49th Parallel

"THE MIGHTEST MANHUNT THAT EVER SWEPT THE SCREEN!"

1941 2h 3m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 130

WarThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

In the early days of World War II, a German U-boat is sunk in Canada's Hudson Bay. Hoping to evade capture, a small band of German soldiers led by commanding officer Lieutenant Hirth attempts to cross the border into the United States, which has not yet entered the war and is officially neutral. Along the way, the German soldiers encounter brave men such as a French-Canadian fur trapper, Johnnie, a leader of a Hutterite farming community, Peter, an author, Philip and a soldier, Andy Brock.

“THE MIGHTEST MANHUNT THAT EVER SWEPT THE SCREEN!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Leslie Howard
Philip Armstrong Scott
Laurence Olivier
Johnnie, the Trapper
Raymond Massey
Andy Brock
Anton Walbrook
Peter
Eric Portman
Lieutenant Hirth
Raymond Lovell
Lieutenant Kuhnecke
Richard George
Kommandant Bernsdorff
Niall MacGinnis
Vogel

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Powell
Writers: Emeric Pressburger, Emeric Pressburger, Emeric Pressburger
Languages: German, French, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $5M — a 37.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

85 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Freddie Young. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor David Lean shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Leslie Howard and Laurence Olivier and Raymond Massey carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "THE MIGHTEST MANHUNT THAT EVER SWEPT THE SCREEN!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Powell directs. Freddie Young behind the camera. David Lean cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in German, French, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $5M — a 37.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
385 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: German, French, English.
5Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Freddie Young. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Editor David Lean shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Leslie Howard and Laurence Olivier and Raymond Massey carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "THE MIGHTEST MANHUNT THAT EVER SWEPT THE SCREEN!".
9IMDB entry: tt0033627 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 10 themes, including "canada", "airplane", "nazi", "escape".

The technical file

Cinematography: Freddie Young
Editing: David Lean
Makeup / hair: George Blackler
Runtime: 123 min · 2h 3m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $140,000
Box office: $5,275,000
Return: 3768% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: 49th Parallel (1941)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Story

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Michael Powell

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-06-25
★ 7/10
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 their goal, demonstrating that the pen may well be mightier than the sword before a final encounter with Raymond Massey. The cast behind the camera is just as notable - Freddie Young and David Lean (editor) work on Emeric Pressberger's story, under Michael Powell's direction to bring the full effects of the wonderful Canadian scenery; light/shades and hues - as well as a good, taut dialogue - much less trite than in some early, more propagandist efforts.
drystyx2023-04-18
★ 10/10
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 motif of this film is how Canada was just recently brought into the war. The score is perhaps the greatest in film History. The scenery is spectacular. The beginning narration is superb and dramatic. While the film follows the bafdy guys, we come upon many good guys who meet them one by one, which illustrates the characters of each. What I find remarkable about this film is the insight into what made the German war machine work. The six UBoat survivors are totally unique characters, each of whom is a cog in the machine, with different motivations. The leader of the Germans is played by Eric Portman, and he does an incredible job as a materialistic atheist who actually thinks his inhumanity is Humanity. Second in command is a proud aristocrat who brags about being one of the first in the Nazi party. Third is the one German who actually has a morality and presents the best of the Germans. He regularly saves the others from harm and could be a hero on another team, but his questioning of the Nazi ideology puts him lower and lower on the scale of the men whose lives he saves, and whom he is clearly better than in every way. This one, Vogel, played by Niall MacGinnis, dominates the meat of the story which occurs in a religious commune in Canada, and his story gives this film an amazing depth which I won't spoil. The fourth soldier is a brute, just a total brute. A willing pawn of Nazi brutality. The fifth is a career soldier, older than the others, who is one of the braver ones when in uniform, but totally loses his composure when he must traipse through Canada in civilian garb. The sixth soldier is the most humorous, a total opportunist with no real morals other than survival. We get a great look at the difference between him and the leader when they are in an outdoor shower with hot and cold water. The leader arrogantly uses cold water to prove he is tough, while this soldier gives him a comical "what an idiot" look while using hot water for himself. He adds very credible comic relief. The six soldiers and their personalities give a very in depth look at what made the Nazi war machine work for so long a time. Meanwhile, some of the heroes on the Canadian side include pilots who bomb the Uboat, a Scotsman keeping a trading post, a French trapper, an Eskimo who tries to help the trapper, two men arriving by plane to find what is wrong at the trading post, another Eskimo who shoots one of the Germans dead after the Germans massacre civilians at the post, a 15 year old girl who falls in love with Vogel, the leader of the religious commune, mounties who chase the Germans, Indians who help flush them out, Leslie Howard as Philip Armstrong Scoott who has an interesting interplay with them, a deserter aboard a train, and two freight inspectors. In other words, an entire team of free people willing to work together for the good of every human being, as opposed to the Nazi materialistic ideology. This film will always be a classic. God help the world if people decide it isn't one. The messages are just too great to ignore.