Good to Have Canada in Your Corner- - "49th Parallel" (1941) , Director Michael Powell, Writer Emeric Pressburger

"I see a long, straight line athwart a continent. No chain of forts, or deep flowing river, or mountain range, but a line drawn by men upon a map, nearly a century ago, accepted with a handshake, and kept ever since. A boundary which divides two nations, yet marks their friendly meeting ground. The 49th parallel: the only undefended frontier in the world."--narration from the prolouge to this film.



This movie was the first film I ever saw that came from the talented team of director Michael Powell and writer-producer Emeric Pressburger,who later went on to make even better films such as "Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" (1943), the ultimate love triangle movie, "The Red Shoes" (1948), the creepy cult film "Peeping Tom" (1960) and "A Matter of Life and Death" with David Niven and Kim Hunter.
This British film was made during the early part of the Second World War, as a tribute to Canada's contribution to fighting back the Nazi threat. When this film was made the issue was still in doubt and the USA was still a neutral country--American Isolationism (those in both political parties who believed that Britain was soon to have to surrender or agree to Hitler's draconian terms ) was still a strong political movement, especially when it came to committing troops. Some material aid to the British was forthcoming through the Lend-Lease Act of early 1941.

This situation of American neutrality provides a key element in the plot of the film: an invading Nazi submarine is attacked its crew forced to scuttle the U-Boat inside Canadian waters. Six surviving German sailors try to steal their way down thru Canada to the American border, where they could presumably escape back to Germany or be interned or hang out in Brooklyn and drink lots of beer. Well, something like that. Along the way, they encounter a variety of Canadian citizens and find that the people might be very different, French or English or German by last name, but they are in the end patriotic to their homeland and freedom for all.

But to the scene itself: here the German U-boat crew come to a settlement of German-Canadians, disguised as lumberjacks at first. But they also assume Nordic blood is thicker than the nationality of their kindred. It's just a matter of appealing to their latent German pride and the people of this isolated religious settlement at a meeting. A little bit of the old New Order and these "Aryans" will come to their aid. The man giving the speech is Richard George, as Kommandant Bernsdorff, the man giving the reply for the village is a man named Peter (Anton Walbrook). Both Walbrook and Pressburger were refugees from Hitler's Germany.

What I like about this scene is how it captures an attitude that emigrants and native-born people have toward their country and lays out the reasons for leaving the politcial traumas and endless disputes of Europe to Europeans--unless, of course, one side is too too far in the wrong.

This theme is seen also in some American movies of the time and especially so in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor.
In a bit of irony, the film was not released in America until the Spring of 1942, when Germany and America were at war. It was retitled "The Invaders" for the American market as the distributors weren't sure audiences would even know what "The 49th paralell" even was.

Old film fans might spot Glynnis Johns in a small part as a young woman in this scene. For more on this interesting wartime drama, here is some more scholarly information and contemporary reviews taken from a site dedicated to The Powell/Pressburger Team:

http://www.powell-pressburger.org/