The Call of the Wild has been adapted to film several times. A 1923 version directed by Hal Roach starred Jack Mulhall. In 1935, William Wellman directed Clark Gable and Loretta Young in a Hollywood-style romance about a young widow and a Yukon prospector. A popular success, this version of the film took various liberties with London’s plot. In 1972, Charlton Heston and Michele Mercier, directed by Ken Annakin, starred in a film that was more faithful to the original story; filmed in Finland, the movie features impressive scenery. In 1976, James Dickey wrote the script for a made-for-television adaptation of The Call of the Wild.
London intended his novel White Fang to serve as a sequel and “companion-book” to The Call of the Wild. An optimistic book, it reverses the direction of Buck’s development: White Fang is born in the wild and becomes domesticated. Some readers find it a more satisfying book than The Call of the Wild.
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