49th Parallel Page #8

Synopsis: In the early years of World War II, a German U-boat (U-37) sinks Allied shipping in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and then tries to evade Canadian Military Forces seeking to destroy it by sailing up to Hudson Bay. The U-boat's Fanatical Nazi captain sends some members of his crew to look for food and other supplies at a Hudson Bay Company outpost. No sooner than the shore party (lead by Lieutenant Hirth) reaches the shore, the U-boat is spotted and sunk by the Canadian Armed Forces leaving the six members of the shore party stranded in Canada. The Nazi Lieutenant then starts to plan his crews' return to the Fatherland. He needs to reach the neutral United States or be captured. Along the way they meet a variety of characters each with their own views on the war and nationalism. In this film Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger show their ideas of why the United States should join the Allied fight against the Nazis.
Genre: Drama, Thriller, War
Director(s): Michael Powell
  Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.4
Rotten Tomatoes:
90%
NOT RATED
Year:
1941
104 min
390 Views


My specialty is Indians. This has been

a hunting ground of theirs for generations.

Then I ... I suppose

you were at Banff today.

For Indian Day? No, no, no.

That's just for tourists.

Oh, I beg your pardon.

Ship ahoy!

Well, gentlemen.

Welcome to my humble tepee.

Got two this time, George

I'm improving.

And tell Bob two more for dinner. Well.

It must be very pleasant

roughing it up here in the mountains.

Yes, I rather like pigging it occasionally.

I hope you won't mind taking potluck with me.

Here, have a cigarette.

Ah, I see you're looking at my Picasso.

Nice, isn't it?

Here.

How do you feel about Matisse?

I picked these up about a year ago,

and I can't bear to be parted from them.

How do you like it, hmm?

- Excellent.

- [Chuckles]

I don't think you two are

really interested in pictures.

Well, my motto is,

wars may come and wars may go ...

... but art goes on forever.

Ah, you like reading, don't you?

Have you seen Hemingway's latest?

Here. I'm going to show you one of my pets.

There. Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain

This is the German edition.

[Chuckling]

This is wonderful stuff.

[Reading In German]

By the way, do you speak German?

Have you read this book?

Thomas Mann is very good, I believe.

I'm so sorry. Of course,

you'll want a bath after your long climb.

I'm afraid I can only offer you a shower.

Come on. I'll show you the way.

- Thank you very much, Mr ...

- Scott.

Philip Armstrong Scott. Come on.

Philip Armstrong Scott.

Ah, hot water.

I feel completely confident tonight.

If we'd twice as far to go,

I wouldn't worry now.

What could these

weaklings ever do to us?

The man's country's at war

and look at him.

I tell you, Lohrmann, they're rotten to the core.

There's no fight in them.

They're soft and degenerate all through.

No, I'll have cold.

[Gasps]

[Scott] George, the fire's smoking.

South-southeast by south

Ah, that's the ticket

Yes, I've discovered some rather

amusing things during my researches.

Blackfoot tribal customs,

for instance, closely resemble those ...

... of a certain modern European tribe.

I'm going to read you something about that.

Where are we?

"From the earliest age, their small boys

were trained in the arts of war ...

"... which they considered to be

the only pursuit worthy of a man.

"But they preferred to attack

by night, rather than by day ...

"... and wherever possible,

to shoot the enemy in the back.

"Their smaller neighbours lived

in constant danger from them.

"They also believed in first

terrorising their opponent ...

"... by covering themselves in war paint

and beating loudly on their tribal drums."

Well, doesn't that sound familiar to you?

Familiar?

- I don't quite understand.

- Well, what price Goebbels, eh?

- Very similar.

- Yeah, you see, don't you?

And listen to this.

This is wonderful.

Come here, sit down.

Ahh ... oh, yes.

"When a tribal leader really

desired to drive a point home ...

"... he used that most terrible of all

public speaker's weapons: Repetition ...

"... constant and unutterably

wearisome repetition."

Old man Hitler himself.

## [Harmonica]

## [Continues]

- What's wrong?

