To Build a Fire

Based on the celebrated short story by Jack London, this drama concerns a traveler unfamiliar with the ways of the Yukon wilderness who finds himself lost far from camp. Once the man realizes just how lost he truly is, he begins an increasingly desperate effort to build a campfire and stave off the elements which could easily claim his life. A scrupulously accurate translation of London’s text, To Build a Fire is mostly silent, with Orson Welles performing narration drawn from London’s story; Ian Hogg plays the unfortunate traveler. —Mark Deming