Review of 49th Parallel (1941) by Mjs M — 26 Jun 2009

I was under the impression that this movie was some sort of spy thriller, but I was mistaken, it?s actually a pretty obvious WW2 era British propaganda movie intended to be against Nazi?s and American Isolationism (this was pre-Pearl Harbor), and also to be a celebration of the Canadian home front.

The intention was to make the Nazi?s look like a genuine threat to North America. I suppose this might have been disturbing at the time but it seems a little silly now. The plot revolves around a German U-Boat that tries to attack Canada but which is quickly destroyed by aerial bombardment, stranding about ten Nazi soldiers ashore.

The rest of the movie is about this group trying to escape Canada and being thwarted at every turn. To call this structure flawed would be putting it mildly; it basically makes the Nazis the main protagonists while still making them villains unworthy of the slightest empathy.

There is no way to relate to these two dimensional and inhuman character and thus no way to be interested by them throughout their episodic adventures. The depiction of Canada seems remarkably stereotypical, especially Laurence Olivier?s bizarre turn as some sort of ignorant French Canadian lumberjack.

The rest of the movie is prone to a lot of boring sermonizing. It?s mildly interesting as a historical artifact, but I have no idea how it found its way into the Criterion Collection.