Men of the North

Two sacks of gold are missing from a shipment. There has been a series of robberies. Sergeant Mooney (Robert Elliott) suspects slick trader Louis LeBey (Gilbert Roland) who takes a liking to new arrival Nedra Ruskin (Barbara Leonard). Woolie-Woolie (Nina Quartero) gets jealous.

I'm not saying that Gilbert Roland's accent is any good. The sound quality masks some of his difficulties. It's not that thick and I can understand him. He throws in some French words every other line. It's obviously not his native tongue. At least, he has the charisma. I have more problems with Robert Elliott's loose performance. He needs to portray power and authority. He does not. The even bigger problem is Nina Quartero. I think the character is supposed to be a Native Canadian. I couldn't tell from her talking and forget about the wrong ethnic casting. Maybe she's trying for gypsy. Hal Roach is directing but he's not the producer. It's a bit of a mess.

A young Gilbert Roland plays a Metis fur trapper up in the Klondike where he feels a man cheated him out of gold they mined together. The law doesn't see it that way so Roland takes flight.

More soap opera in this story of the frozen north. Roland is caught between two women, pretty Barbara Leonard visiting from Toronto with her father and fellow Metis Nina Quartero. If he kept his mind on business he might have gotten away. Of course we would have no film then.

Hal Roach directed this for MGM. He should have stuck with Stan and Ollie.

It's hard to remember that this was one of the First talkies because the camera work is spectacular! The snow slide was glorious! The love affair is sweet. Jealous girlfriend realistic. Accents aside, this is a fine entertainment flick even by today's standards. I've seen expensive productions that put me to sleep!! Not to forget that Roland is just so handsome! Enjoy

Had Nina Quartero been a very famous actress, folks would have laughed a lot more because of her ridiculous accent. While the film is set in French Canada, she sounds way too Mexican (which is odd, as she was actually born in New York City) to fit in with the rest of the cast...well, except for Gilbert Roland. While Roland was a pretty good actor, the Mexican-born guy also sounded pretty silly as he was cast as a French-speaking guy...with a STRONG Mexican accent! Why the film was cast this way, I have no idea--especially since he sounded MUCH more like the Cisco Kid than a French-Canadian! It certainly would have played better with actors who could have at least approximated the correct accent. Or, in a truly crazy move, perhaps MGM could have actually cast some French-Canadians!! Louis LeBay (Roland) is a dashing guy and Woolie-Woolie (Quartero) is in love with him. However, when a pretty blonde comes there way (Barbara Leonard), Louis is smitten with Nedra--and Woolie-Woolie is furious. So, she turns Louis into a Mountie sergeant (Robert Elliot)--telling him that Louis is responsible for some stolen gold. What's next? See the film.

Despite coming from a prestige studio, at heart "Men of the North" is at best a cheap B-movie. The writing (especially the dialog*) is very poor and the film is an inconsequential time-passer at best. In fact, I think most folks would probably either skip this one entirely or watch it just for a laugh.

*Pay close attention when Woolie-Woolie and Louis are having the 'good egg/bad egg' conversation. It is hilariously bad.

I'm not going to write much because I'm keeping an eye on the TV while I work.

I'm pretty sure that the snow is fake as are the set backdrops.

The dogs are real...they bark.

Interesting quote: "Do you know what time you went to the post and bought that cheese and stuff?" Reminds me of a gangster movie a la Canada. Then Gilbert Roland bursts out into a 'south of the border'-like tune.