49th Parallel

A quirky war film for various reasons, this one. A Nazi submarine crew are raiding North Atlantic shipping when their submarine is destroyed near the Canadian coast. The crew of survivors - led by a curiously cast Eric Portman - take over an Hudson's bay Company post frequented by a French-Canadian Laurence Olivier and Finlay Currie - a redoubtable Scot who is determined not to to stand for this "invasion". What follows is a sightly haphazard series of stories depicting their attempt to make it back to the Fatherland - by just about every means of transport - barring an hot air balloon - known to man at the time. The last half hour picks up the pace cleverly - with a typically civilised performance from Leslie Howard, as the survivors near ...

An incredible journey with the antagonists being the stars. Most WWII films about men behind enemy lines depict the "good guys" I dare say, in the Allies, behind enemy lines. Here, we get the exact opposite, with six Uboat survivors from Germany stuck behind enemy lines. There is so much that is outstanding about this film that it would take pages to explain. It's likely the very film that caused Hitler to put a bounty on Leslie Howard, who ridiculed him with great aplomb, a bounty that may have been the cause of Howard's real life death. Many other behind the scenes ironies in this film. Foremost, it is made in 1941, before December 7, and depicts the U.S. as a neutral nation that the six Germans try to reach. In fact, much of the mo...