- I think he found it a little warm in here.

I'm so sorry.

- Well, rather stuffy in there, eh?

- A little.

Lovely night, isn't it? The moon's just out.

- [Laughing]

- We're not the only ones up, I see.

- The men, eh?

- When do they go to bed?

Oh, pretty early as a rule.

They please themselves.

You must be rather tired yourself.

How about a nightcap before you turn in?

- Thank you.

- Yes.

Well. Interested?

Have a drink?

[Chuckles]

##[Stops]

Well, happy dreams.

[Shudders]

[Spits]

[Man] Okay

Ah, I thought you'd find it a bit chilly.

We're 6,000 feet up here, you know?

- So you think you'll escape the war, Mr. Scott?

- Hmm?

- That's not a very nice way of putting it.

- But you'll do your best to escape it.

Do you mean I'm ...

I wonder if I am.

I don't think I'm a coward.

I've never really been in any great danger.

I don't exactly know how I'd behave.

- I can imagine how you'd behave.

- I beg your pardon?

I said, "I can imagine how you'd behave."

[Chuckles] Hmpf. Well, you are an extraordinary fellow.

You're certainly frank.

So you despise my mode of life, eh?

Well, I'm getting some revelations tonight.

Maybe it'll do me good.

Maybe I'm becoming a little smug.

I imagined you'd been thinking,

"Here's a nice, decent sort of chap.

"Invites me to dinner

when he doesn't even know me.

Amiable.

Full of interesting conversation."

And instead of that,

you think I'm ...

Go on, what do you think I am?

This ought to be enlightening.

If you were a real man, you'd have struck me

across the face when I suggested you were a coward.

Instead of which, you talk about it.

Well, why not?

I may write about the customs

of red Indians 200 years ago ...

... but I don't have to behave like one.

After all, we've been given

reasoning powers and the gift of speech.

Why don't we use them

instead of hitting each other?

Come on, have a cigarette.

I don't think you're even a coward.

I don't think you're a man at all.

You must've had too much to drink.

You both better get to bed.

Is this gun loaded?

Of course it's loaded.

Then put your hands up.

- What do you mean?

- It's quite plain. Put them up.

Well, well, well.

This is a new experience.

So I've been entertaining gangsters.

Well, what do you want?

Money or what?

You don't believe we'd shoot you, do you?

Such a thing couldn't happen

to Mr. Philip Armstrong Scott.

Anything unpleasant must be

kept as far away as possible ...

... as far as the war, 5,000 miles away.

Suppose I was to tell you that

the war is right here in this tent?

I don't suppose you've heard of the U-boat

that was sunk in Hudson Bay ...

... and the six Germans who escaped.

So that's who you are Nazis.

Well, that explains everything.

Your arrogance, your stupidity, your ...

- ... bad manners

- Get over there by your books!

Oh, dear. Do I have to be tied up?

Excuse us, Mr. Scott.

We still employ savage, tribal methods.

They get results.

The best thing that's happened to us is meeting you.

Youve put the heart back into us.

There are only two of us now.

Two out of six brave men.

There are millions like us in Germany.

Any more of your sort here, you don't stand

a chance of an English war. Well see to that.

- Get the clothes out of there.

- They won't suit you.

Not much there, I'm afraid.

- Thirty-three dollars.

- Do I get a receipt?

There's only one suit here

You better have the overcoat.

Interesting.

So far, I don't feel the least afraid.

No sign of trembling.

Pulse appears to be quite steady.

Mouth a bit dry perhaps.

Here. Rifles.

Ah, you feel happier now, don't you?

Look out.

Wars may come and wars may go,

but art goes on forever, eh?

Stop!

Thomas Mann.

Yes, I have read this book.

We kicked this swine

out of the Reich years ago.

There's something else too

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Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger (5 December 1902 – 5 February 1988) was a Hungarian British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in an award-winning collaboration partnership known as the Archers and produced a series of films, notably 49th Parallel (1941), The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), A Matter of Life and Death (1946, also called Stairway to Heaven), Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and The Tales of Hoffmann (1951). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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