Canadian Pacific

The building of the Canadian Pacific railway was as much a milestone in the history of Canada as the transcontinental railroad in the United States of America. But the circumstances were so incredibly different the Canadians must have had a laugh and a half at this Hollywood story of one of the great events from their history.

The great challenge of the railroad was getting it through just that last stretch of mountains in British Columbia. The track went through a mountain trail known as Kicking Horse Pass and it was quite the engineering feat. That was the main story with the building of the Canadian Pacific.

But we have here is the plot of Union Pacific essentially brought under the Maple Leaf with villain Victor Jory stirring up the Indians to prevent the Canadian Pacific from getting through. Of course since he's up against chief engineer Randolph Scott, you know how this is going to come out.

Randy as was the case in a lot of his westerns has two girls to choose from, railroad brat Nancy Olson and Quaker doctor Jane Wyatt. I really think Wyatt was a bit ridiculous pushing her pacifist beliefs in the middle of the Indian attack at the climax.

On the plus side that Indian attack is one of the best I've ever seen in a western and you will be on the edge of your seat during the final shootout between Randolph Scott and Victor Jory. Also look for a good performance from the always dependable J. Carrol Naish as the locomotive engineer and Scott's sidekick. Also Dick Wessel as a murderous bartender is also quite good.

Too bad that this particular episode in Canadian history got Americanized though.

Canadian Pacific had some major pluses with Randolph Scott at his best, great directing by Edwin L. Marin, a wonderful music score by Dimitri Tiomkin and beautifully filmed on location in the Canadian Rockies. J. Carrol Naish (Dynamite Dawson) was terrific as the storytelling sidekick. Jane Wyatt (Dr. Edith Cabot) in one of her best roles as the woman who tried to change the hardened Scott. Victor Jory, who never disappoints was solid as the villain trying to stop the railroad with his top henchman Cagle (Don Haggerty). However, I think the top performance was Nancy Olson (Cecille Gautier). Olson played the woman caught between many forces. She was in the middle of a war between her people and the railroad men, Scott and his relationship with Wyatt and the love interest of Jory. Other great parts were by Robert Barrat (Cornelius Van Horne), John Parrish (Mr. Gautier), Mary Kent (Mrs. Gautier) and John Hamilton (Pere Lacomb). If that wasn't enough there were great cameos by Earle Hodgins, Edmund Cobb, Lassie's George Chandler and rough-and-tumble Dick Wessel.

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.

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!

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.