To Build a Fire
by David Cobham
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DVD details
Actor: Ian Hogg, Orson WellesDirector: David Cobham
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 56 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1999-12-07
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Vci Video
DVD Reviews of To Build a Fire
DVD Review: To Build a Fire
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw this film in 1972 as part of our survival training in the Royal Navy - it had a profound affect on me and i never forgot its message - one mistake can kill you. As a transfer from cine to digital it has lost some sound quality, but the message is as strong as ever. The orson Welles commentary keeps the story going. I still found it instructive 30+ years on.To Build a FireDVD Review: Great video to show students before a snow camp
Summary: 5 Stars
I brought this video to show my Sierra Club outdoor skills students while traveling by bus to a winter snow camp in the Sierras. It made an interesting impression.DVD Review: ENTERTAINING BUT LACKED ACCURACY
Summary: 3 Stars
I can't believe how lightly this guy was dressed! Obviously Jack London has never been out at even 50 below much less 75 below. Jack's temperatures remind me of Cabella's temperature ratings on winter boots! Some are rated down to 150 below!! Now back in 1970 we built a green log cabin on the Yukon river halfway between Eagle, Alaska and Circle, Alaska, 40 air miles south of the Arctic Circle. We had an average DAYTIME temperature for the ENTIRE month of January of 57 below with two weeks straight of 65 below and one night of 80 below. The morning after it dropped to minus 80 it was 40 below INSIDE THE CABIN!! My Big Ben wind up clock had frozen up and stopped ticking at 2 AM! All this is a foundation to say that the movie lacked reality. Anyone dressed with no parka or insulated pants and with those poorly designed mukluks would have frozen in the first fifteen minutes of the movie! Just like anyone walking outside with Cabella's boots at 150 below would be INSTANTLY DEAD!! I've been out to take a leak at 72 below so can talk from experience. Also the "freezing spittle" made for a good movie but spittle doesn't freeze into balls at 75 below it VAPORIZES! When I took a leak at 72 below NOTHING EVER HIT THE SNOW! You could hear a fffffffffffssssst sound while watching the pee vaporize! So, I'd give the movie five stars for entertainment and two stars for accuracy. Gerry Shramek Copper Center, Alaska
DVD Review: Review "film" as "film," not a novel or short story...
Summary: 5 Stars
I've developed a viewing guide for this film which combines the narration and a "few" excerpts from London's short story -- thus I've spent a great deal of time studying the film and London's original narrative.
What bothers me immensely about "many" Amazon reviewers of films are the "observations" or "criticisms" that the "film versions" don't measure up to original literary works.
Why should they?
These are "film adaptation" and the filmmaker seldom can "match" the creative essence of the original literary work.
Quite often the film adaptations are "far superior" to original literary works in creating significant and lasting literary experiences.
In the past fifty years or so, "electronic literary experiences" have become the primary medium for vicarious literary experiences.
In this case -- the film adaptation of London's "To Build A Fire" -- the filmmaker captures the "essence" of the story. The film version is a classic -- especially well done considering that the film was produced and released 39 years ago, and was never intended to be a major theatrical release.
For you "literature teachers" try a controlled experiment with two groups - use "only" the film with the one group; while using "only" London's story with the other group. Be sure the two groups are comparable -- then compare and contrast. I dare you.
Also, try such a "controlled" experience with recalcitrant / reluctant students in "both" groups. I dare you.
If no one ultimately reads London's story it will disappear, even from the internet.
DVD Review: Powerful story- Powerful film
Summary: 5 Stars
I used this DVD in my English classroom after the students read the story by Jack London. The DVD was of good quality, and the film itself is a classic, narrated by Orson Welles.
Description of To Build a Fire
Jack London's famous short is filmed with complete fidelity to London's graphic narrative and could be called a screen short story in its purest form. The stark realism of the chilling images combined with the power of Orson Welles' reading fills the viewer with an awesome admiration for the story's courageous hero. The visuals add a new dimension to London's prose and the viewer feels the icy cold to an extent that reaches far beyond the power of words alone. This chilly discomfort provides a tense background for the suspense which is to come as the man attempts to build the fire he must have in order to survive. Bonus Features: Scene Selection| Previews| Jack London Bio. Specs: DVD5; Dolby Digital Mono; 56 minutes; Color; 1.33:1 Aspect Ratio; Year - 1969; SRP - $9.99.General DVDs
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