The 49th Parallel (AKA “The Invaders”)
Directed by Michael Powell
Written by Emeric Pressburger and Rodney Ackland
1941/UK
Ortus Films
Repeat viewing/Streaming on Amazon Instant Video
[box] Philip Armstrong Scott: Nazis? That explains your arrogance, stupidity, and bad manners.[/box]
The stars took a cut in pay to appear in this exciting, if a bit heavy handed, anti-isolationist propaganda film
A German u-boat enters the Gulf of St. Lawrence and torpedoes a Canadian merchant vessel. It escapes to the Hudson Bay where it is stalled for lack of sufficient food or fuel. The captain sends a group of six men to a nearby small trading post to plant the Nazi flag and take over it and its supplies. Just as the men are setting out, the Canadian Air Force sinks the sub. The men and their leader, fanatical Nazi Lieutenant Hirth (Eric Portman) set out to complete the mission and try to work their way to the neutral United States. They leave death and destruction everywhere they stop but the “decadent democracy” of Canada proves to be too much for them in the end. With Laurence Olivier has a French-Canadian trapper at the trading post; Anton Walbrook as the leader of a Christian religious commune; Leslie Howard as an effete student of Native Canadian culture in the woods; and Raymond Massey as a friendly Canadian soldier hitching a ride in a freight car headed across the border.
he pedigree of this film includes just about every important British film artist of the next couple of decades: Powell; Pressburger; editor David Lean; cinematographer Freddie Jones; and composer Ralph Vaughn Williams. The vignettes are all outstanding but I especially love the majestic scenic photography of Canada whose entire breadth is spanned by the Germans during the course of the film. Just the opening strains of the music to this gives me goose bumps. The Germans continually mistake the open-hearted good nature of Canadians for weakness and are just as continually proved wrong. This testament to the essential strength of democracy and freedom is more effective than the overtly patriotic speeches. Recommended.
Emeric Pressburger won the Academy Award for Best Original Story. The 49th Parallel was also nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Screenplay.
Clip – Anton Walbrook – “We are not your brothers.”
