Klondike (film)

Klondike is a 1932 American Pre-Code film directed by Phil Rosen. The film is also known as The Doctor's Sacrifice in the United Kingdom. It was silent film star Priscilla Dean's final film.

Thelma Todd and Lyle Talbot in Klondike
Directed byPhil Rosen
Produced byWilliam T. Lackey
Written byTristram Tupper (story, adaptation, dialogue)
CinematographyJames S. Brown Jr.
Archie Stout
Edited byCarl Pierson
Distributed byMonogram Pictures
Release date
  • August 30, 1932 (1932-08-30)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited States

Plot summary

Doctor Robert Cromwell (played by Lyle Talbot) is charged with murder when a patient dies after an experimental operation to remove a brain tumor.

His pilot friend, Donald Evans (Frank Hawks), convinces "Doc" to join him on a trans-Pacific trip as a means to start a new life. They plot a flight path across the Bering Strait, but rough weather blows them off course and they end up in Alaska.

There the doctor is faced with a new dilemma. Mark Armstrong (Henry B. Walthall) begs the doctor to attempt the operation on his son Jim (Jason Robards Sr.) who is crippled by a similar brain tumor. When the doctor refuses, Mark accuses him of wanting his son to die, because he’s in love with Jim's fiancée, Klondike (Thelma Todd).

"Doc" acquiesces, at Klondike's insistence. Although having none of the facilities of a hospital, he believes that the operation is less likely to succeed, the longer it is delayed.

The operation seems to be a partial success. But now Jim will do anything to keep "Doc" from taking Klondike back to the States with him, even using his genius with electricity to electrocute him.[1]



The film was remade as Klondike Fury (1942).[2]



  1. "The Doctor's Sacrifice (1932) : Plot Summary". IMDb.com. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
  2. "Klondike Fury (1942)". IMDb.com. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
