NONFICTION - Sept. 17, 1995

FREEZE FRAME: Alaska Eskimos in the Movies by Ann Fienup-Riordan (University of Washington Press: 234 pp., $29.95). According to this narrowly focused but completely fascinating book, much of what Hollywood has shown the rest of the world about Alaska Eskimos is on the far side of accurate. For one thing, igloos and the notion of a harsh, unforgiving land are appropriate to the denizens of the Canadian arctic, not Alaska. For another, ballyhooed customs like nose-rubbing and wife-sharing are considerably more complicated than pictures with names like “The Savage Innocents” and “Frozen Justice” would have you believe. To this day, according to anthropologist Fienup-Riordan, most big-screen pictures follow the lead of Robert Flaherty’s 1922 “Nanook of the North,” opting for either “the hardy Eskimo versus the hard environment” or “the pure Eskimo corrupted by civilization” as themes. The book also records the following timeless interchange from Bud Abbott and Lou Costello’s “Lost in Alaska.” Bud, urging his dog team to run: “Oatmeal.” Lou: “That’s mush .” Bud: “Same thing.” Jim Carrey, are you listening?