Northwest Passage (film)
| Northwest Passage | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | King Vidor |
| Produced by | Hunt Stromberg |
| Written by |
Laurence Stallings Talbot Jennings |
| Starring |
Spencer Tracy Robert Young |
| Music by | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography | William V. Skall Sidney Wagner |
| Edited by | Conrad A. Nervig |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
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Release date
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Running time
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125 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,687,000 |
| Box office | $3,150,000 |
Northwest Passage is a 1940 Technicolor film, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, and others. The picture is based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts titled Northwest Passage (1937).
It is set in the mid 18th century during the French and Indian War (as the Seven Years' War in North America is usually known in the US). It is a partly fictionalised account of the St. Francis Raid, an attack by Rogers' Rangers on Saint Francis (the current Odanak, Quebec), a settlement of the Abenakis, an American Indian tribe. The purpose of the raid is to avenge the many attacks on British settlers and deter further attacks.
The title is something of a misnomer, since this film is a truncated version of the original story, and only at the end do we find that Rogers and his men are about to go on a search for the Northwest Passage.
The film opens in the year 1759 with the arrival of Langdon Towne (Robert Young) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The son of a cordage (rope)- maker and ship rigger, he returns from Harvard University after being expelled for complaining about college food and drawing an unflattering picture of the President of Harvard College. Though disappointed, Langdon's family greets him with love, as does Elizabeth Browne (Ruth Hussey), the daughter of a noted clergyman. Elizabeth's father (Louis Hector) is less welcoming, however, and denigrates Langdon's aspirations to becoming a painter. That evening, while drinking in the local tavern with friend Sam Livermore (Lester Matthews), Langdon makes indiscreet remarks disparaging Wiseman Clagett (Montagu Love), the king's attorney, and the Indian agent, Sir William Johnson, unaware that Clagett is sitting in the next room with another official. Facing arrest for his comments, Langdon fights the two men with the help of "Hunk" Marriner (Walter Brennan), a local woodsman and friend, before they both escape into the woods.
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Wikipedia