Northern Pursuit (1943)

the audience applauded

Really Surprised!

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Errol Flynn was a fascinating screen presence. Just look at how many books have been written about him including a couple he wrote himself. I found a good dozen on Amazon before I stopped counting. Some well-known actors and filmmakers often have only one biography or even none at all."Northern Pursuit" isn't the best of his movies, but it is Flynn at his best. He looks in great shape despite the fact that he had a dicky ticker, a bad back, tuberculosis, a couple of exotic diseases picked up along the way and a liver that was in more danger of destruction than any target of the Nazis in the film.Set in Canada during WW2, Errol plays Steve Wagner, a Royal Canadian Mountie of German Ancestry whose loyalty is questioned when he comes across Nazi secret agents who are planning to bomb a canal that is critical to the Allied war effort.Although the story feels cobbled together, the film looks good. Most of it was shot on the sound stage and no doubt a great deal of talcum powder and papier mache was employed, but the sequence where a U-Boat breaks through the ice and scenes such as the avalanche are brilliantly staged.However the stars make the film. Although Errol was rarely upstaged, Helmut Dantine was Warner's go-to Nazi guy during the war years. He plays Colonel Hugo von Keller in this film. The reason why Dantine was more effective than many screen Nazis at the time was the degree of intelligence with which he approached his roles. He was no off-the-rack, monocled Nazi stereotype, he came across as vigorous, smart and fanatical; a formidable enemy, he was also good looking and often got the best lines.If you like the stars, and Flynn was absolutely unique, then there is much to enjoy here. In fact the film was a bit of a turning point for him- he even got a laugh with an in-joke at the end alluding to his recent acquittal on rape charges. From that point on he went along with the joke about his sexual prowess although those who knew him felt that it hurt his desire to be taken seriously as an actor.Finally, for anyone with a sense of history, "Northern Pursuit" is a fascinating insight into what audiences were watching during the war even if they took it all with a generous pinch of salt.

This is not a great movie, not Robin Hood or The Sea Hawk. But neither is it the bad movie some of the previous reviewers suggest.I found it very suspenseful.If you try viewing it as the original, intended audience did back in 1943, when the U.S. was not winning the war in Europe and there were fears of German infiltration everywhere, you can imagine how relevant this story would have been to audiences.Tension is maintained for much of the movie by keeping us in suspense regarding Flynn's character's allegiances. No, of course we can't believe he's really a Nazi, but for the first half of the movie, it certainly seems as if he might be.I was surprised, and thrown off guard, by the number of "good guys" who got killed in this movie. That made it seem more real to me.The last scene is pure Hollywood, and pure corn. But up until then, there is a lot to admire and enjoy in this movie.

