Forty-Ninth Parallel
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| Forty-Ninth Parallel | |
|---|---|
 Original French film poster |
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| Directed by | Michael Powell |
| Produced by | Michael Powell John Sutro (uncredited) |
| Written by | Emeric Pressburger (screenplay) Rodney Ackland (scenario) |
| Starring | Eric Portman Laurence Olivier Leslie Howard Anton Walbrook Raymond Massey Glynis Johns |
| Music by | Ralph Vaughan Williams |
| Cinematography | Freddie Young |
| Editing by | David Lean |
| Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 1941 UK |
| Running time | 123 min. (US:104 min.) (TV version:122 min.) |
| Country | UK |
| Language | English French German |
| Budget | £132,000 (estimated) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Forty-Ninth 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.
- "Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I'd show him a thing or two." - Emeric Pressburger, screenwriter
- "I hoped it might scare the pants off the Americans [and thus bring them into the war]" - Powell
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[edit] Plot
Early in WWII, 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 English academic (Leslie Howard). 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.
[edit] Comments
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 WWII 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.
[edit] Production
The British Ministry of Information approached Michael Powell to make a propaganda film for them, suggesting he could make "a film about mine-sweeping". Instead, Powell wanted to make a film set in Canada, based on the idea that Canadian influence could bring a neutral U.S.A. into the war. After persuading the British and Canadian governments, Powell started location filming in 1940.
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, is heard on the film reading the prologue.
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at the Internet Movie Database
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at All Movie Guide
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at Rotten Tomatoes
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at Yahoo! Movies
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at the BFI. The film is in 63rd place in the BFI's Ultimate Film Chart
- Forty-Ninth Parallel at the BFI's Screenonline. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).
- Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Pages
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Powell and Pressburger The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger |
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| 1930s | The Spy in Black | The Lion Has Wings |
| 1940s | Contraband | An Airman's Letter to His Mother | Forty-Ninth Parallel | One of Our Aircraft is Missing | The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp | The Volunteer | A Canterbury Tale | I Know Where I'm Going! | A Matter of Life and Death | Black Narcissus | The Red Shoes | The Small Back Room |
| 1950s | The Elusive Pimpernel | Gone to Earth | The Tales of Hoffmann | Oh... Rosalinda!! | The Battle of the River Plate | Ill Met by Moonlight |
| 1960s | Peeping Tom (not Pressburger) | They're a Weird Mob | Age of Consent |
| 1970s | The Boy Who Turned Yellow |
