Burning Daylight was Jack London's best selling book during his lifetime. The book begins as a two-fisted macho adventure on the Klondike, as the hero--nicknamed Burning Daylight--becomes the most successful entrepreneur during the Alaskan Gold Rush. After acheiving his fame and fortune, he finds no more challenge in the north and heads to the States for new worlds to conquer. He is flim-flammed out of his fortune by Wall Streeters, learns the lesson of dog-eat-dog, and becomes as much of a scoundrel as those who robbed him.
Adaptations (4)
Burning Daylight has been adapted 4 times, across film and television film, from 1914 to 1975. The most recent is Time Doesn't Wait (1975).
Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Alaska1914 · film · 50 min · dir. Hobart Bosworth · IMDb ↗IMDb5.3Elam Harnish, known as "Burning Daylight," is a leader among the men of Circle City, Alaska in the days before the gold rush. Nell, a dance hall girl, loves Harnish, though he has never offered her anything but friendship. Harnish's hunch that the big strike is coming soon proves true, and he throws himself into the frenzy of activity that follows, staking claims and eventually accumulating eleven million dollars. Harnish leaves Alaska for San Francisco without knowing that Nell has killed herself because of his departure. -From TCM.com Database, powered by the AFI.
Burning Daylight: The Adventures of 'Burning Daylight' in Civilization1914 · film · 50 min · dir. Hobart Bosworth · IMDb ↗IMDb2.8
Burning Daylight1928 · film · 72 min · dir. Charles Brabin · IMDb ↗IMDb6.8Elam "Burning Daylight" Harnish is a prospector who makes a million dollars in the Dawson, Alaska gold rush and loses the million dollars in Dawson. He journeys to San Francisco, makes three million dollars and loses it in San Francisco. He returns to Alaska and eventually finds his treasure.
Time Doesn't Wait1975 · television film · 154 min · dir. Vitaliy Chetverikov · IMDb ↗The story of Elam Harnish, a gold prospector and adventurer nicknamed Time-Won't-Wait, who "was a gambler by nature, and life seemed to him to be a most exciting game." In the course of this game for wealth and power, he becomes cynical and heartless. Having become a successful businessman, he lives and acts according to the laws of the jungle. A change comes over him after he meets stenographer Did Mason. Based on the novel of the same name by Jack London.
