Movie Thoughts: White Fang (1973)

• Released: September 1973
• Directed by: Lucio Fulci
• Running time: 1 h 42 min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

A wolfdog named White Fang befriends and becomes the protector of a select few people in the town of Dawson, where the deceitful and rich Beauty Smith reigns supreme.

My Thoughts

So, yeah, if you want an accurate adaptation of the book, please move on. This movie pretty much only took certain characters and happenings from the book and created a totally different story with them. Seriously. I know some adaptations can take creative liberties, but I really wonder why this is called a White Fang adaptation at all since there's so little similarities.

The story isn't about a wolfdog that becomes hardened by the world but slowly learns that love is something humans are capable of as well, but it's rather about the people he ends up befriending. These are Mitsah, a native boy (who was in the book but had a very minor role which has been expanded upon); Jason Scott (basically Weedon from the book but with his name changed), a journalist; and a nun and her family (who weren't in the book at all). Beauty Smith (who was indeed in the book), rather than being a deformed and shunned man only out for glory and gold like in the book, now pretty much rules the town everything takes place in and is a rich and "gentlemanly" type, only showing how depraved he is in the heat of the moment. 

As for our titular White Fang, he definitely isn't an afterthought like with some adaptations, but he's very far from the book as well. This White Fang is the son of Buck from Call of the Wild, a wolfdog hardened by nature, but pretty much as soon as he lays eyes on Mitsah he becomes a rather tame animal that can be among other humans easily. He doesn't go on this journey of character development like in the book, he just pretty much becomes an ally to any friendly person he comes across instantly. 

So, yeah, these are pretty big changes. The plot is mainly about defeating Beauty Smith and his criminal reign over Dawson and its gold, not about the wolf. A disappointment if you come looking for a decent adaptation, that's for sure.

The acting and cinematography were all pretty decent, but nothing special either. I will say, Mitsah genuinely seemed more upset for White Fang, the wolfdog he's known for like two days, than when his own father, his only family, died. That was just kind of lousy writing. 

Also, the movie just kind of ends. We see Scott and White Fang in the water near a boat, but whether Scott (who is now looking after Mitsah with the nun) and Fang decide to remain in Dawson or board the boat to continue their journey to Nome is left up to interpretation. Just kind of a lame way to end the film.

Let's talk about White Fang himself for a moment. Is he played by a wolfdog or even a wolf-looking dog? Nope, this time it's a German shepherd, not even a shepherd mutt. I get that they wanted to make him look like Buck in this movie (who is also depicted as a Gshep), but they could've at least gotten a dog that looks somewhat wolfish. We're supposed to believe that White Fang is this wild animal that willingly let himself get close to humans, yet he acted like a pet dog from pretty much the start. They didn't even decide to have him behave in a wolf-like way, since he's constantly barking for example (wolves are rather silent and rarely really bark). It's just a bit unbelievable that they're passing off this dog that clearly has a pedigree as anything remotely wolf-like. 

There's also of course the ethics of having a dog fight a bear, which...isn't great. I know people complain about CGI these days, but it really does do wonders for preventing risky and stressful situations for animals like these. 

So yeah, not a good adaptation, but if you want to see a story with elements of White Fang that takes tons of creative liberties it doesn't really hurt anyone, either. It's just a mediocre movie.