As anticipated, Errol Flynn typically brought down the house with his last line: "What am I saying?", while glancing at the audience, after cheerfully agreeing that his new bride Laura(Julie Bishop) is the only girl he ever loved. This was part of a running gag, as Laura's notoriously frugal Scottish father (Alec Craig) had just done this line, after agreeing to pay for the expensive wedding reception.How very ironic that Helmut Dantine: former leader of the anti-Nazi activists of Hitler's former hometown: Vienna, should be fated to play evil Nazi leaders in several war propaganda -slanted Hollywood films released during WWII.Presumably, the take home message for contemporary audiences was that North Americans had better be wary of Axis spies and sabotage attempts, even in the heartland, which was directly reachable by Nazi U boats, via Hudson's Bay. Also, Americans and Canadians of rather recent German immigrants should be kept under surveillance as potential spies and saboteurs. In fact, there was a Nazi-worshipping organization in the USA, although it deemphasized its support of Germany after Hitler declared war on the US. Fortunately, history proved such fears unfounded. In fact, it seems remarkable that Nazi and Japanese attempts at sabotage in North America, either by residents there or by outsiders, were virtually non-existent. In this respect, the message of this film seems very dated, as of no real relevance to the war. The far-fetched details of the screen-play also don't help a possible recommendation of this film.The screenplay begins with a Nazi submarine surfacing near an ice-choked western shore of Hudson's Bay, offloading a number of airmen, who somehow walk across the treacherous floating chunks of ice, to the shore, with skis, for a 5 day trip over snow to an abandoned mine shaft in northern Saskatchewan, where pieces of a bomber have been stored in crates since before WWII began.(Never mind that Hitler never expected to have to fight the British Commonwealth and France, in his goal to conquer the USSR!). Just how these crates were transported to this mine, hidden among mining equipment, is not apparent, as this area is now accessible overland in winter only by foot.The fliers are soon met by a local contact, who brings them instructions from an agent from the US(Gene Lockhart, as Ernst Willis), as well as Native American guides, who are promptly dispatched when they refuse to guide the party over a dangerous pass in the Canadian Rockies(which have been magically transposed to near the shore of Hudson's Bay!). The Germans are served poetic justice when all except their leader and pilot, Dantine, soon die in an(unrealistically -staged) avalanche, as the NAs had feared. Dantine skis on until near death from exhaustion and cold, burying his instruction packet in the snow. Mounties Wagner(Flynn) and Jim, inexplicably wandering around in this wilderness, find Dantine and transport him to their cabin. Wearing a German flier's uniform, they arrest him as a prisoner of war. However, discovering that Wagner is of recent German decent, Dantine tries to recruit him as an accomplice. Wagner comes under suspicion at headquarters as he dallies in bringing Dantine in. Wagner quits the Mounties, since they are suspicious of his loyalty, and is arrested after flattening several Mounties and damning Canada. Meanwhile, Dantine is sent to an internment camp, from which he soon escapes with a fresh set of German fliers. Willis bails Wagner out of jail, then asks him to help guide him to the mine, first by train, which they jump off, then by foot. Later, it's clear that Willis and Dantine suspect Wagner is still a RCMP agent, pretending to cooperate with them(even though the regional RCMP don't seem to know anything about this!). Wagner's girlfriend unexpectedly shows up(arranged by Willis for his own purpose). Dantine eventually kills Willis and Jim, who is lurking near the camp. They move on to the mine and put the bomber together(mere child's play!). Wagner now starts stealthily killing the Germans, one by one, then masquerades as one of the crew(very unlikely!), killing the crew as they fly toward their bombing target, causing the plane to spin out of control. A wounded Wagner parachutes to 'safety', somewhere in the wilderness.(How he survives a walk back to an outpost of civilization is left unexplored!). The film ends with a celebration of Wagner's accomplishment and marriage to Laura.It's difficult to give an overall assessment of this film. Obviously the screenplay has many gaping plausibility problems. If you're willing to overlook these, it's a cleverly assembled cat and mouse drama with a message. Although never specified, the clues given suggest the bombing target was the Soo Locks between Lakes Superior and Huron, far to the southeast of the mine. This was a complicated and very unlikely way to achieve that goal. A much simpler way would have been to load a ship with explosives and detonate them while in the lock(True, suicidal for the crew).The light bomber shown was a Lockheed Hudson, many of which were shipped in parts to the RAF in crates and assembled there, mainly used for anti-submarine operations, training, and surveillance. One was previously featured in "Desperate Journey", also starring Flynn.

Northern PursuitThe reason Canadians didn't fight the Japanese during WWII was because they had them all locked in internment camps.And while Japanese-Canadians were never a threat, the axis members in this action movie were.RCMP Corporal Wagner (Errol Flynn) and his partner (John Ridgely) capture a Nazis Colonel (Helmut Dantine).On discovering Cpl. Wagner is of German ancestry, Herr Colonel asks him to join him. Later, when the Colonel escapes, Cpl. Wagner does.Together, with Native guides, they recover a German bomber that had been stashed in northern Manitoba before the war.Now, the only person who can stop Jerry from air-bombarding Canadian waterways is the two-timing Mountie, who's been working undercover.Using Idaho's snowcapped mountains to represent the prairie terrain of the Keystone Province, Northern Pursuit is a geographical joke. Fortunately, its spy-thriller theatrics are entertaining.Besides, how can the world's top two beer consuming countries not get along?Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.com