Public reader discussion about The call of the wild by Jack London.
By Patient_Mirror
Seriously, I have no idea how to put into words what this book did to me. I finished it this summer and it still sticks in my head (like, in the best way). I’m kind of going crazy that I don’t have anyone to talk to about it, especially the villain—Wolf Larsen—who honestly might be one of my favorite characters. Has anyone else read it? I’d love to hear what you think about Wolf.
By moonafeared
I went and skimmed a bunch of those “top 100 classics” lists, and I was pretty shocked that the only Jack London book that shows up on almost all of them is *The Call of the Wild*. It really feels like everyone is treating it like his best work, like the lists all agree on that one thing for a reason. I’m not saying it’s bad—I’ve read it and I liked it a lot. The whole dog POV thing is fun, and it’s an enjoyable story. But to me it comes off more like a YA-ish coming-of-age adventure: breaking free, fairly simple plot, that kind of vibe. Jack London is an incredible writer, though, and in my opinion *TCOTW* doesn’t hit the same level as stuff like *The Sea-Wolf*, and especially *Martin Eden* (which I think is really special). It’s kind of like picking “Let It Be” as the song that best represents the Beatles. Sure, it’s catchy and popular, but they’ve got a ton of other songs that are better. Or “Creep” for Radiohead. And honestly I’ve heard a similar complaint about Hemingway’s *For Whom the Bell Tolls* too—it always shows up in these lists. So now I’m wondering… are these “top” lists actually useful for anything, or are they just kind of misleading and should be ignored most of the time? Am I just being a hipster about it?
By snowwater
This feels like one of those cases where the print exists, but it’s basically locked away from normal people. I don’t think it’s “lost” exactly, but it never actually came out on VHS/DVD/Blu-ray or any streaming service, and I can’t find anything that says it was digitized. The last public screening I can find mentioned is from 1984, which is why I tossed “found” on there—like, it’s not gone, just only a small number of people can see it. It’s the 1923 version of *The Call of the Wild* (Jack London). I guess Wikipedia and IMDb fill in the plot details, but I really like that Buck is played by a St. Bernard here. A lot of the other versions make him a husky, so this one stands out to me. This wasn’t even the first adaptation (there’s one from 1908), but it seems like the 1923 one was the one that got the best reactions back then. And yeah, for something that seems so beloved, it’s wild that it still hasn’t really been released at home in the last 101 years. It doesn’t even seem like it ran on TV much either. One Letterboxd user says it was never digitized, and I’m not sure how true that is, but it kind of matches everything else I’m seeing. The good news is there’s at least one print sitting in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. IMDb says “a print,” but the Silent Film Survival Database uses “prints,” so maybe there’s more than one. But here’s the part that’s gotten me excited: Martin Scorsese is involved with The Film Foundation, and they’ve restored a bunch of movies that were at risk. Their whole thing is saving/restoring films and then making them available when possible, and you can apparently find *Call of the Wild* on their list. The AFI site also backs that up, so it’s not just a random rumor. I can’t find when the restoration happened, though, so I’m a bit unsure on timing. Still, it sounds like it hasn’t been released for viewing yet—so it’s not like you can just watch it online or buy a copy. MoMA also doesn’t seem to be screening it right now, and I get it if they’re being careful with the master(s). But the fact that TFF got involved makes me feel like there’s a real chance something will come out eventually, maybe even through Criterion. So I posted this basically to try and build some hype. TFF has a ton of projects, so they probably only push release for stuff people actually want. I feel like I’m one of the few who’s really hoping for *this* movie specifically. But if enough people show interest, maybe whoever controls the rights will greenlight a release. And even if it turns out to be kind of “meh,” I still think every dog should get his day.
By orangemirror1990
Kind of a fun thing: in the original book they straight-up describe the dog as this super gross CGI mess and also weirdly human-looking, like it’s in that uncanny valley. The adaptation honestly did a great job, though—I’m pretty impressed.