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49th Parallel
“Yes, I am a Nazi. Heil Hitler!”
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1941 UK Dir Michael Powell Cast Laurence Olivier, Anton Walbrook, Glynis Johns, Leslie Howard
A war propaganda film like no other, neither as ponderous nor as cornball as the typical anti-isolationist rally, and certainly less self-important. With subversive flair, the film is shown from the point of view of a German U-boat crew stranded in Canada and trying to make it to the still-neutral US. The film doesn’t exactly ask us to sympathize with them, but the viewer is so accustomed to doing so that for the most part they are received as usual characters going through a usual struggle, jarring the viewer when they launch into a rousing Heil Hitler! speech or hold a lovable French-Canadian fur trapper played by Laurence Olivier hostage. And that’s right, Olivier puts on a French accent and a plaid shirt, just one of many off-the-wall characters the Germans meet on their trek through Canada. For in this respect too, the heroes and the average joes aren’t treated as they are in the average genre flick. Instead of high-minded speeches about honor and country from men of valor, one is treated to a pageant of world talent, from Olivier to Leslie Howard, in self-effacing, nigh-lunatic roles. Oh, they make their anti-fascist pronouncements, but in the most bizarre circumstances. Truly diverting, and there aren’t many war films I can say that about.
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[...] 1934 US Dir Frank Borzage Cast Margaret Sullavan, Douglass Montgomery, Alan Hale, Catherine Doucet IMDb Lovely film, wrongly forgotten! A young couple in 1920s Germany struggle through hard economic times with a baby on the way, and suffer terrible disappointments every time it seems their luck has turned for the better. But this is hardly a typical melodrama or steely message movie: all the misfortunes have a note of whimsy to them (not entirely unlike 49th Parallel) and the lovers mostly manage to keep smiling through it all. And that is not to say this is a happy Hollywood fairytale; it is a responsible and realist film, but wonderfully light on its feet and far from a bummer. Evidently this is one of the first Hollywood films to explicitly challenge fascism, putting common-man notions of peace and fairness in the words of Hans, and establishing a touching search for a place to live simply and freely as the motivation of the beleaguered newlyweds. And this looks to have been released just before the Hays Code clamped down, so it may be your last chance to see a couple snuggling close in a bed, to hear the words “orgies” and “sex appeal” used freely, and to find prostitution dealt with explicitly (and again, whimsically). Margaret Sullavan is perfect in this sort of plucky, romantic role; Douglass Montgomery is a bit bloodless, but does fine. It is a mature, tender, brilliant film. [...]
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