49th Parallel (1941)

Director:

Michael Powell

Writers:

Emeric Pressburger (original story and screenplay)
Rodney Ackland (scenario) ...
(more)

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:

Nazi | U Boat | Canada | Seaplane | Escape

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
Tawera Moana	...	George - the Indian
Eric Clavering	...	Art
Charles Rolfe	...	Bob
Raymond Massey	...	Andy Brock
Theodore Salt	...	A United States Customs Officer
O.W. Fonger	...	A United States Customs Officer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Beatty	...	RCMP Mountie in Alberta (voice) (uncredited)
Elisabeth Bergner	...	Anna (uncredited)
Eric Berry	...	Nazi Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Gron Davies	...	Officer on Submarine (uncredited)
Leslie Falardeau	...	Aviator on Seaplane (uncredited)
Lionel Grose	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Jack Hynes	...	Aviator on Seaplane (uncredited)
Stuart Latham	...	Second Nazi Radio Announcer (uncredited)
Norman Luxton	...	Man in fringed jacket on balcony at Banff Indian Day (uncredited)
Vincent Massey	...	Prologue Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Percy Parsons	...	Hi-Jacked Canadian Motorist (uncredited)
Gerry Wilmot	...	Canadian Radio Announcer (uncredited)

Directed by
Michael Powell

Writing credits
Emeric Pressburger		(original story and screenplay)
Rodney Ackland		(scenario) and
Emeric Pressburger		(scenario)

Produced by
Michael Powell	....	producer
George H. Brown	....	associate producer (uncredited)
Roland Gillett	....	associate producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Cinematography by
Freddie Young		(director of photography) (as Frederick Young)

Film Editing by
David Lean

Art Direction by
David Rawnsley

Makeup Department
George Blackler	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Harold Boxall	....	executive in charge of production
George H. Brown	....	associate in charge of production (as George Brown)
Roland Gillett	....	associate in charge of production
John Sutro	....	production manager (uncredited)

Art Department
Frederick Pusey	....	associate art director
Sydney Streeter	....	associate art director (as Sydney S. Streeter)
Peter Cushing	....	props (uncredited)

Sound Department
Walter Darling	....	sound recordist
C.C. Stevens	....	sound recordist
A.W. Watkins	....	sound supervisor
Dex Harrison	....	sound engineer (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Henty Henty-Creer	....	camera operator
Skeets Kelly	....	camera operator
Jim Body	....	clapper boy (uncredited)
Fred Daniels	....	still photographer: portraits (uncredited)
Leslie Falardeau	....	camera grip (uncredited)
Jack Hynes	....	still photographer (uncredited)
David Mason	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Oscar Paulin	....	camera grip (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Hugh Stewart	....	associate editor

Music Department
Muir Mathieson	....	musical director
Phyllis Sellick	....	musician: piano, Philip Armstrong Scott segment, on radio (uncredited)

Other crew
Osmond Borradaile	....	special backgrounds
Nugent M. Clougher	....	advisor: Canada
Abraham Bloomfield	....	interpreter: Eskimo (uncredited)
Betty Curtis	....	continuity (uncredited)
Betty Curtis	....	production secretary (uncredited)
Captain Halfyard	....	master of "The Continent" (uncredited)
Bill Paton	....	assistant: Mr Powell (uncredited)
Bill Paton	....	double: Leslie Howard, Lake O'Hara (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Ortus Films (as An Ortus Films Production)

Distributors

• General Film Distributors (GFD) (1941) (UK) (theatrical) (as General Film Distributors Ltd.)
• Carlton Visual Entertainment (2002) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia Pictures (1942) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Pictures (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Criterion Collection, The (1990) (USA) (video) (laserdisc)
• Criterion Collection, The (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Divisa Home Video (2011) (Spain) (DVD)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (????) (USA) (TV)
• VidAmerica (1984) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Associated Sound News Studios, Montréal  made at the
• D&P Studios  and at (as D&P Studios, Denham, England)

Also Known As:

"The 49th Parallel" - International (English title) (informal title)
"The Forty-Ninth Parallel" - International (English title) (informal title)
"The Invaders" - USA (informal title)

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 (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

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:

Esmond Knight was first choice to play Lieutenant Hirth, but he had enlisted in the Royal Navy at the outbreak of war.

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 The Ultimate Film (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Alouette

"The only undefended frontier in the world"

You'd be tempted to think that there's no way '49th Parallel (1941)' could have turned out anything less than excellent. Not only do Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger perform their famous double-act, but there's also the equally-enviable partnership of David Lean (here working as editor) and cinematographer Freddie Young. But we must remember that in the realm of WWII propaganda there lie dangerous waters, and only the most talented filmmakers (so far, I count Hitchcock, Wilder, Renoir, Curtiz and Reed) can navigate their war-themed picture towards any degree of lasting respectability. We can certainly add Michael Powell to that list of famous names. '49th Parallel' is different from most of its contemporaries because it presents the film solely from the German point-of-view. The portrayal is not favourable, of course, and at least their commander reeks of pure evil, but the German characters are nonetheless humanised to no small extent. These aren't cold, immoral monsters, but ordinary people, swept up in euphoric Nazi ideology and pining for the simpler life they can barely remember.

When a German submarine is destroyed in Hudson Bay, Canada, the surviving Nazi soldiers – led by the fiercely patriotic Kommandant Bernsdorff (Richard George) – must navigate their way across the country into the then-neutral United States of America. The native citizens they meet along the way are largely jovial and laid-back, many hardly aware of the war raging across the Atlantic, and the Germans haughtily deem them foes unworthy of the Fuhrer's might. But these Canadians, as placid as they first seem, can surely recognise fascism when they see it, and each of the soldiers is picked off one by one, like the characters from a war-themed version of Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None." Among the unwitting local patriots is French-Canadian trapper Laurence Olivier – a caricature but an entertaining one – anthropologist/author Leslie Howard, and grinning deserter Raymond Massey, each of whom shows the Nazis that they're dealing with an enemy whose sheer spirit overshadows all of Hitler's armies combined.

The film was apparently intended as a tribute to Canada's involvement in the war, and perhaps – as was Hitchcock's 'Foreign Correspondent (1940)' – a call-to-arms for the then-isolationist United States, who would hold back until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Many of the film's characters remark upon the sheer remoteness of the war relative to their own lives, unaware that it is actually standing before them; this idea was almost certainly aimed at American audiences. After the brilliantly suspenseful first act at Hudson Bay, I initially felt that the film was going off track by continuing to follow the Germans after their aerial departure from the remote village. However, as time wore on, I began to appreciate what the film was aiming for. Though the snow-swept slopes around Hudson Bay may seem leagues away from the Canadian/American border, Kommandant Bernsdorff and his ever-dwindling band gradually progress their way south, until, not only does he reach the border, but he physically crosses into the United States. The War had never been closer.