White Fang

An unambitious, comic strip adaptation of Jack London's superb novel that nevertheless manages to capture something of the essence of London's world - the purity of the struggle with (not against) nature in the icy wastes, the corruption of the money-grabbing mining towns. One gets only glimpses of the original's intrepid reporter in Nero's performance, although Fernando Rey carries some resonance as the drink-sodden priest. The Indian child is suitably unwinsome, and the hound most mercifully un-Lassie-like. The overall feeling of the romance of the wilds survives the picture-book interpretation, making the film one any kid with an ounce of imagination should enjoy.