49th Parallel (1941)

Directed by Michael Powell. Starring Eric Portman, John Chandos, Peter Moore, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard, Niall MacGinnis, Anton Walbrook, Finlay Currie, Raymond Lovell, Raymond Massey, Glynis Johns, Basil Appleby.

Good British-Canadian wartime drama, one of Powell & Pressburger’s earliest films, and intended in part to rally American support for the war effort, although it wound up being unnecessary—by the time the pic was imported to the States, Pearl Harbor was a few months in the rearview mirror. Episodic story follows a small party of Nazi survivors as they journey across Canada after their U-boat sinks in the Hudson, and having Germans as the main characters both humanizes (through patriotic pride and crewman MacGinnis’ faltering duty) and demonizes (through their dedication to destructive assimilation and sadistic means to an end) the enemy. The freshness of the approach, several dramatically-compelling and/or suspenseful vignettes, and a handful of good performances (especially Walbrook as a humanist resistor who delivers an impassioned speech against fascism) make it a thoughtful and not-always-predictable brand of propagandist entertainment. Olivier, of all people, is the one to stick out negatively in the cast as a French-Canadian trapper with a hard-to-swallow accent. Oscar winner for Best Story (awarded to Pressburger). Initially released in the States as The Invaders.

77/100