Jack London (1943)

Where was John Barleycorn? What of white logic? Refracting his life through an evangelism prism, rousing support for upcoming war in Pacific reflects its time. Nope, hard pass

There can be no doubt that American writer Jack London lived an exciting life, but somehow this rather drab adaptation really does nothing to convey that on film. It doesn’t help that someone thought that casting Michael O’Shea in the title role was a good idea. For much of it, I thought he was a sort of Van Heflin-light as the overly episodic drama of his life unfolds. We start with him involved in a shoot out with the cops over some dodgy oyster fishing and then follow him around the globe, garnering writing success as he travels. He even gets to the war-torn sites of the Russo-Japanese conflict, but this story still fails to ignite as it skates along superficially. That failure might also be down to a really uninspiring supporting cast with Leonard Strong proving a particularly difficult ask with his “Capt. Tanaka” and Susan Hayward making no impression at all as his ultimate (after quite a few dalliances) sweetheart Charmian - upon whose book this is loosely based. I’m sure there wasn’t much cash to spend on this, but the production is quite sloppily put together with the story of his life darting around with more emphasis on chronology rather than continuity or cohesion. By the end I felt I knew little more about him, what inspired him nor how he achieved his enormous literary success, than I did at the start. Disappointing, sorry.