5/10
Mediocre Italian/Spanish co-production filled with action , adventures and thrills ; being shot in Spain
11 December 2016
Set during the American Gold Rush era , this is an unforgettable tale of two orphaned children called Jim Chambers (Fernando Romero) and Mary Chambers (Elizabeth Virgil) . When en route to the Yukon being killed their father by Indians , they then become involved into multiple adventures and dangers . Luck changes when the kiddies meet two prospectors : John McKenzie (Manuel De Blas) , and Hank McKenzie (Remo De Angelis , stunt coordinator too) headed for the Yukón and who help them go to Dawson City , next to river Yukón . Meanwhile , Jim meets a wild dog , that is part wolf and they must battle against the Yukon wilderness and human greed to help save a frontier town . As they stood together and changed the destiny of an Entire Frontier . But in Dawson City they meet an arrogant , wealthy owner , William Bates (Jack Palance) , and the beautiful saloon girl Sonia Kendall (Joan Collins) who falls in love for John McKenzie (Manuel De Blas). The prospector John and his faithful mate , the wolf-dog, attempt to stop the evildoer , an ambitious, snarling businessman called Bates who formerly killed his brother .

It is a tepid and light-hearted adventure , freely based about known and classic novel by Jack London "The Call of the Wild" . Lumpy blend of adventures, action , villainy , though needlessly violent and aimed to young people . The film is loosely based on the novel by Jack London , though differs significantly from the book but this is an invented version , however remains the essential elements as the young-dog friendship , the gold rush , spectacular outdoors and locations and several moving scenes . The talent of diverse and wasting casting is redeemed in part for the spectacular outdoors filmed on Spanish landscapes . It's a passable/average rendition that maintains the charm and adventure style of the previous films but still makes for decent juvenile amusement . Weak screenplay from Juan Logar , Fonseca and Jesús Rodríguez . Being a Spain-France co-production here appears several Spanish and Italian secondaries , all of them regular in Spaghetti/Paella Western , such as : Manuel De Blas , Ricardo Palacios , José Canalejas , and Remo De Angelis who is an usual masters of arms of lots of Péplum and Western .

Other adaptations about these Jack London novels set in Alaska are the followings : ¨Call of the wild ¨ by Ken Annakin with Charlton Heston , ¨White Fang¨ (1991) by Randal Kleiser with Ethan Kawke as young prospector and Klaus Maria Brandauer , and ¨The return of White Fang¨ (1994) by Ken Olin with Scott Bairstow and once again Ethan Hawke . And Italian ones : ¨Lucio Fulci's White Fang¨ with Franco Nero , Virna Lisi and Fernando Rey ; its sequel titled "White Fang to the Rescue" by Tonino Ricci with Maurizio Merli , Henry Silva , Renzo Palmer ; ¨Buck¨ by Tonino Ricci with John Savage and ¨Buck and the magic bracelet¨ by Tonino Ricci with Matt McCoy .

Colorful and evocative cinematography by José Aguayo , being recently made a nice remastering , and shot on location in snowy landscapes as Navacerrada and Guadarrama mountains and Daganzo , Madrid . And appropriate , adequate and evocative musical score by Stelvio Cipriani . The motion picture was regularly directed by Gianfranco Baldanello . He was assistant director and subsequently directed some films . Gianfranco made several Spaghettis , such as ¨Uccidete Johnny Ringo¨ , ¨This man cant die¨ , ¨Son of Zorro¨ , ¨The Cry of the Wolf¨, ¨Black Jack¨ and ¨Blood River¨ and ¨30 Winchesters for El Diablo" - International title- or "Gold Train" . And this "The Cry of the Wolf" has a rating : 4.30/10 average .
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