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

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6.9

Alaska: Spirit of the Wild

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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.

7.5

Grizzly Man

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Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

7.3

First Descent

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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.

5.8

Report from the Aleutians

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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.

7.2

The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream

Jan 12, 2004

Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years Suburbia, and all it promises, has become the American Dream. But as we enter the 21st century, serious questions are beginning to emerge...

0.0

The Long Road Through Balkan History

Jan 1, 2009

Bosnian Croat writer Miljenko Jergović and Serbian writer Marko Vidojković replace one another by the steering wheel of Yugo, a symbol of their common past while driving on the Brotherhood and Unity Highway that stretched across five of six republics of Yugoslavia.

8.0

Lines

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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.

9.0

Children of the Arctic

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10.0

Same Difference

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Freeride, Freestyle and Alpine racing united! Legs of Steel presents the multi-discipline ski film 'Same Difference’. True to the credo –‘a film about skiers’, this documentary will provides a one-of-a-kind view into skiing’s diversity. Follow Alpine race legend Felix Neureuther through a testing competitive season full of ultimate highs and lows. Take a ride with Fabian Lentsch, Bene Mayr & Sven Kueenle as they venture to the nerve centre of freeride skiing in Alaska, and watch on with anticipation as Freestyler Paddy Graham and his gang attempt to redefine gravity with the biggest jump ever attempted. The start gates and slopes are different and the rewards may seem wildly contrasting, but it’s all just skiing in the end.

8.0

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No overview available.

0.0

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6.2

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0.0

Underdog

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The curiously optimistic tale of Doug Butler—a hardscrabble Vermont dairy farmer who risks losing the only home he’s ever known to chase his dreams of dog mushing in Alaska.

0.0

Moonflower

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7.0

The Wild

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Newly into addiction recovery, an urgent threat emerges to spur filmmaker, Mark Titus back to the Alaskan wilderness - where the people of Bristol Bay and the world's last intact wild salmon runs face devastation if a massive copper mine is constructed.

0.0

A86 : Le Défi d'un tunnel à double étage

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6.0

The Strait Guys

Jun 2, 2022

THE STRAIT GUYS follows Czech-born mining engineer, George, and his fast-talking protégé, Scott, along the proposed route of the InterContinental Railway through Alaska, to the Bering Strait and onward to Russia. The “Strait Guys” endeavor to convince international governments, corporations, and indigenous tribes to green-light their $100 billion railway project, which would provide ground-based infrastructure across the continents, relieve overcrowded Pacific ports, improve global supply chains, and ease tensions between the superpowers. The US and Russia have been successfully collaborating in space for decades. Now the Strait Guys are out to prove it is also possible down here on earth.

0.0

Igloo

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Documentary detailing the hardships of life among Alaskan Natives.

10.0

Denali's Wife

Jan 1, 1977

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