{"id":1144,"date":"2010-10-27T01:42:55","date_gmt":"2010-10-27T05:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1144"},"modified":"2010-10-27T02:13:40","modified_gmt":"2010-10-27T06:13:40","slug":"dvd-northern-pursuit-1943","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=1144","title":{"rendered":"DVD: Northern Pursuit (1943)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ N to O<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good \/ DVD Extras: Very Good<\/p>\n

Label\/Studio: Warner Home Video \/ Catalogue: 30000-29755 \/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/<\/p>\n

Released: August 3, 2010<\/p>\n

Synopsis: \u00a0A Royal Mounted policeman helps foil a dastardly evil Nazi plan to blemish the snowy nothern realms of Canada.<\/p>\n

Special Features: \u00a0Warner Night at the Movies: “The Constant Nymph” (1943) trailer + “All Star Melody Masters” (1943) musical short + “Over the Wall” (1943) dramatic short + “The Rear Gunner” (1943) military short (61:03) + 1943 wartime cartoon “Hop and Go” \/ Theatrical trailer<\/p>\n

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Review:<\/p>\n

Northern Pursuit<\/strong> reunited Errol Flynn with director Raoul Walsh, as well as Helmut Dantine, the latter once again playing a Nazi, but this time with even slimmer regard for human life than his base commander in\u00a0Edge of Darkness<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Whereas\u00a0Edge<\/strong> was a serious albeit melodramatic tale of Norwegian villages fighting for their existence under the thumb of Nazi occupiers,\u00a0Pursuit<\/strong> is straight suspense and action, with a little bit of intrigue tossed in when Canadian Mounted policeman (!) Steve Wagner (Flynn!) flees with a Nazi prisoner he originally arrested on the grounds of being an enemy combatant and possible the killer of some local aboriginals while trekking quite mysteriously into Manitoba\u2019s far north.<\/p>\n

Steve seems to feel airman Hugo von Keller (Dantine) may be right about Germans being persecuted all around the globe, but it doesn\u2019t take an Einstein to figure out Steve is faking his sympathies to gain von Keller\u2019s trust, and find out why a German pilot is heading into the snow-covered mountains in northern Manitoba.<\/p>\n

Worked into the plot is a lame love interest \u2013 Laura McBain (Julie Bishop) \u2013 who exists for some pretty female scenery, to provide some comedic banter with dad Angus (a staunch dad McBain, perpetually spouting McBainisms – words of Scottish wisdom), and to become a silly hostage after she decides to trek after Steve, determined to bring her new husband home for some explainin\u2019 about taking his German roots too seriously.<\/p>\n

There are two worlds presented in the film: the Nazi Germans, filled with chilly brutality; and the Canadians, a nation of tolerant immigrants (co-built with good Germans!) who treat their Nazi prisoners fairly, even when they don\u2019t deserve it.<\/p>\n

During his incarceration in a detention camp, von Keller is allowed to cook\u00a0wurst<\/a><\/em> und\u00a0bratkartoffeln<\/a> <\/em>and converse with fellow Nazis in his native tongue, but he needs to finish his mission, so von Keller mounts an escape, and eventually contacts a few helpful quislings to put him back on the path to said chilly mountains.<\/p>\n

During his trek northward, von Keller coolly dispatches one Canadian prisoner after another to Heaven when they\u2019re no longer useful, or become too damn annoying. He either orders the killings or commits them himself, and that includes Steve\u2019s unarmed partner Jim (John Ridgely), the local guide; and Nazi sympathizer Ernst (Gene Lockhart), who acted as a go-between for von Keller, and bailed out Steve and convinced him to head north while out on bail for clocking his superior officer during Steve\u2019s wedding to Laura.<\/p>\n

Lockhart, better known for his comedic characterizations in classics like\u00a0His Girl Friday<\/strong> (1940) is beautifully menacing as a perfectly ordinary businessman\/entrepreneur who thinks the Nazi way is swell, and his special task of luring Steve to join von Keller\u2019s trip is a great bit of excitement for the old man that\u2019s far more invigorating than running a business. Lockhart keeps his character ordinary, and he\u2019s far more chilling than von Keller \u2013 a cartoon monster we expect to having no emotions nor guilt in using or killing innocents.<\/p>\n

SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

Flynn doesn\u2019t have to do much thespian stretching in\u00a0Pursuit<\/strong>, so his limitations as an actor as less evident than in\u00a0Edge<\/strong>. He also seems to have enjoyed playing off Dantine\u2019s absolutely ruthless portrayal of von Keller, and both actors manage to sell the film\u2019s ridiculous revelation that the Nazis had planned to conquer North America all along by planting an unassembled bomber in an abandoned mine shaft before 1939. The bomber assembly happens at a fantastic speed, and in spite of being locked up in crates in the chilly north, the engines turn over, the gas flows easily, and the bombs are quickly loaded on so von Keller can begin bombing the heck out of America\u2019s closest geographical ally.<\/p>\n

END OF SPOILER ALERT<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a fantastical twist befitting old movie serials, and it unsurprisingly concludes with Steve foiling von Keller\u2019s plans, and proving Canada is more than ready to defend the continent\u2019s upper region. Within a 1943 worldview, one can read the film as having two purposes: show Canadians why they need to be vigilant against Nazi spies, and show the American public that Canada doesn\u2019t have a porous defense system.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a set of important points that oddly resonate today because the film\u2019s message is no different than plots of contemporary hot-topic TV shows or prime time news reports designed to show the American public that Canada doesn\u2019t have a porous border, and isn\u2019t a gateway for terrorists to enter the U.S.<\/p>\n

