Look to the North
| Look to the North | |
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Screenshot of the opening title
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| Directed by | James Beveridge |
| Produced by | James Beveridge |
| Narrated by | Lorne Greene |
| Cinematography | Donald Fraser |
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures of Canada |
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Release date
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Running time
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22 minutes |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
Look to the North is a 22-minute 1944 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was produced and directed by James Beveridge. The film's French version title is Vers le Nord.
In 1943, Alaska and Canada's north has become of strategic importance when Japanese forces invade and occupy the Aleutian Islands. Both Canadian and American forces are deployed to protect and defend the region in the Aleutian Islands Campaign. The major obstacles to overcome for troops and war materiél to reach Alaska are the daunting distances and harsh environment.
For more than a century, fur traders, prospectors and indigenous peoples had populated the region but the Klondike Gold Rush and later Nome Gold Rush in Nome, Alaska had brought a stampede of newcomers who started new settlements but left when the gold ran out. In 1942, when war came to the region, a new boom transformed the abandoned settlements as workers were needed to build an overland route to Alaska.
U.S. Army engineers along with Canadian workers created the Alaska Highway or ALCAN Highway, carved out of the northern bush and forest to bring American troops and supplies northward. Canada's role was to construct airfields alongside the military highway and send ship convoys to supply the various outposts of the northwest, while Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) patrol bombers and lookouts keep a constant vigil.
The Northwest Staging Route built by Canadians was a series of airstrips, airport and radio ranging stations in Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon. The "skyway" not only supplied the ongoing construction of the Alaska Highway but also served to ferry American lend-lease aircraft for the Soviet Union Air Forces from the United States to Alaska, and then across the Bering Strait to Siberia.
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