Released: 1943

Dir. Raoul Walsh

              Northern Pursuit is my favourite film about Canada, and it makes me feel proud to be a Canadian. It has action and adventure. Evil Nazis up to some devious shenanigans. A perilous journey through the Canadian north. Errol Flynn as a Mountie. And snow, lots of it.

              This is a propaganda film, and as someone who is fascinated and has seen many war films made during the second world war, Northern Pursuit is one of the more watchable. These days movies made during the war years can be seen as problematic, and understandably so. The German military machine is often portrayed as stereotypical goose-stepping goons, who follow orders blindly, and frequently exhibit an ineptitude that would predate the antics of Hogan’s Heroes by twenty years. Of course, we know that couldn’t be further from the truth, and that’s kind of what’s on display here. The Nazis are ruthless, and for the most part, good at what they do. They are most definitely a threatening presence, capable of evil.

              Northern Pursuit doesn’t take itself too seriously and manages to successfully balance humour with the seriousness of the Nazi menace. Making the film a kind of ancestor to later films like The Guns of Navarone or The Dirty Dozen. But instead of an elite group of allied troops trying to destroy something, it’s up to the RCMP’s own Errol Flynn to stop an elite group of German saboteurs from destroying something.

              Col. Hugo von Keller, played by Helmut Dantine, has the mission to destroy a main waterway linking the United States and Canada, that would fowl up allied supply lines for months. When I first watched Northern Pursuit about 10 years ago, I easily imagined the unnamed waterway to be the Welland Canal and considering that the canal is about a mile from where I live, I thought this was pretty darn cool. The film is probably referencing the St. Lawrence Seaway, but to me it will always be the Welland Canal. How von Keller is going to accomplish this does require a large amount of the suspension of disbelief, but like I said, the film doesn’t take itself too seriously. And I think that’s what I think keeps this film so entertaining for me.

              Errol Flynn, playing Corporal Steve Wagner of the RCMP, an Australian as a Canadian of German descent. Remember, not too seriously, but Flynn pulls it off, and gives the proceedings the air of lightness, daring do that perfectly counters Dantine’s Col. Von Keller. The film really rests on both their shoulders and they carry the burden very well. Dantine, who was part of the anti-Nazi movement, managed to escape Nazi occupied Austria in 1938, gives von Keller a more believable characterization for the time, much along the lines of Conrad Veidt’s Maj. Strasser in Casablanca, with maybe a bit more efficient menace.

              But the real star? Perhaps Canada itself. Or at least Hollywood’s perception of it, and I’m sure that’s the second reason I find this film so entertaining. Set in the snowbound, mountainous regions of northern Manitoba in 1941, or is it Aug. 14, 1943 as a transfer document states at one point in the story? The film has Cpl. Wagner patrolling hundreds of miles between northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan via dog sled and snowshoes, when he and his partner happen upon Col. von Keller, whom they discover is a Luftwaffe officer. Von Keller is taken prisoner, and the fun begins. Treachery abounds, as we wonder if Wagner is loyal to Canada, or his German ancestry. Will he aid von Keller with his mission? Or will he do the right thing and return to Bear Lake and marry his sweetheart, played by Julie Bishop? Well, you’re just going to have to watch for yourself.

              For your 93 minute investment you get, intrigue, a prison break, a U-boat in Hudson Bay, a dandy ski chase, a Luftwaffe bomber hidden in an abandoned mine, an avalanche, a snowstorm, okay two snow storms, two fresh rabbit skins to keep your feet warm, a gun battle, deception, a comical Scottish shop keeper, named Angus McBain, a traitorous American(!), the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a wedding. What’s not to love about this movie? Yes, there are a thing or two that most Canadians will find unintentionally funny, but that’s what’s great about this movie, right from the beginning it refuses to take itself seriously, and like Canadians, we don’t take our Canadian stereotypes very seriously, but rather we embrace them. What’s so bad about that. Northern Pursuit was made in the middle of a world war, and what a better way to let the movie going public know that this war can be won from all fronts, including Canada. Oh, and best of all, it was made entirely in sunny southern California!

Northern Pursuit is available as part of the TCM Errol Flynn Adventures box set, or as a single DVD from the Warner Archive Collection, and airs periodically on TCM.