Canadian Pacific (film)

Canadian Pacific
Directed by	Edwin L. Marin
Produced by	Nat Holt
Written by	Jack DeWitt Kenneth Gamet
Starring	Randolph Scott Jane Wyatt J. Carrol Naish
Music by	Dimitri Tiomkin
Cinematography	Fred Jackman Jr.
Edited by	Philip Martin
Production company	Nat Holt Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 19, 1949 (1949-05-19) (New York City)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Canadian Pacific is a 1949 historical Western, directed by Edwin L. Marin and starring Randolph Scott and Jane Wyatt. Filmed in Cinecolor on location in the Canadian Rockies in Banff National Park, Morley Indian Reserve in Alberta and Yoho National Park in British Columbia, it spins a fanciful account of the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

Tom Andrews (Randolph Scott) is a surveyor involved in the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which is stalled by the Rocky Mountains. While mapping a route through the mountains, Andrews is shot at by Dirk Rourke (Victor Jory), a fur trader, and his accomplice, Cagle (Don Haggerty). When Andrews returns to the construction camp, he sees Cagle working there and attacks him. Dr Edith Cabot (Jane Wyatt) intervenes - she is a pacifist and disapproves of violence.

Andrews heads for Calgary to his girlfriend, Cecille Gautier (Nancy Olson). Andrews and Cecille's father (John Parrish) attend a meeting at which Rourke campaigns against the railway, claiming it will mean the end of trade in the area. Andrews tries to convince the crowd that the railway will benefit them, and that Rourke objects only because it will end his business monopoly. He and Rourke get into a fist fight, which is broken up by Père Lacombe (John Hamilton). To keep the peace (and because Cecille's father sides with Rourke), Andrews decides to return to work on the railway; Cecille, not understanding and upset at his intention to spend another year away, breaks their engagement.

At the camp, Dynamite Dawson (J. Carrol Naish) tells Andrews of his suspicion that Indians have been stealing dynamite; Andrews later finds several cases of dynamite buried at an Indian village. The chief says that young braves had been paid by a white man to steal them. Back at the camp, Cagle and Rourke shoot at one of the cases as Andrews unloads them. Andrews is seriously injured in the resulting explosion. On board a train back to the base hospital, Dr Cabot transfuses her own blood to save Andrews's life.