Canadian Pacific

An acceptable and passable Western with adequate interpretations, spectacular exteriors and solid sets .After finding a vital pass through the Canadian Rockies for the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Tom Andrews (Randolph Scott) tells his boss Cornelius Van Horne (Roger Barrat) that he is resigning to marry the girl he loves, Cecille Gautier (Nancy Olsen who still lives). But thing go wrong when Tom become attracted to the new female doctor, Edith Cabot (Jane Wyatt), who's arrived with the hospital car. The surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railroad must fight Indians, settlers and fur trappers who oppose the building of the railroad by stirring up a rebellion. Men and women untamed as the savage wilderness ...with bare hands they fought off wild Indians, and conquered a continent! . It's Terrific !. A Land to be Conquered...A Love to be Won!. The blazing saga of untamed men and a savage wilderness!

Passable western with good cast in in which starring Randolph Scott fights in hopes a better life and stifle conflicts, while builds the railway, but encounter problems instead. It is a medium budget movie with thrills, noisy action, shootouts, as well as fine players, nice production design and pleasing results. It is still a routine entry in Western genre, set when railway expanded in Canada in which Scott plays a construction boss working on laying the Canadian Pacific Railroad across Western Canada and through the Rocky Mountains to British Columbia to find a pass through the Rockies. A tired old western plot about bad hats out to stop the building of the railroad, is given a lift by the good interpretations in this action adventure. The picture is well starred by Randolph Scott. He was a prolific actor in Western, his career is divided in films directed by Budd Boetticher in Seven men from now, The tall T, Decision at sundown, Buchanan rides alone, Comanche station, Westbound. Henry Hathaway as : Heritage of the desert, Wild horse, Sunset Pass, Man of the Forest. Ray Enright directed him in : The spoilers, Trail street, Alburquerque, Coroner creek, Return of the bad men. Andre De Toth directed him in Men in the saddle, Carson city, The stranger wore a gun, Riding shotgun, The bounty hunter. Finally, his main testament, Ride the high country along with Joel MacCrea directed by Sam Peckinpah. Enjoyable performances especially those of Nancy Olsen, spirited in her screen debut as a French-Canadian tomboy and Jane Wyatt as an intrepid frontier doctor. It's hard to believe that craggy old could be fancied by both of these feisty young females, but Hollywood Westerns do tend to ignore usual conventions. A bit on the long side, but that allows room for snarling Victor Jory to properly etch one of his rasping-voiced nasties, along with brief appearances from other illustrious secondaries such as: Robert Barrat , Walter Sande, Don Haggerty, Dick Wessel, John Hamilton and J. Carrol Naish in the very expendable comic relief.

Nicely filmed in a fading Cinecolor by Fred Jackson, partly on location in the Canadian Rockies, although the colour falls down when it leaves the countriside and there are prints in black and white. Evocative and thrilling musical score by the classic composer Dimitri Tiomkin. Well produced by Nat Holt, the motion picture was professionally directed by Edwin L Marin. He directed in sure visual style and he made all kinds of genres, especially Westerns. As he shot various Westerns as Tall in the saddle with John Wayne and Ella Raines, Canadian Pacific, Fighting man of the Plains, Colt 45, Raton pass, The Younger Brothers . Randolph Scott starred his last Westerns until his early death at 53, such as: The Cariboo trail, Sugarfoot, and Fort Worth. Rating: 5.5/10. Decent Western for Randolph Scott enthusiasts.

Randolph Scott drives the railroad through the Rocky mountains, fighting off Indians and trappers every inch of the way, as well as juggling two women - wildcat Nancy Olsen and pacifist doctor Jane Wyatt. Victor Jory is his usual villainous self, trying to stop the railroad, and almost kills Scott in an explosive sequence.

Love railroad westerns, and though its tendency for melodrama can over shadow the plot, it's an entertaining saga of building a railroad. Yes, it's not historically accurate, but was never meant to be. It's just good entertainment with great scenery and some good action - the finale is rip roaring. An outdoor adventure they sadly don't make anymore.

