Review of 49th Parallel (1941) by Meghan D — 12 Feb 2008

Shameless but brilliant propaganda film from the masters of the type, Powell and Pressburger. Beware: contains ridiculous levels of acting talent (and supposedly racial stereotypes)!

Things I loved: Anton Walbrook is awesome as the passionate but generous leader of a Hutterite community. Laurence Olivier as a hilariously overdone, but lovable, French-Canadian trapper. Beautiful footage of Canadian wilderness. Nazis getting served. And the terrific Vogel character, who is one of my all-time favorite conflicted protagonists.

Things that I liked: Every other actor, from Portman as the cruel and misguided German leader to Raymond Massey and Leslie Howard. Even the child actress (whose name I am too lazy to look up) is wonderful. The score is incredible. The propaganda is biased but not caricatured, and shows a side of the Nazis that most films were probably too scared or too foolish to comprehend.

Things I disliked: Not much, really. I guess it's a little bit too heavyhanded at times, and it really does paint all the stereotypes of Canadians, but it serves a purpose, showing how the strong blend of Canadian peoples needs to come together and help overtake the heartless Nazi menace.

Best scene of the movie: A tie, between the incredible dialectic speech sequence at the Hutterite camp and the terrific interactions between Olivier and Portman. Both are true classics.

Basically, I loved this movie, probably even more than I should have. And I don't give a fuck.