User Reviews

Raoul Walsh directed four of Errol Flynn's World War II movies at Warner Brothers. The best was "Objective: Burma" with Flynn and company parachuting into Burma to show the British who could stop the Japanese. Mind you, the British hated Flynn for this film, and Warners had to pull it before the Brits firebombed it. Although "Objective: Burma" ranked as the best of Flynn's collaborations with Walsh, their initial propaganda outing "Desperate Journey" was far more fun but totally unrealistic. Walsh and Flynn teamed up between these two combat pictures with "Northern Pursuit." Unlike the authentic-looking "Objective: Burma" that took place in the Pacific Theater of Operations and "Desperate Journey" with its European Theater of Operations, "Northern Pursuit" took place in appropriately above us in Canada. Flynn is cast as intrepid Corporal Steve Wagner of Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. Meantime, a U-Boat lands Luftwaffe Colonel Hugo von Keller (Helmet Dantine of "Hotel Berlin") in Canada via a U-Boat, but his men and he don't get far before their Indian tracker precipitate an avalanche that killed Keller's men and left him barely alive. He stumbles onto a German aviator "Northern Pursuit" is the kind of World War II that nobody can complain about. Aside from Louis Milestone's "Edge of Darkness" where Flynn played a native Norwegian and Walsh's "Uncertain Glory" where he played a French criminal, Flynn played a Canadian. The plot here involves Keller as he searches for the parts to assemble a German bomber, so his men and he can bomb the St. Lawrence Waterway. As far as I know, this was the only wartime film that targeted the waterway, while many others took aim at the Panama Canal. Anyway, the RCMP discover something treasonous about Wagner owing to his German ancestry and they drum him out. Of course, you know that neither Flynn nor his character could have anything to do with the Nazis. Although it isn't as much fun as "Desperate Journey," pulp novelist Frank Gruber, scenarist Alvah Bessie, with an uncredited William Faulkner make its twists and turns palatable enough to be consistently entertaining stuff. Julie Bishop plays Flynn's love interest who doesn't believe that he could turn his back on Canada.

Way up north in the Canadian outback, a German submarine rises out of the icy waters. Of those who disembark, only one survives, the rest knocked off in an avalanche. For this Nazi (Helmut Dantine), his goal is to get to a secret Nazi disapatchery of military supplies which include weapons and a war plane. Of the Northwest Mounted Police, it is the German descended Errol Flynn who becomes the pawn in his plan to get more of his men (all being transported to a prisoner of war detention center) and get to the secret base. Flynn pretends to be a traitor, and as for the rest, well, more of the same from other war propaganda films.

Except, this more of the same is an exciting snowbound trek across the Yukon territory, as far up north as humanly possible to travel. There are a few plot clichés which include Flynn's fiancée Julie Bishop conveniently used by the Nazis to keep Flynn in line, and poor Gene Lockhart, typecast once again as a fool, a supposed American businessman who is a traitor both sinister and cowardly, getting no sympathy.

As for Dantine, there are a few moments where his character shows tinges of humanity, but when you've got Hitler in your brain, those moments are brief. Flynn leaves his tongue out of his cheek for most of this movie in playing this character, whose alliances are briefly in question. A corny final moment seems thrown in as an unnecessary Hollywood "In Like Flynn" joke. The excitement of the rest of the film, though, makes that eye-rolling moment forgivable.

The eyes of Helmut Dantine and Errol Flynn tell the entire story in this 1943 thriller. Both men know they can't trust each other and the former is quite diabolical in his attempt to bomb an area in Canada where supplies can be shipped to England.

Flynn takes the role of a Canadian, of German birth origin, who denounces Canada and is immediately removed from the police force there. Nazis take advantage of the situation and soon recruit him to go with them to the uppermost northern portion of the country to complete their evil plot. Gene Lockhart gives a fine supporting performance as a Canadian spy, a true patriot to the Third Reich, who learns what happens when you have completed your assignment and can now pose a hindrance.

Flynn gives a strong performance here as a scorned Canadian working in counter-intelligence for them.This is certainly A World War 11 interesting film.

Flynn is a corporal in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They used to dress every day in colorful red jackets. Now they're known as the RCMP and dress like the Highway Patrol. It is a great loss.

Flynn is more or less kidnapped by German pilot Helmut Dantine and his three Nazi companions and forced to lead them across the wilderness of northern Manitoba, where a bomber is stashed. The plan is to bomb the locks of the St. Lawrence River or to mar the splendor of Niagara Falls and disappoint all the honeymooners or something. It's not made very clear.

These Nazis are really bad boys, especially the stern and handsome Helmut Dantine. They kidnap a couple of women to take along as hostages. They kill anyone who gets in their way, as well as anyone they meet who is of no use to the Nazi cause. And if one of their own people is disabled, he can kiss his life good-bye. That's the kind of rats they are.

Flynn is handsome as usual, this being 1943. He'd not gotten along at all well with his previous director, Michael Curtiz, and by this time he was being directed by the Irish-American Raoul Walsh, whose work had as much zip but who was more tolerant of Flynn's boozing. The two had an agreement that Flynn wouldn't start drinking until 5 in the afternoon.

