49th Parallel (1941)
November 24, 1941Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Currently 49th Parallel is available for streaming online, rent, buy or watch for free on: Plex, Plex Player, Plex Channel, Criterion Channel, Apple TV, Tubi TV, Amazon Video, Max Amazon Channel, Max, Freevee, Shout! Factory TV
Streaming in:🇺🇸 United States
Cast & Crew.
Leslie Howard
Philip Armstrong Scott (The Canadians)
Raymond Massey
Andy Brock
Laurence Olivier
Johnnie, the Trapper (The Canadians)
Richard George
Kommandant Bernsdorff (The U-Boat Crew)
Adolf Wohlbrück
Peter
Eric Portman
Lieutenant Hirth (The U-Boat Crew)
Raymond Lovell
Lieutenant Kuhnecke (The U-Boat Crew)
Niall MacGinnis
Vogel (The U-Boat Crew)
John Chandos
Lohrmann (The U-Boat Crew)
Peter Moore
Kranz
Basil Appleby
Jahner (The U-Boat Crew)
Finlay Currie
The Factor (The Canadians)
Glynis Johns
Anna
Michael Powell
Director
Emeric Pressburger
Writer
Ley On
Nick - the Eskimo
Rodney Ackland
Writer
Charles Victor
Andreas
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Composer
Frederick Piper
David
Tawera Moana
George, the Indian
Freddie Young
Cinematographer
David Lean
Editor
Eric Clavering
Art
Charles Rolfe
Bob
Theodore Salt
A United States Customs Officer
O.W. Fonger
A United States Customs Officer
George Alexander
Cameo
Robert Beatty
RCMP Mountie in Alberta (voice)
Eric Berry
Nazi Radio Announcer
Gron Davies
Officer on Submarine
Leslie Falardeau
Aviator on Seaplane
Lionel Grose
Undetermined Role
Stuart Latham
Second Nazi Radio Announcer
Norman Luxton
Man in fringed jacket on balcony at Banff Indian Day
Vincent Massey
Prologue Narrator (voice)
Percy Parsons
Hi-Jacked Canadian Motorist
Gerry Wilmot
Canadian Radio Announcer
Jack Hynes
Aviator on Seaplane
Peter Cushing
Props
George H. Brown
Assistant Production Manager
Muir Mathieson
Music Director
Hugh Stewart
Associate Editor
Sydney Streeter
Assistant Art Director
John Sutro
Other
David Rawnsley
Art Direction
Roland Gillett
Assistant Production Manager
Osmond Borradaile
Additional Photography
Media.
Details.
Release DateNovember 24, 1941
StatusReleased
Running Time2h 3m
Content RatingNR
Genres
Wiki.
49th Parallel is a 1941 British and Canadian war drama film. It was the third film made by the British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. It was released in the United States as The Invaders. The British Ministry of Information approached Michael Powell to make a propaganda film for them, suggesting he make "a film about mine-sweeping". Instead, Powell decided to make a film to help sway opinion in the then-neutral United States. Said Powell, "I hoped it might scare the pants off the Americans" and thus bring them into the war. Screenwriter Emeric Pressburger remarked, "Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I'd show him a thing or two". Powell persuaded the British and Canadian governments and started location filming in 1940, but by the time the film appeared, in March 1942, the United States, which had been trying to stay out of the war in Europe, had been drawn into taking sides against Germany.
The original choice to play the German officer, Lieutenant Hirth, was their production company's stalwart Esmond Knight. Knight had become involved in training Local Defence Volunteers (better remembered as the Home Guard) after the evacuation of Dunkirk and, in late 1940, he was accepted for training with the Royal Navy. That training would have conflicted with work on 49th Parallel.
Anton Walbrook as Peter donated half his fee to the International Red Cross. Raymond Massey, Laurence Olivier and Leslie Howard all agreed to work at half their normal fee, because they felt it was an important propaganda film. TCM's Rob Nixon observes that "One of the reasons for the movie's high quality is the superb ensemble cast, most of them major British stars working for drastically reduced wages because they believed in the film".This is the only time that Canadian-born Massey played a Canadian on screen.