49ème parallèle

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger's artistic collaboration at the start of WWII benefits from a powerhouse cast.

Clearly propaganda, the cast and crew apparently came from all parts of the world to lend their talents for a "mutual cause." With strains of Ralph Vaughn Williams's score woven into the cinematic fabric, Pressberger's elaborate story is expansive and involved.

The Oscar nominated film is worth watching, and it's interesting to see Raymond Massey's speech as a G.I. so very Yank-oriented, without a trace of the mannered style he later acquired. Leslie Howard is well cast as a poetic, philosophical dreamer. However, it's Anton Walbrook who really surprises with an uncharacteristic subtle naturalistic style.

This is apparently the project Elizabeth Bergner used to defect from Germany to the U.S., leaving the film for Hollywood (and Glynis Johns to take over the role). The actors playing Nazis are all quite strong.

Released a couple of months before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, this is a propaganda film aimed at rallying the world against the Nazi threat. After a disjointed start, it slowly gathers momentum and ultimately proves to be a satisfying adventure about a group of stranded Nazi soldiers surreptitiously trying to make its way across Canada. Although Howard, Olivier, and Massey get top billing, they have small roles. Olivier is a hoot as a French Canadian. Interestingly, Vaughan Williams gets above the title billing for his fine score, although it is underused. Powell, working from a script by partner Pressburger, tells the story in a stark, documentary style.

This is an unusual film in many respects. It features splendid music by Vaughan-Williams, and in order to let the sections of music finish on the soundtrack rather than cut it off, we are often treated to extended montage sequences of the magnificence of the wild scenery of Canada, where the film is entirely set. (The 49th parallel is the border between Canada and the United States. In the USA, this film was released under the title 'The Invaders'.) The cinematographer was Freddie Young, whose work with the Indian tepee lighting effects shows his early promise with creative use of light. Camera operator was Skeets Kelly. Together, they did one bold 'avante garde' shot from a small boat as it rams ashore from a lake. This was very quickly cut away from, perhaps even too quickly, by the restless pace imposed by the editor, David Lean, who was soon to become a famous director. Numerous already famous people collaborated on this early wartime propaganda effort, which manages to be relatively light on propaganda and heavy on story. And a good story it is too, written and conceived by Romanian emigree Emeric Pressburger, for which he won a well-deserved Oscar. The film was ably directed by the always talented Michael Powell. The one stand-out bad performance is by Laurence Olivier, who wrongly imagined that he could play a French-Canadian outdoorsman. Despite showing his chest and acting hearty, he fails pathetically to pull this off, and his mechanical mouthing of the accent is far too laboured. He was so often his own worst enemy, by calculating rather than feeling his characters. The opposite is true of the delightful Lesley Howard, who creates a wonderful, eccentric and whimsical character of a vacationing scholar who is on the verge of becoming a Scarlet Pimpernel at any moment (he had made 'Pimpernel Smith' earlier the same year.). Niall MacGinnis is superb as a pathetically regretful Nazi who just wants to go back to being a baker and living a quiet life. Anton Walbrook is magnificent in his intensity as the leader of a pacifist religious sect, and he gets to deliver the best speech in the film. But the finest acting of all is by Eric Portman, who is absolutely terrifying as a fanatical Nazi blind to all reason. Glynis Johns makes an appearance as a fey young girl with a quavery voice, who gets a jibe in at the Nazis by overcoming her innate timidity. This was a very clever propaganda film, because its messages were deeply embedded in an ingenious story line. That story line is innovative and highly dramatic. A German submarine surfaces in Hudson Bay on the Atlantic Coast of Canada, during the period before America was in the War, but Canada, as a British colony, was already a combatant. Six men led by a lieutenant (played by Portman) go ashore in search of food and water supplies, but before they can go far, their submarine is sunk by aerial bombardment, leaving the six men stranded. The Canadian authorities are unaware that these six Nazi seamen are on the loose. The story then becomes the incredible odyssey of their journey across Canada, and the havoc they cause, as they try without food, water, or money to reach Vancouver on the Pacific Coast and take a ship to Japan. Naturally, lots of people get in their way and are killed. This whole project is very well pulled-off indeed, and makes exciting viewing even today.

Yes, it is (was) propaganda. But never has there been a more curiously right and true epitome of the sloppy yet resilient defense of transcontinental democracy than this. Canada wins because Canada is a mess; the Nazi neatness and demand for clear-cut lines falters, and in the end is clobbered with a roundhouse right. So long as I live, I will love this film; it's P&P at their best, and the Vaughan WIlliams score is second to none. What else can one say? I wish I were Canadian.

And since the IMDb, to which I contributed long before it became such a commercial concern, insists that I have at least 10 lines of text, I will keep on jabbering for a few more lines, in order to preserve the above comments for posteriority ...

Emeric Pressburger wrote the book which inspired this movie called " 49th Parallel " or 'The Invaders' and which was later directed by Michael Powell, neither could have dreamed, such a small movie could have ever garnered such world wide attention. From it's inception to the finished scene, one is impressed by the remarkable journey of the main characters and their trek through the rugged Canadian wilderness. That journey begins when a German U-Boat surfaces in the waters of Canada. Stopping for supplies, the Submarine is suddenly attacked by the Canadaian military and within minutes is sunk. Only a handful of men escape and they proceed to the interior of the country where they hope to be rescued by German compatriots. all the while they kidnapped, maim and murder anyone who confronts their Nazi Philosophy. Throughout the rest of the movie the Germans which include their leader try to blend in wherever they travel weather it be through religious settlements or high mountain campsites. For American audiences, it's disturbing to visually search for the international actors like Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard and Raymond Massey scattered throughout the film. Still, it's worth it as they do so well at keeping our interest glued to the screen. It's also noteworthy to learn the film and it's author as well as the director secured a multitude of awards. Therefore, the movie is easily recommended to any and all seeking entertainment. ****