This is the third version of Jack London's novel BURNING DAYLIGHT (1910); others were filmed in 1914 (a two-part version) and 1920. The plot has the city versus wilderness theme typical of the times. Elam Harnish, or "Burning Daylight," is called this because he has the habit of rousting his comrades out of bed with the admonition that "daylight is burning." Like many of London's heroes, he's a strong, intelligent man, and he prospers because of his foresight in the Klondike gold strike.
Burning Daylight's taste for speculation and gambling leads him to San Francisco, where he's taken in by the usual suspects: soft living, an over-sized ego, a group of corrupt capitalists, and a Woman from the City who lures him away from the faithful Vergie, the former dance-hall girl turned stenographer who has followed him to the big city. Cheated by his so-called business partners, Burning Daylight realizes his mistake and administers a little frontier justice before escaping with Vergie back to Alaska.
The performances here are good at times, although the scenes set in the Klondike rely too obviously on painted sets rather than on the more sophisticated effects typical of Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH.
Burning Daylight's taste for speculation and gambling leads him to San Francisco, where he's taken in by the usual suspects: soft living, an over-sized ego, a group of corrupt capitalists, and a Woman from the City who lures him away from the faithful Vergie, the former dance-hall girl turned stenographer who has followed him to the big city. Cheated by his so-called business partners, Burning Daylight realizes his mistake and administers a little frontier justice before escaping with Vergie back to Alaska.
The performances here are good at times, although the scenes set in the Klondike rely too obviously on painted sets rather than on the more sophisticated effects typical of Chaplin's THE GOLD RUSH.