49th Parallel (Criterion Collection) (1941) On DVD

Criterion's print of this 1941 film is fabulous, however, a few hairs remain, which is odd with the high bar the Criterion Collection sets. The best of the second-disc special features is a 1981 BBC show on directors Powell and Pressburger. We follow Powell around Hollywood with his new job, Senior Director in Resident for Zoetrope Studios, Francis Ford Coppola's all-too-brief attempt to create an independent film studio. We visit the ill-fated set of One from the Heart and also Martin Scorsese (the contemporary Powell advocate) on the other side of town shooting The King of Comedy. There's an hour of Powell's audio dictations for only the serious buff and a rare short by the two filmmakers, The Volunteer. Ralph Richardson plays himself in this little ditty about how a clumsy dresser becomes a sharp volunteer for Britain's war effort. --Doug Thomas

At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel features a colorful cavalcade of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.

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