49th Parallel (1941)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

Emeric Pressburger (story)
Rodney Ackland (scenario) ...

Release Date:

15 April 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War | Thriller

Plot:

A WW2 U-boat crew is stranded in northern Canada. To avoid internment, they must make their way to the border and get into the still-neutral USA.

Plot Keywords:

U Boat | Nazi | Fight | Hutterite | Winnipeg

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Richard George	...	Kommandant Bernsdorff
Eric Portman	...	Lieutenant Hirth
Raymond Lovell	...	Lieutenant Kuhnecke
Niall MacGinnis	...	Vogel
Peter Moore	...	Kranz
John Chandos	...	Lohrmann
Basil Appleby	...	Jahner
Laurence Olivier	...	Johnnie - the Trapper
Finlay Currie	...	The Factor
Ley On	...	Nick - the Eskimo
Anton Walbrook	...	Peter
Glynis Johns	...	Anna
Charles Victor	...	Andreas
Frederick Piper	...	David
Leslie Howard	...	Philip Armstrong Scott

Also Known As:

Forty-Ninth Parallel (UK) (alternative spelling)
The Invaders (USA)

Runtime:

123 min | USA:104 min | USA:122 min (TV version: M-G-M print)

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:U | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) | Norway:12 (re-rating) (1962) | Norway:16 (1946) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Associated Sound News Studios, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Company:

Ortus Films

Trivia:

All of the opening travelogue was shot by Freddie Young with a handheld camera out the windows of trains, cars and planes.

Goofs:

Factual errors: On the map of North America shown after the opening credits, the eastern boundary of North Dakota is inaccurately drawn, bulging out well into Minnesota, where in fact the border between the states is an almost straight, though slightly slanted, line.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Prologue: I see a long, straight line athwart a continent. No chain of forts, or deep flowing river, or mountain range, but a line drawn by men upon a map, nearly a century ago, accepted with a handshake, and kept ever since. A boundary which divides two nations, yet marks their friendly meeting ground. The 49th parallel: the only undefended frontier in the world.

Movie Connections:

Featured in War Stories (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Alouette

Sauerkraut in Canada

One of the more interesting World War II propaganda films, due to outstanding writing (by Emeric Pressburger), direction (by Michael Powell), and performances. The opening credits and sequences may be confusing. The story involves six Nazis making their way from Hudson Bay (in northeastern Canada) to cross the "49th Parallel" (the United States/Canadian border), after their U-boat (submarine warship) is damaged. At the time the film was made, the U.S. would have been a "safe" (neutral) country. Also, the film does not "star" Leslie Howard and Lawrence Olivier - rather, the lead actor is Eric Portman (as Hirth).

Mr. Portman and crew do very well in their roles. The most interesting aspect of the film is that the Germans are written to include a "good" Nazi, who wavers in his support for the Fuehrer. The most satisfying of the film's loosely threaded stories involves the "good" Nazi bonding with a Canadian immigrant settlement, led by Anton Walbrook (as Peter). This, and the segment with Raymond Massey (as Andy Brock), is where you'll find the filmmakers delivering their most palpable (and eloquent) sermonettes. The film is too episodic for its own good - one story, with more focus on Portman's crew, would have sufficed.

****** 49th Parallel (10/8/41) Michael Powell ~ Eric Portman, Leslie Howard, Laurence Olivier