NORTHERN AFFAIR

A coeducational group of six Canadian scientists on a summer expedition in the Arctic makes a misguided excursion to a remote ice island and finds itself taking in a new course on extracurricular survival. Northern adventure -- always good for a story -- develops with glacial Arctic treachery and splendor as a perfect backdrop for amorous Polar pairs. Melancholy Martine, the bereaved widow psychologist, is wooed by the hero of the group, a flippant ornithologist; the curvy female journalist is big game for an oceanologist; and even the staid and stolid lady anthropologist finds a learned cover. After much switching of sleeping bags and several classic encounters with wild fauna, Arctic storms, and the atavistic lusts, the group manages to save itself in a homemade Eskimo boat manned by Martine and her bird-watching mate. A mediocre combo of Peter Freuchen, John O'Hara, and a seventh seal makes fair reading in an established pattern where primitive experiment and wife-or-death adventure are more important than Eskimo realism. True adventurers and not-so-lovelorn individuals may find it unrewarding, but as escape fiction it is palatable.