Alaska Highway (film)
| Alaska Highway | |
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| Directed by |
Frank McDonald Charles Kerr (assistant) |
| Produced by |
William H. Pine (producer) William C. Thomas (producer) |
| Written by |
Lewis R. Foster (writer) Maxwell Shane (writer) |
| Starring |
Richard Arlen Jean Parker Ralph Sanford |
| Music by | Freddie Rich |
| Cinematography | Fred Jackman Jr. |
| Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
| Distributed by | Pine-Thomas Productions |
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Release date
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Running time
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66 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Alaska Highway is a 1943 American film directed by Frank McDonald.
In February 1942 a road construction gang working in Northern California are summoned to a meeting. The boss of the gang has been commissioned as a Major in the US Army Corps of Engineers and signs up the entire crew with his two sons gaining direct entry as Technical Sergeants to build the Alcan Highway. One of the brothers wishes to enlist in the US Marine Corps to fight the Japanese rather than build another road. He changes his mind when he meets the daughter of one of the heads of the project with the two brothers fighting over her as they build the highway. Their feud is forgotten when the Japanese invade Kiska.
The film begins with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Alaska at the time was weakly defended. Canada had already built the northwest staging route; a series of airfields spread across northwestern Canada.
The decision is made to build a highway to Alaska. The workers are divided into three starting camps, Fort Nelson, B.C., Skagway, Alaska, and Valdez, Alaska.
The workers from Fort Nelson, B.C. begin building a highway north.
The workers in Skagway are transported by the White Pass and Yukon Route railway to Whitehorse. From Whitehorse they begin building a road north and south.
The workers in Valdez, Alaska move to a point inland and begin building a road towards Fairbanks and Whitehorse.
The movie goes on to show some amazing footage of bulldozers building the highway. The black troops arrive and all work hard building the highway.
The highway is opened to traffic. The truck drivers find that the road is better to drive than expected.
However, some of the highway is not correctly built and becomes impassable in rain. Flooded rivers wash away some bridges and they have to be rebuilt. Some of the highway is not properly drained and ice builds up on the road.
Trucks sink into the mud and are frozen into the mud. Some grades are too steep and accidents happen. Civilian contractors are hired to improve the highway.
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Wikipedia