Frozen Justice : Murnau in Alaska

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Rather than Sunrise (1927), F. W. Murnau dearly wanted his first film for Fox to be Frozen Justice , based on Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen's 1920 novel, and to shoot it in Alaska. Studio boss Winfield Sheehan, however, thought that Murnau's friend John Ford should make that film closer to home, an idea Ford did not take up. Extensive Fox studio documentation and Murnau's correspondence show a much more convoluted history of Murnau at Fox than has previously been detailed and reveal more of the director's personality. Contracts with his writers and studio papers show that Murnau never lost hope that he could make his Alaska film for Fox. Even after leaving Fox, his partnership with Robert Flaherty to make films in faraway places could have led to Alaska after completing Tabu (1931) in the South Seas had it not been for Murnau's untimely death from an auto accident.