The great country

There are three themes played out simultaneously in this film. The least of these is an aerial journey down the Alaskan Peninsula showing the magnificent topography of the region. Edgar Monsanto Queeny's plane leaves Juneau, travels across the Gulf of Alaska, passing Kodiak Island and Kamishak Bay, toward the crater lake atop Mount Katmai. There is also extensive footage of brown bears fishing for salmon in the McNeil River, and of the Walrus Islands. It is the extraordinary journey of the sockeye salmon moving upriver toward their spawning ground that is the richest material in this film. Queeny filmed much of this underwater and the female is seen making its nest and laying its eggs which are later fertilized by the male.