Welcome to the Movie Club! This week’s movie is Michael Powell’s epic war drama 49th Parallel!
49th Parallel follows a group of German soldiers during World War 2 who, after their U-boat is shot down in Canada’s Hudson’s Bay, attempt a journey south to cross the American border.
49th Parallel first premiered in London on October 8, 1941, before a wider release the following month on November 24, and while it was initially conceived as a propaganda piece to convince America to join the war, its American release was not until March 5, 1942, after they joined the war.1 49th Parallel was acclaimed upon its release, received an Oscar nomination for both Best Picture and Best Screenplay, and currently has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.2 It was quite a success with audiences as well, as Wikipedia lists its box office earnings as $5 million from North America and another £250,000 from Britain, against a budget of £132,000.
Trivia:3
- The screenplay was based on Emeric Pressburger’s plan to replicate the Ten Little Indians formula of having the characters be killed off one by one.
- The film was nearly cancelled until J. Arthur Rank, a wealthy British industrialist, provided more funding.
- The screenwriter, Pressburger, was once quoted as saying about the film, “Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I’d show him a thing or two.”
Up Next: Our next movie will be Krzysztof Kieślowski’s drama film The Double Life of Veronique. We will meet to discuss it on November 27, at 12PM EST. Check out the trailer and where it’s playing below:
USA
- Stream: Criterion Channel
- Rent or Buy: Apple TV, Fandango At Home, Prime Video
Canada
- Stream: Criterion Channel
- Rent or Buy: Apple TV
UK
- Stream: Curzon via Prime Video
- Rent or Buy: Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Curzon (rental only)
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