Powell-Pressburger

(Criterion Streaming, January 2021) I usually scrutinize foreign films about Canada with a sharp eye, but 49^th Parallel is a very satisfying mixture of semi-clichés, adventure, anti-Nazi propaganda and decent location shooting. Coming from the British film industry in the middle of WW2, it’s obviously conceived by filmmaking duo Powell/Pressburger as a kick in the pants for the then-neutral United States, and the best way to do this is by having Nazi saboteurs land in Canada and try to make their way to the States. As an adventure tale, it does have a nice forward rhythm, going from one episode to another as the Nazi infiltrators make their way across the country in a truly roundabout way and encounter various kinds of Canadians, with their numbers dwindling along the way. It starts off strongly with none other than a young Laurence Olivier playing a French-Canadian trapper (with decently accented French!) telling Nazis to shove off when they try to drive a wedge between French and Anglo-Canadians. Next up is a colony of Hutterite German immigrants, once again telling the Nazis to go away when they start playing on their common ancestry. After a detour through Winnipeg and the Rockies (where a British writer makes a strong stand for “soft” democracies), the action inexplicably gets back to Ontario in time for one last episode, where a less-than-perfect soldier (played by Raymond Massey, brother of future governor general Vincent Massey, who narrates the opening segment!) gets the finishing move near Niagara Falls. 49^th Parallel would probably be fifteen minutes shorter without the speeches and propagandist material, but at a time of resurgent neo-Nazism, it’s still satisfying to see a portrayal of Canadians fighting back against the Third Reich. Aside from the ludicrous cross-country-and-back nature of the episodes, there’s plenty to like about the way Canada is showcased here. Some location shooting gorgeously feature its forests, prairies and mountains, while the characters have nicely done speeches making the country sound like amazing antagonists for the Nazis. Even the First Nations have some authentic representation, which is quite a lot more than we can say about many subsequent films. All told, 49^th Parallel is quite a lot of fun to watch, and it’s an intriguing glimpse at the way Britain thought of Canada at the time.