Forty-Ninth Parallel (1941) | |
| Director(s) | Michael Powell |
| Producer(s) | Michael Powell, George H. Brown (associate uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Drama, Thriller/Suspense, War |
| Top Topics | World War II |
Featured Cast:
Forty-Ninth Parallel Overview:
Forty-Ninth Parallel (1941) was a Drama - War Film directed by Michael Powell and produced by Michael Powell and George H. Brown.
BlogHub Articles:
No article for Forty-Ninth Parallel at this time. Submit yours here.
Quotes from
Andy Brock:
[to Hirth] I can grouse about the food, and the C.O. and anything I blamed please. And that's more than you with your Gestapo and your stormtroopers and your Aryan bourgeoisie. Ahhh, nuts. What's the good of talking to you. You can't even begin to understand democracy. We own the right to be fed up with anything we damn please and say so out loud when we feel like it.
Andy Brock: The government says, "We want men to fight the Nazis, join today." So I joined. I figured they were in a hurry. That was three hundred and eighty seven days ago. Four divisions and a lot of drafts have gone overseas, and what's number B987642 doing? Guarding the Chippewa Canal. Who'd want to steal it anyway?
Philip Armstrong Scott: Nazis? That explains your arrogance, stupidity, and bad manners.
read more quotes from Forty-Ninth Parallel...
Andy Brock: The government says, "We want men to fight the Nazis, join today." So I joined. I figured they were in a hurry. That was three hundred and eighty seven days ago. Four divisions and a lot of drafts have gone overseas, and what's number B987642 doing? Guarding the Chippewa Canal. Who'd want to steal it anyway?
Philip Armstrong Scott: Nazis? That explains your arrogance, stupidity, and bad manners.
read more quotes from Forty-Ninth Parallel...
Facts about
The 49th Parallel of the title is the circle of latitude 49th parallel north or 49 degrees north. As the film mentions, it represents the border between USA and Canada, the latter of which where most of the film takes place. The 49th Parallel also crosses Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the British war film documentary episode The War Game, the World War II film 49th Parallel's " . . . main message was to pluck the conscience of the neutral USA to come to the aid of Britain in the Second World War."
Commissioned by the Ministry of Information to raise worldwide awareness (American in particular) of the Nazi threat. However, it was intended for Canadian consumption also, as many French Canadians did not want to be at war with Germany and did not want to fight. Vichy France was an ally of Nazi Germany, and many French Canadians in Quebec were pro-German. One of the reasons Laurence Olivier, the biggest star in the film, played a French Canadian trapper named Johnny who tells the Nazi officer he is a "Canadian" in the film and not "French" was that it was intended also as propaganda to promote pro-British feeling in Quebec. When Canada resorted to conscription to swell the ranks of its Army, there were draft riots throughout Quebec, so intense was the feeling against the United Kingdom, which of course had subjugated New France less than 200 years before. Anti-war sentiment was so rife throughout Canada, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King declared that only volunteers would be shipped off to Europe.
read more facts about Forty-Ninth Parallel...
According to the British war film documentary episode The War Game, the World War II film 49th Parallel's " . . . main message was to pluck the conscience of the neutral USA to come to the aid of Britain in the Second World War."
Commissioned by the Ministry of Information to raise worldwide awareness (American in particular) of the Nazi threat. However, it was intended for Canadian consumption also, as many French Canadians did not want to be at war with Germany and did not want to fight. Vichy France was an ally of Nazi Germany, and many French Canadians in Quebec were pro-German. One of the reasons Laurence Olivier, the biggest star in the film, played a French Canadian trapper named Johnny who tells the Nazi officer he is a "Canadian" in the film and not "French" was that it was intended also as propaganda to promote pro-British feeling in Quebec. When Canada resorted to conscription to swell the ranks of its Army, there were draft riots throughout Quebec, so intense was the feeling against the United Kingdom, which of course had subjugated New France less than 200 years before. Anti-war sentiment was so rife throughout Canada, Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King declared that only volunteers would be shipped off to Europe.
read more facts about Forty-Ninth Parallel...
