The Call of the North

About the production

The Call of the North was one of the early feature-length productions from the Jesse L. Lasky company, which would later become Paramount Pictures. The film utilized both studio sets and location shooting to create the wilderness atmosphere. The production employed several innovative techniques for the time, including location shooting in rugged terrain to achieve authenticity. The film's title sequences and intertitles were created using the latest letterpress techniques available in 1914.

Themes

Themes & topics

Historical background

The Call of the North (1914) reached screens through Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company. Exhibitors of the time built nickelodeon-era programs that mixed shorts, features, and live acts, so a clear premise helped The Call of the North travel between cities and exchange markets.

Why this film matters

Archivists and revival programmers still cite The Call of the North (1914) when tracing studio habits, casting pools, and the visual rhetoric audiences once took for granted. Even modest surviving prints help map how The Call of the North fit beside competing releases of its day.

Making of

The production of 'The Call of the North' represented a significant milestone for the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company, which had been founded only the previous year in 1913. Oscar Apfel, the director, brought considerable experience from his work with Biograph Studios and his collaborations with D.W. Griffith. The filming process involved both studio work at the Lasky facilities in Los Angeles and location shooting in California's wilderness areas to achieve authentic outdoor sequences. The cast was drawn largely from stage actors who were making the transition to the new medium of motion pictures, with Robert Edeson being a particularly prominent theatrical star. The production team faced the technical challenges of 1914 filmmaking, including the need for natural lighting in outdoor scenes and the limitations of camera equipment of the era. The film's adaptation of Stewart Edward White's popular novel required condensing the literary work into a format suitable for silent cinema, relying on intertitles to convey dialogue and narrative exposition.

What critics said

Trade coverage around 1914 discussed The Call of the North for pacing, clarity, and program fit rather than blockbuster grosses. Later writers value it as evidence of period style and as a reference point beside other films from the same era.

Did you know?

• This was one of the first feature films produced by Jesse L. Lasky's company, which later evolved into Paramount Pictures
• The film is based on the novel 'The Call of the North' by Stewart Edward White, a popular author of outdoor adventure stories
• Director Oscar Apfel was one of the pioneering directors of early American cinema, having worked with D.W. Griffith earlier in his career
• The term 'la longue traverse' used in the film refers to a historical practice of sending condemned people on a death march through harsh wilderness
• Robert Edeson, who played the lead, was a prominent stage actor who successfully transitioned to silent films
• The film was released during the early boom period of American feature films, when audiences were growing accustomed to longer narratives beyond short subjects
• Theodore Roberts, who appears in the cast, would become one of Cecil B. DeMille's favorite character actors in the 1920s
• Winifred Kingston was one of the early stars of the Lasky company and appeared in several of their productions
• The film's survival status makes it particularly valuable for film historians studying early American feature production
• The wilderness themes in the film reflected the American public's continued fascination with frontier stories, even as the frontier era was ending

Visual style

The cinematography of 'The Call of the North' was handled by the Lasky company's regular camera department, utilizing the latest equipment available in 1914. The film featured a mix of studio photography and location shooting, with the outdoor scenes being particularly notable for their time. The cinematographers employed natural lighting for exterior sequences, creating authentic wilderness atmosphere. The camera work included some dynamic movement for the era, with tracking shots used during the journey sequences. The visual composition followed the theatrical traditions of the time, with actors often positioned centrally in the frame. The film's visual style reflected the transition from the more static compositions of early cinema to the more mobile and sophisticated techniques that would emerge in the late 1910s.

Innovations

For its time, 'The Call of the North' demonstrated several technical achievements in early cinema production. The film's use of location shooting in wilderness areas was relatively ambitious for 1914, requiring the transportation of heavy camera equipment to remote sites. The production employed multiple camera setups for the outdoor sequences, allowing for more dynamic visual storytelling than was typical in earlier films. The film's editing techniques, including cross-cutting between parallel actions, showed the growing sophistication of narrative construction in American cinema. The intertitles were produced using high-quality letterpress techniques, ensuring clear readability for audiences. The film's five-reel length represented the growing trend toward feature-length productions, requiring more complex narrative structure and pacing than shorter films.

Music

As a silent film, 'The Call of the North' would have been accompanied by live musical performance during its theatrical run. The typical presentation would have featured a piano accompanist in smaller theaters or a small orchestra in larger venues. The musical selections would have been drawn from popular classical pieces and standard photoplay music of the era, with the accompanist improvising to match the on-screen action and emotional tone. No original composed score was created specifically for the film, as was common practice in 1914. The music would have emphasized the dramatic moments, particularly during the revenge sequences and the wilderness journey scenes. Modern screenings of the film typically feature newly composed scores or carefully selected period-appropriate music.

Famous quotes

No dialogue survives as this is a silent film, but key intertitles included: 'He swore vengeance for his father's death', 'The long journey begins - from which none return', 'In the wilderness, a man finds his true self'

Memorable scenes

• The opening revelation of Graehme's false accusation and murder
• Ned's capture and sentencing to 'la longue traverse'
• The wilderness journey sequences showcasing the harsh northern landscape
• The climactic confrontation where Ned must choose between vengeance and mercy
• The final redemption scene where Ned finds peace with his father's memory

What audiences thought

Audience reception in 1914 was reportedly strong, with the film performing well at the box office for the Jesse L. Lasky company. Contemporary audiences were drawn to the film's outdoor adventure elements and its dramatic revenge narrative. The story's themes of honor and redemption resonated with early 20th-century American moviegoers. The film's success helped establish the Lasky company as a producer of quality feature films, contributing to the growing acceptance of longer movies by theater audiences who had been accustomed to programs of multiple short subjects. Modern audiences who have had the opportunity to see the film through archival screenings appreciate it as a window into early American cinema and the storytelling techniques of the silent era.

Film connections

Influenced by

• Literary adventure novels of the early 20th century
• Stage melodrama traditions
• D.W. Griffith's narrative techniques
• Contemporary wilderness literature
• American frontier mythology

This film influenced

• Subsequent wilderness adventure films of the silent era
• Later revenge narratives in American cinema
• Films exploring themes of moral redemption
• Journey films featuring transformation through hardship

Film restoration

The preservation status of 'The Call of the North' (1914) is uncertain, with many films from this era being lost or incomplete. The film is not listed among the definitively lost titles in major film archives, suggesting that copies or fragments may exist in private collections or smaller archives. The Library of Congress and the Museum of Modern Art have extensive silent film collections, though specific holdings of this title are not publicly documented. Film preservation organizations continue to search for and identify surviving elements from early American features. If copies exist, they would likely be on 35mm nitrate film stock, requiring specialized preservation efforts to prevent deterioration.

Where to watch

• Due to its age and uncertain preservation status, 'The Call of the North' is not currently available on commercial streaming platforms or home video formats
• Film archives and specialized silent film societies may occasionally screen the film if prints are available
• The Library of Congress and major film archives should be contacted for potential viewing access for research purposes
• Silent film festivals occasionally program rare or recently restored titles from this era
• Online archives of early cinema may eventually digitize and make the film available if preservation efforts succeed