Eskimos: Winter in Western Alaska (1950)

★★★★★ · Nooooo!!! · Spuzz · 2003-05-01

This is quite an engrossing little movie that seemed to have a BAD edit at the end, keeping us in suspense. This is the documentation of a typical Eskimo family surviving in Western Alaska. We see how the women cook, the children learn, and most fascinatingly, how the men hunt. ingenious ways of trapping fish are shown. Soon, the father of the family goes out to hunt for a seal, he puts his boat into the water and the narrator says "But Look!" and the film ends with a "The End!" (This is actually quite amusing) What happens? Did he catch a seal? We may NEVER KNOW...

★★★★ · eskimos: winter in western alaska · pheret · 2008-01-21

u know, i wish we could gather all these films that are so WRONG about cultures and pull out how ACCURATE they are about human nature! no matter WHO we are, we OVERFISH, OVERKILL, OVERBREED, the aztecs, the "eskimos", the native americans driving buffalo over cliffs, easter islanders, on and on. the ONLY reason we survived stripping our earth then was because there were only like a million of us. people, we really need to stop breeding. and like these people would sleep on a log? with all that fluffy fur around? the makers of these movies don't think very logically! :D

★★★ · Eskimos on Ice · Christine Hennig · 2006-02-14

This Encyclopedia Britannica film from the 50s shows us the lifestyle and traditional ways of an Eskimo family in western Alaska. Its pretty interesting, actually, covering such things as ice fishing, trapping, melting blocks of ice for water, and Mother hanging out the wash in 30-degree-below-zero weather. Unfortunately, the seal hunt was cut off for some reason. A reviewer on the Prelinger Archive who seems to know about Eskimos claims that this was not at all a realistic portrayal of their way of life during the 50s, but its fun to watch anyway. Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: **. Weirdness…

★ · Well... not quite · 2muchtv · 2004-08-01

Made in the spirit of "Nanook of the North," unfortunately almost entirely false. As a frequent visitor to Unalakleet, I can tell you with great certainty that life in Unalakleet in 1950 was completely different from this film's depiction. While Native Americans on the west coast of Alaska still make and wear animal hide clothing to this day, it is only for fun, ceremony and certain specialized hunting activities. These items have not been 'every day' wear as depicted in this film since the 1930s. Staged in every way, this film uses careful editing and very limited camera shots to convey a…