JohnHowardReid This film and the serial, "The Mysterious Pilot" (1937), plus a documentary short produced by Lockheed around 1940 are the only movie appearances of Captain Frank Hawks, a daring test pilot who was killed in 1937 when an allegedly safe-as-houses airplane he was piloting, crashed. Would you believe, this movie anticipates this real life event? Early on, the character Hawks plays, dies in a crash. That's a shame because Hawks is not only a fascinating person, he's easily the best actor in this film. True, Lyle Talbot is reasonably competent, Thelma Todd looks good (but is not as charismatic as usual) and there is a great performance by Jason Robards as the afflicted Jim Armstrong. And yes, the original screenplay by Tristram Tupper does have some attention-grabbing twists, while Phil Rosen's fluid direction is considerably more involving than his usual humdrum approach! Available on a very good Alpha DVD.

mark.waltz This film really doesn't get going good until half way through its 66 minute running time when doctor Lyle Talbot, having lost his medical license, ends up in the Klondike (falling in love with a woman named Klondike, ironically), and ends up operating on the crippled fiancée of that young lady (Thelma Todd in a rare dramatic role) who is unaware of the feelings between her and his doctor. At first, the people who save Talbot are unaware of his real identity, having been interested in his case because of the similar connection between the case which caused Talbot to loose his medical license and Todd's fiancée. But somehow (perhaps because of a cut scene in the available print?) this is suddenly revealed, and the fiancée's moralistic father (Henry B. Walthall) begins acting as everybody's conscience, especially the doctor's, emotionally forcing him to perform the operation even though he's lost his license.From the time Talbot's plane makes an emergency landing in the Klondike through the silly ending where Talbot is made to believe he has been accused of deliberate murder of the unseen patient he was on trial for, this film actually is quite interesting, although the film has little to no action whatsoever, mostly medical ethic talk about what lead to him loosing his medical license. Then, the film takes on a sudden cartoonish turn which makes it loose every sense of credibility it had gained after the turn to the more interesting second half. The performances of Talbot and Todd are acceptable, but Walthall seems to be overplaying the part as if he was still working in silent movies. Jason Robards Sr. plays his wheelchair bound son initially with much subtlety that totally disappears at the end into a sublime ridiculous performance.

Derutterj-1 Solid little Monogram drama with very original story and denouement. Lyle Talbot, who would appear in anything, even a notorious Edward Wood picture, stars with considerable intelligence and sincerity. Hard-working Thelma Todd has a serious role and both leads are appealing together. Henry B. Walthall (another veteran who didn't know how to retire) supports, as does Gabby Hayes and Jason Robards Sr.The start is a little shaky, with some awkward staging, but after it gets into its stride I can say that this has much to recommend it. The attitude of Klondike's cast, and its out-of-the-rut story, is what makes it all work.

rsoonsa Thelma Todd, noted for agreeable performances as comedienne in a good many feature films and shorts, is effective here in an essentially serious dramatic role, acting as linchpin about which a complex life or death decision must be made. A mainstay of the Monogram Pictures catalogue for years, the film was eventually lost, a print being latterly rediscovered as part of a privately owned collection held in southern Arizona, where the sere ambient had caused some nitrate decomposition in addition to other problems. It was, however, for the most part successfully restored and, now a public domain commodity, has been reissued. Opening action takes place in New York City where surgeon Robert Cromwell (Lyle Talbot) is being tried for murder, charged with wilfully causing the death of a patient following a developmental operation to excise an intracranial tumour, a procedure that Doctor Cromwell believes was, in reality, a success, although the state's medical board's opinion differs from his, and additionally with the court's finding of innocence, as it subsequently revokes Cromwell's medical licence due to the incident and its attendant publicity. As means of escaping from his subsequent torment, Cromwell accepts a proposal from his flying instructor, Donald Evans (Frank Hawks), to accompany the pilot through Canadian skies to Japan, but a fresh and drastic difficulty is to be part of Cromwell's lot, as the aircraft slams down in Alaska, killing Evans and leaving the unlucky doctor critically wounded in a frozen wilderness. Rescued by a trapper making his rounds, Cromwell is taken to a close on trading post, Armstrong's, where he delightedly accedes to the ministrations of the post owner's fiancée, "Klondike" (Todd), whose affection is soon gained by this ruggedly handsome surgeon on the lam, to the distinct displeasure of her future husband, wheel chair restricted Jim Armstrong (Jason Robards) himself. Cromwell's agreeable stay at the post is sharply altered because an invalid Armstrong is afflicted, in true Hollywood fashion, with precisely the same disease that indirectly propelled the discredited doctor from the United States, and smitten Klondike and Robert agree that he shall perform an identical operation upon Armstrong to that which led to Robert's loss of honour, a dissection that, if successfully completed, will clearly bring about the end of romance between these newly-minted lovers. Generally considered during the time of its original showings as somewhat above Monogram's routine programmer stock-in-trade, the work for its initial reissue is given proper consideration, a satisfactory print being a result. Notwithstanding this, an Alpha Home Entertainment version is characterized by woefully poor sound quality, much of the dialogue scarcely comprehensible. Both Talbot and Todd are well-established and consistently creative ad libbers, and they play well together here, while the supporting cast is a cut above the standard for most "B" films, with one highlight an appearance of famed aviator Hawks, who during one of his scenes describes in some detail injuries he suffered in a greatly publicized air crash. All in all, then, KLONDIKE must be considered a largely studio-bound potboiler, but remains quite good fun nonetheless.