Building the Alaska Highway

Feb 7, 2005

0h 48m

★ 0.0

Overview

In May of 1942, across the rugged sub-Arctic wilderness of Alaska and Canada, thousands of American soldiers began one of the biggest and most difficult construction projects ever undertaken-building the Alaska Highway. This program tells how young soldiers battled mud, muskeg, and mosquitoes; endured ice, snow, and bitter cold; and cut pathways through primeval forests to push a 1,520-mile road across one of the world's harshest landscapes.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

American Experience Films

Building the Alaska Highway Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Narrator (voice)

Joe Morton

Self - Journalist

Ruth Gruber

Self - Military Historian

Charles Hendricks

Self - Historian

Heath Twichell

Self - Army Engineer

William Griggs

Self - Civil Engineer

Billy Connor

Self - Army Engineer

Hayward Oubre

Self - Army Engineer

John Bollin

Self - Army Engineer

Henry Geyer

Self - Quartermaster Corps

Fred Mims

Self - Army Engineer

Alden Hacker

Self - Canadian Resident

Bob Trail

Alaska... Here, in this vast and spectacularly beautiful land teeming with abundant wildlife, discover the "Spirit of the Wild." Experience it in the explosive calving of glaciers, the celestial fires of the Aurora Borealis. Witness it in the thundering stampede of caribou, the beauty of the polar bear and the stealthful, deadly hunt of the wolf pack.

7.3

First Descent

Dec 2, 2005

First Descent is a 2005 documentary film about snowboarding and its beginning in the 1980s. The snowboarders featured in this movie (Shawn Farmer, Nick Perata, Terje Haakonsen, Hannah Teter and Shaun White with guest appearances from Travis Rice) represent three generations of snowboarders and the progress this young sport has made over the past two decades. Most of the movie was shot in Alaska.

0.0

Sleigh Ride

Dec 13, 2024

It’s Christmas in Alaska, but a sparsely populated state means a scarce amount of priests. From Christmas eve to Christmas day, two Dominicans traverse icy roads and harsh winds to celebrate Christmas mass for 3 remote communities in the last frontier.

No Image Available

0.0

For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska

Nov 1, 2009

In 1867, when the United States purchased the Alaska territory, the promise of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights didn't apply to Alaska Natives. Their struggle to win justice is one of the great, untold chapters of the American civil rights movement, culminating at the violent peak of World War II with the passage of one of the nation's first equal rights laws.

8.0

Lines

Feb 4, 2007

The documentary follows a crew of snowboarders for six weeks in the Chugach mountains, and showcases what it takes to ride these unique Alaskan mountains: the waiting, the stress, the dangers, everything that goes into it and is usually never shown. It also retraces some of the history of this unknown discipline and pays tribute to the pioneers. But the film really focuses on the human aspect and why these people do what they do.

8.0

Mit Vollgas in den Tod

Dec 12, 2023

No overview available.

6.5

Over Alaska

Nov 10, 2001

Come fly with us in OVER ALASKA as we take off on a breathtaking tour of our 49th state. Soar over Mt. McKinley and through the craggy crevasses of electric blue glaciers. Follow the Iditarod and kayakers as they navigate past icebergs. Then touch down to Earth and get as close to bears, whales and wildlife as humanly possible.

0.0

Bear Island

Jun 27, 2007

The majestic Alaskan brown bear is the largest predator in southeastern Alaska, but everywhere, its ancient haunts are under siege. As the modern world closes in, the great bear’s world is shrinking and encounters between humans and bears are on the rise. Join researcher LaVern Beier as he uses cutting edge technology to protect this extraordinary species. To observe them on their turf, without risking life and limb, LaVern attempts to deploy National Geographic’s CRITTERCAM. Until now, CRITTERCAM has been used almost exclusively on marine animals. Vern and his colleagues are on the cusp of a revolution in terrestrial field science…the opportunity to vicariously walk with bears into the deepest corners of their habitats, where even great hunters barely dare venture.

8.0

Musher, l'appel de l'Alaska

Jan 26, 2023

More than 7,000 km from his home in the Jura Mountains, Sébastien dos Santos Borges is taking seventeen of his dogs on an extraordinary adventure between Yukon and Alaska, following in the footsteps of the adventurers of the Far North. He is one of the most respected mushers in the world and is preparing to set off on the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, one of the most difficult dog sled races. An expedition into the heart of the wilderness, where the relationship between man and animal is essential to triumph over the cold.

0.0

Alaskan Sled Dog

Jul 3, 1957

The story of an Eskimo father and son who train and groom a sled dog team. When the father is lost on an ice floe, the son takes the unproven team on the search, and succeeds in finding his father.

5.8

Report from the Aleutians

Jul 30, 1943

A documentary propaganda film produced by the U.S. Army Signal Corps about the Aleutian Islands Campaign during World War II. The film opens with a map showing the strategic importance of the island, and the thrust of the 1942 Japanese offensive into Midway and Dutch Harbor. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

0.0

Soaring Over America

Jan 1, 2010

Created from public television's popular Over series, this is a tour unlike any other! Fly above landscapes and landmarks in Alaska; the Pacific Northwest; California; the Southwest; Chicago; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and everywhere in between.

0.0

Alaska: Forever Wild

Aug 18, 2018

This true-life adventure story follows people who ventured deep into the remote bush of Alaska to pursue their lifelong dreams of living off the grid.

No Image Available

8.5

Monsters and Mysteries in Alaska

Mar 14, 2010

Alaska – 90,000 square miles of wilderness. Could its uninhabited frontier be hiding monsters and mysteries?

6.2

This Mountain Life

Apr 30, 2018

A daughter and her 60-year-old mother embark on a 6 month, 2,300-kilometre ski trek through British Columbia’s rugged terrain.

0.0

Wild National Parks

Feb 12, 2020

Answer the call of the wild and visit Alaskan grizzly bears, Arizona rattlesnakes, and a wealth of noble creatures nurtured by devoted park workers.

10.0

Back in My Body

Mar 16, 2018

BACK IN MY BODY is a short documentary about musician Maggie Rogers returning to Alaska, a place that has had a huge impact on her life.

9.0

Alaska's Giant Bears

Jan 17, 2023

In Canada and Alaska, the consequences of global warming are being keenly felt by brown bears - but in different ways by different populations. Their survival depends mainly on the quantity of wild salmon available in the region, as it is the fruit of their catch that enables the bears to accumulate fat reserves for the winter. While salmon populations off Canada's Pacific coast continue to decline year after year, in the immense Bristol Bay in western Alaska, as well as on Kodiak Island, they are increasing considerably. The water temperature in the North Pacific is now ideal for salmon development. From Canada to Alaska, the documentary follows different bear populations over a two-year period.

6.4

Alien Abduction: Travis Walton

Feb 18, 2022

In 1975, six loggers in Arizona witnessed their crewmate's abduction by UFO. The Travis Walton story became an international sensation and ripped apart a small town. Four decades later, shocking new evidence reveals the true story behind Fire in the Sky.