The chief difference is that in 1943, Canada was active in WWII with a huge army scattered around Europe and Asia, whereas today the country has taken a beating in its ability to look forceful in the U.S. media.<\/p>\n

Had the film been made today as a straight war-on-terror propaganda piece, there would\u2019ve been a greater emphasis on showing Canada as having the will, the manpower, the money, and the smarts to protect the continental U.S. It\u2019s therefore surprising (and creepy) that a 1943 propaganda film is still affective in 2010; one need only substitute Nazi villains and their ideology for global domination as a superior race for the warped mindset of current terrorists wanting to make a similarly explosive statement about their ideology, goals for world dominion, and punishing infidels.<\/p>\n

Warner Home Video\u2019s clean transfer is taken from a sharp print, and the music by Adolph Deutsch is less reliant on national anthems, giving the score a less thematically cartoonish structure than Max Steiner\u2019s music for\u00a0Desperate Journey<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Besides a theatrical trailer, the Warner Night at the Movies includes a trailer for\u00a0The Constant Nymph<\/strong> (1943), and a newsreel where cameramen filmed a police dragnet swarming around a farmhouse and arresting bootleggers, followed by a statement from New Jersey\u2019s Commissioner of Alcoholic Control on how bootleggers are robbing the country of resources it needs to fight a world war.<\/p>\n

Another early effort by Jean Negulesco is the 1943 musical short \u201cAll Star Melody Masters\u201d where the director (Three Coins in a Fountain<\/strong>) went to great pains to arrange every frame like a portrait \u2013 perhaps inspired by Josef Berne memorable 1942 short \u201cJam Session.\u201d Both directors emphasized high contrast black & white cinematography, with musicians placed centre or at frame and focal extremes during musical sets. In Negulesco\u2019s short, there\u2019s little attempt to sync music with solos, and most of the time the brass players are blowing notes never heard on the soundtrack (as in the segment \u201cJust One of Those Things,\u201d where a girl in a sheik outfit prances around quite dully). Also included is Negulesco\u2019s 1943 prison drama short \u201cOver the Wall\u201d where Tom Tully stars as a former prison warden hungry to heal more broken prison souls after retiring to the countryside.<\/p>\n

The remaining shorts are a 1943 black & white propaganda cartoon \u201cHop and Go\u201d about a really dumb kangaroo that manages to outsmart a pair of wily rabbits, and beat Emperor Hirohito\u2019s army in the final shot; and .the military short \u201cThe Rear Gunner\u201d (previously archived on the first release of\u00a0Objective, Burma!<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Made for the Department of Defense, “Rear Gunner” follows the recruitment of little guy Pee Wee Williams (Burgess Meredith, adding a sympathetic stutter now and then), who shows he’s a grand marksman, enabling him to graduate to rear gunner under the direct command of a swell captain (Ronald Reagan). Like the related short “The Tanks are Coming” (archived on the\u00a0Desperate Journey<\/strong> DVD) “Gunner” follows our hero through rifle, machine gun and ballistics training, and makes for a fascinating glimpse into army training films in 1943. Naturally the pitch is clear: don’t feel left out if you’re short – the army has an important role for you!<\/p>\n

In addition to a strong performance by Lockhart,\u00a0Nothern Pursuit<\/strong> features John Forsythe\u2019s film debut in a bit part, after which he appeared in the WWII actioner\u00a0Destination Tokyo<\/strong> (1943) before enjoying a steady career in TV. Walsh would direct Flynn in two more propaganda films \u2013Uncertain Glory<\/strong> (1944) and\u00a0Objective<\/strong>, Burma<\/strong>!<\/strong> (1945).<\/p>\n

This title is part of Warner Home Video\u2019s TCM Spotlight: Errol Flynn Adventures box, which includes\u00a0Desperate Journey<\/a><\/strong>(1942),\u00a0Edge of Darkness<\/a><\/strong> (1943),\u00a0Northern Pursuit<\/strong> (1943),\u00a0Uncertain Glory<\/a><\/strong>(1944), and\u00a0Objective, Burma!<\/a><\/strong> (1945).<\/p>\n

Flynn\u2019s pre-WWII adventure film,\u00a0Dive Bomber<\/a><\/strong> (1941), is available separately or as part of The Errol Flynn Signature Collection, Vol. 2, which includes\u00a0The Charge of the Light Brigade<\/strong> (1936),The Dawn Patrol<\/strong> (1938),\u00a0Dive Bomber<\/strong> (1941),\u00a0Gentleman Jim<\/strong> (1942), and\u00a0The Adventures of Don Juan<\/strong> (1948)<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 2010 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

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Related external links (MAIN SITE):<\/em><\/p>\n

DVD \/ Film: \u00a0Three Coins in the Fountain<\/a> <\/strong>(1954)<\/p>\n

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External References<\/em>:<\/p>\n

IMDB <\/a>\u2014\u00a0Composer Filmography<\/a> — Soundtrack CD<\/a><\/p>\n

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Return to<\/strong>:\u00a0Home <\/a>\/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews<\/a> \/ N to O<\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return to:\u00a0Home \/\u00a0Blu-ray, DVD, Film Reviews \/ N to O . Film: Very Good\/ DVD Transfer: Very Good \/ DVD Extras: Very Good Label\/Studio: Warner Home Video \/ Catalogue: 30000-29755 \/ Region: 1 (NTSC) \/ Released: August 3, 2010 Synopsis: \u00a0A Royal Mounted policeman helps foil a dastardly evil Nazi plan to blemish the snowy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[24,92,25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-is","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1144"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1151,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1144\/revisions\/1151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}