As has been pointed out, this is a highly imaginative account of the building of the Canadian Pacific. Perhaps the Scott character is based on Major Albert Bowman Rogers who, Wikipedia tells us, was tasked with finding a route through the Selkirk Mountains. The CPR promised him a cheque for $5,000 and that the pass would be named in his honour. Rogers became obsessed with finding such a pass and discovered it in April 1881.

I saw it some years ago on British TV and have just watched it again courtesy of a slightly fuzzy copy on YouTube. Just about the only scenes I recalled were Scott's miraculous escape from the dynamite explosion (not completely impossible, I understand), the bandage on Scott's head that shifted in the same scene, and Dynamite Dawson's escape from the Indians.

The blood transfusion scene (in a moving train that was remarkably stable) was perhaps a bit ahead of its time. By the late 19th century, blood transfusion was still regarded as a risky and dubious procedure, and was largely shunned by the medical establishment.

Scott, in his early fifties, again has two far young women vying for his affections, but he was still a good-looking guy.

I enjoy these American "building-a-railroad" films, and this was good entertainment.

Generally, one has to read only "starring Randolph Scott" to know one is about to experience cinematic pleasure.

This film is different -- only in that Scott's character, Tom Andrews, has a double romance and is tempted to give up his fists and guns.

His first romance is with an intriguing character, a wild young woman who is so obviously smitten with Tom we are made happier by basking in her love.

Watching Nancy Olson in that role, I marveled at the strength she gave the character, Cecille Gautier. She also gave dimension, and beauty, and made Cecille someone we had to support.

As Tom gets involved with Dr. Edith Cabot, played by Jane Wyatt, who has probably never looked lovelier, we wonder which of the two women will lose.

The romance, though, is a sub-plot, and the major plot is the battle to complete the railroad, a battle against the elements and seasons, and against topography -- that spectacular scenery that even today lures tourists by the millions -- and against humans, some of whom are nefarious, some of whom are merely trying to protect their traditional way of life.

Besides the stars, cameo bits by such outstanding players as Earle Hodgins and Edmund Cobb and the incredibly prolific George Chandler (more than 400 roles!) make "Canadian Pacific" a great movie.

John Hamilton, with more than 300 roles to his credit, was usually seen as a police officer or judge or, most famously, the irascible Perry White in the "Superman" TV series. Here he shows his actor's range playing a peace-seeking priest.

The script, from a story by Jack DeWitt, and written by DeWitt and Kenneth Garnet, really fleshes out the characters, especially in the beginning with some charming dialog.

The music, by Dimitri Tiomkin, is something different from him, especially at the beginning, but is, of course, great. It is, after all, by Tiomkin.

The print I saw, recently televised by Turner Classic Movies, was not in great shape, and the sound had a wobble to it, but the movie was so good, the problems became very minor.

Okay. I read all 18 user reviews on IMDb before watching this film and gathered it didn't have much of a fan club should I say! However I am quite early in my Randolph Scott journey so still decided to give it a try.

The story very briefly is the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway in the late 1800's linking provinces of Canada blocked off geographically by great mountain ranges and being dogged by local opposition in the form of native Indians and some white locals.

The film also provides a very basic grasp, some may say inaccurate grasp of the political divide amongst the Canadian provinces etc. But all that is for other resources.

Randolph Scott plays a surveyor (Tom Andrews) for the railway construction company as being a sort of heavy troubleshooter it appears however his work is being distracted by a love triangle with two female characters, his girlfriend (Nancy Olsen) and a female doctor who at one stage saves his life played by Jane Wyatt. The Dr. Is very anti-violence it appears and her influence has an affect on Andrews work practices. Again all this information is available elsewhere.

Now one element of the film I found fascinating was its restoration work. It was filmed in 1949 using an outdated basic colour system called Cinecolor which provided a challenge to the film's restoration and does still show up as a very reddy colour palette?

A good music score is provided by famed musical composer Dimitri Tiomkin.

Okay the film may have some historical inaccuracies with regard to Canadian history. I mean there are no Chinese workers etc. However it is still an enjoyable film. It's location of Canada is a far cry from the usual southern United States locales of 'Western' genre films. I would call it a semi-Western!