Mrs. Mike

Other than the fact that Dick Powell sometimes wears the drill sergeant hat that we expect from Royal Canadian Mounted Police and that wasn't adapted into well in the last century, Mrs. Mike is an engrossing drama of the real life work of a member of that acclaimed force. American audiences expect Mounties to have that hat and this was an American made film.

It's a good story, possibly a Canadian production would do it better justice and they sure would get the details right. Still I don't think there's too much cause for complaint.

Powell narrates and stars in this story about a Mountie and his marriage serving in the Northwest Territories at the turn of the last century. Powell is not a relentless pursuer of fugitives nor is he fighting gangs of outlaws or Indians. In fact his main job is looking for people who get lost up in the frozen north. Sometimes he finds them alive and sometimes he doesn't.

To the wilderness Powell has brought Evelyn Keyes who's an American girl from Boston who thinks she's dealt with snow before. The film covers the first years of their marriage as much from her point of view as his. When he's at his headquarters, she's as much a member of the RCMP as he is for all she does.

I guess to make sure people didn't forget he was a singer Powell sang The Rose Of Tralee, the first time he sang on the screen in five years. He's not the piping tenor of his younger days, he's dropped into a semi-baritone in his range.

The climax of the film is a diphtheria epidemic where Powell and Keyes help doctor Will Wright fight the epidemic and it costs them dear.

Mrs. Mike, other than Powell's hat, is a good engrossing drama of the real life of a Mountie and his Missus shot quite realistically at Big Bear Lake in California looking very much like the frozen Northwest Territory. Perhaps a Canadian producer might consider this film as a good candidate for remake.

If this movie was to stand alone in it's on right it could be consider at least good. However seeing as it is based on a book it is hard to judge without comparing them to each other. The book created strong relationship and bond between the people and the land. It did not clean relationships and problem up simply to please the reader that is one of the book's most endearing qualities. The movie however simplifies the complexity of the emotions, characters, and story line that the book so richly builds. The other point I think they lost sight of was this wasn't just a love story it was a story of truth, human kindness, growing up, and survival. I also believe the movie down play Kathy incredible strength and stubbornness. By the end of the book you understand that Kathy has matured and that the decision she made is final and purposeful. The movie however lacks in the sense you know she made said decision, but there is no substantial evidence that make you believe she will not change her mind. If you have the choice read the book it is far superior to the movie.

I love the book and have read it probably 50 times. Kathy and Mike Flannigan's life in the far north of Canada - dealing with the indiginous peoples and interesting people of all ilks, plus the sisterhood of the strong women who faced so many hardships, are fascinating story-telling. And the Sargeant, trained but still having to do things like dentistry by reading books, is a wonderful testimony to the RCMP dedication to the country. This movie has none of the depth or pathos of the book; and it's actually seriously missing much of the romance as well. They made it a vehicle for Powell (who was too old and heavy for this role) without any regard for the actual story of real people facing real hardships and finding unexpected joy in harsh conditions. If you don't know that Kathy and Mike lost BOTH their children to diptheria, then you have no real understanding of their lives.

"Mrs. Mike" is a better than average early Hollywood depiction of life in Canada's far north. Life in the North-West Territories in the early 1900's had moments of great beauty but was for the most part, harsh and cruel. The film captured the essence of this without resorting to standard stereotypes. There isn't a single manhunt of the "a Mountie always gets his man" variety in the whole plot. Most of the characters managed to portray depth and an insight into their difficult lives.

Evelyn Keyes shines as the Boston-born wife of a Mountie in Canada's remote North-West Territories. While trying to live as a loving, dedicated wife, she struggles with the lack of comforts and the dangers in a frontier existence, and ultimately, her own self-doubts.

Dick Powell's manner would suit him more easily in the big city, but he passes as a stoic never-say-die Mountie. He provides a stable base in the film, and is the narrator of the story, but his performance has to take second place to Miss Keyes as "Mrs. Mike".

By present day standards, the native characters are not politically correct with their broken English and simplistic presentations. For 1940's Hollywood, they are given a bit more opportunity to show some humor and dignity, and that they are human beings as well. The gentle performance by Ro Mere Darling as Mrs. Henderson, the native wife of Trader Henderson, attempts to break through the pre-conceived ideas of most of the movie audience, both in the 1940's and sadly, of many today.

This movie is definitely worth watching for simple good entertainment, and a glimpse at a lost way of life.

This film is based on the novel, Mrs. Mike, which is based on the real life woman, Kathy O'Fallon Flannigan. While it is an adequate film by itself, it sells the story short. It panders to romance and drama, when the book is quite dramatic in its own right. A Boston teenager is sent to live with her uncle in frontier Canada because of her fragile health. She eventually falls in love with own of the few-if only-young, white males in the region. They marry and depart for the northern wilderness to set up house and home. The rest of the movie is about her struggles and joys of living and travelling in this rugged country. Sadly, the movie ends where the book took off on a whole new, inspiring tangent. We are left with the typical "happy ending". I gave this a 5.