“A classic that reminds us of a time when we knew Nazis aren’t ‘very fine people.’”
Following on from Peter Weir’s seafaring epic, Master and Commander, our next film in the Lockdown Chain is another movie about a nautical crew - this time, though, they’re a disparate bunch of Nazi’s - stranded in Canada after the sinking of their U-Boat.
With a cast that includes Anton Walbrook, Laurence Olivier, Leslie Howard and Eric Portman, this early feature by cinematic legends (& TPFC favourites) Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, brings their characteristically off-kilter worldview to the war-time propaganda genre. Here’s the original trailer.
Watch Wayne and Nigel discuss its quirky charms, its peculiar origins (in the Whitehall offices of the Ministry of Information no less!) and the Great Thomas Mann Adaption That Could’ve Been below. Warning: May Go On A Bit.
We’d love to hear what you think of the film once you’ve seen it. Leave a comment here, send us an email, Tweet us @tpfilmclub or post on our Facebook page.
Where can you watch 49th Parallel?
On Friday 12 February the film is on Film4at 11am (and on Film4+1 at noon, natch). There’s also a good copy on YouTube. If you have Amazon Prime you can also stream it there for free.
Related links
49th Parallel original US trailer - this is what Nigel referred to in the vid. Watch cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Coleman enthuse about the film (titled The Invaders) to their Talk of the Town director George Stevens
A Pretty British Affair - 1981 Arena doc about Powell and Pressburger, which considers their WWII-era collaborations and features rare footage of the filmmakers together
Composer of the Week - Ralph Vaughan Williams - The happy coincidences continue: Radio 3's Composer of the Week this week is Ralph Vaughan Williams - and his original score to 49th Parallel is discussed on Wednesday's episode which looks at the effect of the War on the composer's life.
The Magic Mountain - as discussed in our intro, Thomas Mann's classic 1924 novel features prominently in 49th Parallel. It's fair to say Wayne’s more than a little bit obsessed with it, so any chance to share this old piece he wrote about The Magic Mountain for The Guardian's Winter Reads series will not go unshared. (Especially with actual snow on the ground and all that.)
