes actually photographed in Alaska." Onscreen credits list the title of Ewing Scott's original story as "Narana of the North." According to a Los Angeles Times news item, Scott, along with cameraman Kay Norton and actor Mikel Conrad, spent four months in the winter of 1947 shooting footage on the north coast of Alaska. Universal then purchased the footage, and in late November 1948 shot additional footage at the studio, featuring actress Carol Thurston. According to a Daily Variety news item, actress Quianna was once a "Miss Alaska" beauty contest winner.
