Everything about 49th Parallel totally explained
49th Parallel (
1941) is the third film made by the
British writer-director team of
Powell and Pressburger. It was released in the USA as
The Invaders. Despite the title, no scene in the movie is set at the 49
th parallel, which forms much of the U.S.-Canadian border. The only border scene is at
Niagara Falls, which is located further south.
The British Ministry of Information approached
Michael Powell to make a propaganda film for them, suggesting he make "a film about mine-sweeping." Instead, Powell decided to make a different film to sway a still-neutral United States. Said Powell, "I hoped it might scare the pants off the Americans [andthus bring them into the war]." Screenwriter
Emeric Pressburger remarked, "
Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I'd show him a thing or two." After persuading the British and Canadian governments, Powell started location filming in 1940.
Plot
Early in the
Second World War,
Nazi survivors of a
German U-boat sunk in
Hudson Bay attempt to evade capture by travelling across Canada to the still-neutral
United States — the title comes from the
49th parallel north which marks part of the border between the two countries. Led by Lieutenants Hirth (
Eric Portman) and Kuhnecke (
Raymond Lovell), the small band of sailors encounter a wide range of people, including a French-Canadian trapper (
Laurence Olivier), pacifistic German
Hutterite farmers (led by
Anton Walbrook) and an eccentric English academic (
Leslie Howard) — who despite being wounded helps capture a Nazi. Finally, it all comes down to a confrontation between the sole remaining fugitive at large, Hirth, and
AWOL Canadian soldier Andy Brock (
Raymond Massey) on a freight train. In the end, Hirth is sent back to Canada by U.S. customs officials when Brock points out that he isn't listed on the manifest. The film ends with Brock about to pummel Hirth in the boxcar.
Cast
As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):
The original choice to play Hirth was Archers stalwart
Esmond Knight, but he'd decided to join the
Royal Navy at the outbreak of war.Anton Walbrook donated half his fee to the
International Red Cross.This is the only time that Canadian-born Massey played a Canadian on screen. Massey, Olivier and Howard all agreed to work at half their normal fee as it was such an important propaganda film.
A full cast and production crew list is too lengthy to include, see: IMDb profile.
Production
Although only a concept during preproduction, a screenplay began to be formulated based on Pressburger's idea to replicate "
The Ten Little Indians" scenario of people being removed from a group, one by one. While Powell and Pressburger developed the screenplay, additional photography was assembled of the scope and breadth of Canada. All the opening "travelogue" footage was shot by
Freddie Young with a hand-held camera out the windows of various aircraft, trains and automobiles on an initial trip across Canada.
The U-boat was built by Harry Roper of
Halifax,
Nova Scotia and towed to
Corner Brook,
Newfoundland, where it was "shot down" by the
Royal Canadian Air Force in the
Strait of Belle Isle at the beginning of the film. Powell forgot that Newfoundland was at the time a
Crown Colony, not a part of Canada. As a result, when they moved the full-sized submarine model there, it was impounded by
Customs & Excise, which demanded that import duty be paid. Powell had to appeal to the Governor of Newfoundland, citing the film's contribution to the war effort.
The "U-37" carried two 1,000 lb bombs supplied by the Canadian Air Force. Powell didn't tell the actors that they were aboard, as he thought that they might become nervous. The actors were replaced by dummies before the bombs were detonated.
Michael Powell's voice can be heard faintly in some of the submarine scenes. Once, when the camera boat almost collides with the submarine, Powell says "Keep rolling." The initial long shots of Anna are of Bergner. When a Hutterite woman saw Bergner painting her nails and smoking, she became so incensed, she rushed up, knocked the cigarette from the actress's mouth and slapped her in the face. Powell had to make peace with the community and with the outraged star. For the scene where the Hutterites listen to Eric Portman's impassioned pro-Nazi speech, the actors were all "hand picked faces". Over half were refugees from Hitler.
Notable crew members include
Ralph Vaughan Williams, contributing his first film score, and
David Lean as editor. Raymond Massey's brother
Vincent Massey, then Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, (future Governor General of Canada) read the prologue.
Reception
By modern standards, the depiction of Canadians is
stereotypical: brave
Mounties; decorated
Indians; overwrought
French-Canadians, including Olivier's often-criticized accent. However, Pressburger deliberately used the diversity of Canada to contrast with the fanatical world view of the Nazis. This world view was also played up to frighten American audiences in an attempt to bring America into the war. However, its inclusion of Nazis as leading characters at all, and its criticism of them in spiritual terms rather than straightforward demonisation, are highly unusual for a British Second World War propaganda film. Powell and Pressburger would return to similar themes in the more controversial
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and
A Canterbury Tale.
Awards
The film won Pressburger an
Academy Award for
Best Story and was nominated for
Best Picture and
Best Screenplay (including
Rodney Ackland for additional dialogue).
The
British Film Institute ranked the film the 63rd most popular film with British audiences, based on cinema attendance of 9.3 million in the UK.
Further Information
Get more info on '49th Parallel'.
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