49th Parallel

SYNOPSIS: A shipwrecked U-boat crew hikes across Canada during 1941 in an attempt to make it back to the Fatherland.CONCEPT IN RELATION TO THE VIEWER Differences in ideology and lifestyle are contrasted by a band of Nazis and the down-home... Full review

Altogether different from what I expected. From the billing and the talent involved, I was expecting a two-pronged attack on the Nazis by those two upstanding Englishman, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard. Well, Olivier and Howard are in the film... Full review

Released a couple of months before the bombing at Pearl Harbor, this is a propaganda film aimed at rallying the world against the Nazi threat. After a disjointed start, it slowly gathers momentum and ultimately proves to be a satisfying... Full review

The Criterion Collection saw fit to release this 1941 British propaganda film in an elaborate two-disc set, but the circumstances behind the production are actually more interesting than the resulting film showcased in a fine print on the 2007 disc.... Full review

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressberger's artistic collaboration at the start of WWII benefits from a powerhouse cast.Clearly propaganda, the cast and crew apparently came from all parts of the world to lend their talents for a "mutual cause." With strains... Full review

I have seen this movie many times and have a copy on VHS. It is a great piece of work, with a terrific cast, starting with Finlay Currie as Albert the Factor. Lawrence Olivier is stunning as Johnny the Trapper... Full review

This film, being labeled as propaganda, seems to be different from the usual fare Hollywood presented for the same purpose during the years of WWII. It takes a director like Michael Powell, working with his usual collaborator, Emeric Pressburger, to turn... Full review

Canadians find this WWI Brit propaganda film a real knee-slapper. It encompasses every cartoon of Canada found in both the British and American stereotype canon. That canon holds that Canada is about the size of Maryland (or Lancashire) and populated... Full review

I should only like to add to the already comprehensive, very well observed and intelligent review of this film on the previous pages, namely, that the film score by the great Ralph Vaughan Williams should not be left out of... Full review

Although 49th Parallel was conceived as a wartime propaganda film, and is predictably heavy-handed in places, it is more often surprisingly subtle and ambivalent. Michael Powell's creativity, individuality and directorial skill lift the film above the standard flag-waving banality which... Full review

Sometimes awkward and sometimes quite beautiful, 49th Parallel succeeded magnificently in its main objective, to reach the hearts and minds of Americans and Canadians with its anti-Nazi sentiments. th Parallel is remarkable from many angles, even though it is less of an artistic achievement than most of their other films. ... Full Review

It's not that the movie isn't well done. Their natural way with the fabric of film was already in evidence, and it's what keeps 49th Parallel crackling even after its necessity has long passed. ... Full Review

He excelled in both, but "49th Parallel" is his finest achievement. In an even bolder stroke, the film does not make fun of its Nazi characters in order to downplay their threat but depicts them as efficient and (with a few exceptions) courageous. ... Full Review

He excelled in both, but "49th Parallel" is his finest achievement.....In an even bolder stroke, the film does not make fun of its Nazi characters in order to downplay their threat....his performance as Lieutenant Hirth is nearly flawless.....Innumerable Western films of the 1940s depicted the growing Nazi menace....Though the film opens with some beautiful mountain shots.... ... Full Review

it makes for an extremely effective film.....for being bad shots.....It would have been galling to remind the sleeping giant....the film and its promotional materials trumpet the presence of Sir Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard above Portman.....My favorite, if somewhat improbable, scene comes after the remaining Nazis have tied up Philip Armstrong Scott (Howard), burned his manuscripts and paintings.... ... Full Review

This was the time that the first successful theatre opened, showing nothing but films. It was called 'The Nickelodeon'. It opened in Pittsburgh and by that time they had enough films to fill a half an hour gap which were... ... Full Article

efore Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Col. Blimp and A Canterbury Tale , there was 49th Parallel . This tale of rogue Nazis roaming the Canadian pastoral countryside after their submarine is bombed to smithereens... ... Full Article

The window overlooking Sydney Harbour is open, as fresh air in a hotel room is one of her few requirements, and the sun is casting the kind of glow that can dazzle the newly arrived. ... Full Article

A film review by Jay Antani - Copyright 2006 Filmcritic.com A contingent of Nazi naval officers are stranded on the Canadian mainland after their U-boat, on the prowl in Hudson Bay, is destroyed. ... Full Article

Parallel is a British wartime entreaty for Empire solidarity, concentrating on rousing the patriotic fervor of the citizens of Canada. A group of Nazi naval officers and crewmen are stranded on Canadian soil (we have no sympathy for the castaways,... ... Full Article