49th Parallel

Synopsis

1941. When a German U-boat is sunk in Hudson Bay off the coast of Canada, six members of the crew are stranded on land. Coming upon a remote outpost, the Nazis kill the eskimo chief and take the other two inhabitants, Johnny and Mac, captive. Johnny manages to alert help by radio, but is shot and critically injured. Responding to the alert call, a plane is sent to their aide, but the Nazis overpower the crew, losing one man in the process.

The five remaining Germans escape in the plane, but when they run out of fuel they are forced into a crash landing, killing the pilot. Wandering, the survivors come across a religious settlement, comprised mostly of ex-national Germans, where they claim to be itinerant labourers and are offered hospitality. The Nazi leader, Lt Hirth, believes he can convert these German settlers to Nazism, but his speech draws a bitter response from the community leader, Peter, who has already identified them from reports of their escape from Hudson Bay. Vogel, a reluctant Nazi, is invited to stay, but his intention is discovered by the others, and he is summarily executed for treachery.

Now reduced to three, the Nazis resolve to head for Vancouver, where they plan to meet a Japanese ship. They steal a car, then board a train headed west, but when the train stops for an Indian pageant, one of them is identified and captured, while the other two, Hirth and Lohrmann, are forced to flee on foot. Trekking across the wilderness, they encounter an English explorer, Philip Armstrong Scott, who infuriates them by comparing them to the Blackfoot Indians he is researching. When Scott's crew turn in for the night, Hirth and Lohrmann imprison Scott and make their escape with his guns but, with Scott and his men in pursuit, Lohrmann rebels against his commanding officer, knocking him out and fleeing alone. However he is cornered in a cave and Scott, despite receiving a gunshot wound, succeeds in overpowering him.

Recovering, Hirth continues alone, eventually stowing away on a goods train heading for the US border. There he meets, Brock, a Canadian soldier gone AWOL. Subduing Brock, Hirth anticipates arriving on US soil where he can take advantage of American neutrality and demand deliverance to a German embassy. But when the train is stopped and inspected by US customs officers, Brock convinces the officers to treat the two stowaways as unitemised freight and send them back to Canada. With the train returning to Hirth's inevitable capture in Canada, the triumphant Brock strikes him down.

Review from The Monthly Film Bulletin

31 October 1941, Vol. 8 No. 94

49th Parallel

Certificate : U. Distributors : General Film. Producers : Ortus Films. Director : Michael Powell. Leading Players : Eric Portman, Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey, Laurence Olivier, Anton Walbrook. 1,070 ft. 123 mins.

Drama. After sinking many merchant ships in Canadian waters, Nazi U-boat 37 is trapped and sunk by the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The only survivors are six fanatical Nazis who went ashore to reconnoitre before the attack. These reach an Eskimo village, where are the Scottish Factor and his Eskimo servant and Johnnie Barras, a French-Canadian trapper. They allow the Factor to play his radio chess game with a friend in Winnipeg, but Johnnie shouts into the microphone for help and is accordingly shot. The Germans capture the 'plane sent to investigate and kill the pilots, but the 'plane crashes, one of them is killed and the remaining four arrive at a Hutterite settlement, nearly all of whom are fugitives from Nazi oppression. One of the Nazis is so impressed by their sincerity that he defends them against his commanding officers, who shoot him in the name of the Third Reich. The three survivors make for Vancouver. One is captured by Mounted Police, the other two meet Philip Armstrong Scott, charming, cultured friendly expert on Indian affairs, and a well-known writer. They destroy his pictures, burn his manuscripts, tear up his life's work and leave him tied up. Released by his servants, Scott captures one and gives him the thrashing of his life. The last survivor gets aboard a train bound for the American border, in which he finds a Canadian soldier who finally shows what a decadent British Empire can produce in the way of he-men who can use their fists. Michael Powell is to be congratulated on his persistence with this at first apparently ill-starred film. It is an admirable piece of work from every point of view and credit should be given to everyone connected with the finished product. The story is excellent propaganda and most sincerely and dramatically unfolded, and the camera work is excellent. The acting throughout is admirable; even so there is a temptation to say the honours go to Eric Portman as the leader of the Nazis. His performance right through the film puts him in the star class of film actors.

Suitability : A,B,C,D (for children of 10-16 years.)

U.N.