There's a supposedly comic introduction and close, involving Julie Bishop as the daughter of a cheapskate Scottish shop keeper at a trading post. At the very end, when Flynn and Bishop are finally married, he embraces her at the party. She asks, "How many women have you loved before me?". Flynn replies, "None, darling," then turns his face towards the camera, rolls his eyes, and mutters, "What am I saying?" Some joke. He'd recently been in court on charges of statutory rape brought against him by two teen-aged cutie pies who testified that he'd seduced them aboard his yacht and had made love while wearing his socks. Some wag suggested that the movie Flynn had just completed, "Gentleman Jim," should have its name changed to just "Jim." A couple of outdoor shots were done at Sun Valley, Idaho, including an exciting ski chase. Most of the film was shot at the Warners' Studios. Yet, the settings are reasonably convincing, except that nobody's breath steams and all the clothing is so immaculate and clean, even Helmut Dantine's white turtle neck, which he never seems to change. A kind of minor narrative thread alludes to the Canadians' treatment of Indians, which here generates a resentment soon dissipated when they see what the Nazis are like. Actually, Canadian Indians, probably Algonkin-speaking Woods Cree in this case, were treated fairly well, at least compared to American Indians.

Even with all the suspense, this isn't a very fast-paced movie, and either I was asleep when Flynn and his superiors worked out the plan to discover what the Nazis were up to, or else the editor should be tied to an evergreen tree trunk and left to be eaten alive by ravenous timber wolves, or maybe -- this could get to be fun -- maybe he could be impaled repeatedly by an enraged moose.

I won't bother giving a synopsis of the story, as everyone else posting here has already done so. This is a very watchable and somewhat typical WWII anti-Nazi Hollywood propaganda film. Errol Flynn is almost always fun to watch, and the film moves along in a fairly brisk manner. The main problem I have with it, is when you find out in the last 20 minutes or so what the goal of the Nazi's is. As an avid film buff, I understand that you have to often go along with a film, suspending disbelief at various plot devices, but this was, to quote the title of a more recent war film, "A Bridge Too Far" (sorry, I couldn't resist). The idea that the Germans, years before the start of WWII would ship bomber parts to Canada to be stashed away for use later, that a small handful of German POWs could be rounded up that know how to put it together (including hydraulics, electronics, etc.), well, you get the picture. If the big plot revelation at the end had been more believable, I'd have given it a higher rating, as it's well made and enjoyable, with Flynn giving yet another of his cheeky performances.

This movie is entertaining and good enough but from an Errol Flynn movie you would normally expect some more fireworks. The story for most part is good but the movie is lacking in both some action and real tension, which makes this movie a bit of a bore to watch.

The movie begins well and promising. The story seems solid but some unlikely and ridicules events in the story almost completely ruin the movie its story and credibility. Especially the ending is disappointing as well as ridicules, when the Nazi's are building a complete bomber from the parts that are in a couple of crates. It's ridicules and helps to make this movie a bit of a disappointing one. The movie also begins to drag pretty fast after the promising beginning. The second halve of the movie is especially a bore, when it starts to drag on for too long.

Still it entertains enough to make this movie still a watchable one. Errol Flynn plays his character well and convincing and proofs that he can still play a great leading man, even when the movie itself is a lacking one.

The movie would had been a so much better one if it had had some more action and tense moments in it. It instead now falls flat as well as an action movie as a WW II thriller.

The story itself is original and interesting enough, had it not been filled with so many ridicules moments. It's also sort of ridicules to see how morally right and the Errol Flynn character is but that is sort of a trademark for all the characters he ever played. And of course the Nazi's in this movie are made out to look as ruthless cold-hearted villains. It's pretty obvious that this movie was of course a piece of anti-Nazi propaganda, released in 1943.

Still watchable, as long as you don't expect too much fireworks from it or of Flynn.

6/10

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I was a bit surprised by this film. Despite being a quality production from Warner Brothers with a top director and a top star, the film was seemingly written by chipmunks--and dumb ones at that. Perhaps the reason they filmed such a bad plot is because it was WWII and they wanted a good propaganda piece for the audiences--but still, it should have been a lot better. Instead of bolstering the war effort, this film probably just elicited a few laughs.

Why did I dislike the script so much? Well, the biggest problem is how ludicrous the plot was. Sometimes you need to suspend disbelief to enjoy a film--here you need to turn off you brain completely! You are expected to believe that the Germans would send soldiers all the way to the most inhospitable wasteland of Canada. Then, you need to accept that they plan to bomb the St. Lawrence Seaway---and had planted planes in the wild years before the war in order to do this!! And, the Germans who concocted such a complicated plot had to be dumb enough to have this ridiculous plot foiled by a double-agent (Flynn). Now this is not the only obvious problem with the script. It also is, from time to time, a bit dull and could have either used a trimming or some more excitement along the journey. Much of it simply shows the group slogging through the snow in the sound stage--and a little of this goes a long way.

It's really a shame about the script, as the acting was quite good. Even though Errol Flynn had little to do in most of the movie, as usual his performance appears effortless as he was a very good actor. Gene Lockhart plays a heartless and spineless guy very well. And, relatively unknown Helmut Dantine is fine as a cold and snarling Nazi. These actors simply deserved better and the main reason I still give a reasonably high score was their acting--and it must have been hard giving good performances when they knew the script was a turkey.