A mountain man named Sam Monroe (Dick Robinson, who also directed this movie*, voiced by Leon Ames) saves four wolf cubs after their mother dies. Somehow, against the odds, they form a pack and protect one another. Thirty other animals appear in this movie, all handled by Robinson.
Written by John C. Champion (Zero Hour!) and John C. Mahon (who produced Chariots of the Gods), you may wonder, “Why would Sam care about this movie, much less write it up for me to read about?”
Because this is a Sun International Picture.
This was four-walled into theaters, taking the kind of movies that they felt the American public wasn’t getting — which would be wildlife pictures and the kind of UFO and conspiracy shows that are now on basic cable, but in theaters and drive-ins — and selling it directly to them. Toklat came before this and is incredibly similar, with Robinson tracking a bear that he knew as a cub with Ames doing the voiceover.
Later known as Sunn Classics and Schick/Sunn Classics, the ultimate expression of their outdoorsman against the odds movies would be The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.
*Robinson also made or worked on the similar movies Birth of a Legend, Cougar Country, Toklat, Mountain Charlie, Buffalo Rider, The Rogue and the Grizzly and did the animal sequences for Sasquatch: The Legend of Bigfoot.
I LOVE this movie!! It has beautiful scenery and it’s a wonderful story
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