''Northwest Passage'', also billed as ''Northwest Passage (Book 1: Roger's Rangers)'', is a 1940 American
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
film in
Technicolor
Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades.
Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...
, directed by
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
. It stars
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
,
Robert Young,
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
and
Ruth Hussey
Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in '' The Philadelphia Story''.
Early life
Hussey was born in Providence, Rhode I ...
. The film is set in 1759, and tells a partly fictionalized version of the real-life
St. Francis Raid by
Rogers' Rangers
Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War). The unit was quickly adopted into the British army as ...
, led by
Robert Rogers Robert Rogers may refer to:
Politics
* Robert Rogers (Irish politician) (died 1719), Irish politician, MP for Cork City 1692–1699
*Robert Rogers (Manitoba politician) (1864–1936), Canadian politician
* Robert Rogers, Baron Lisvane (born 1950), ...
(played by Tracy) on the primarily
Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
village of
St. Francis, in modern-day
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. The screenplay, by
Laurence Stallings
Laurence Tucker Stallings (November 25, 1894 – February 28, 1968) was an American playwright, screenwriter, lyricist, literary critic, journalist, novelist, and photographer. Best known for his collaboration with Maxwell Anderson on the 1924 pl ...
and
Talbot Jennings
Talbot Lanham Jennings (August 25, 1894 – May 30, 1985) was an American playwright and screenwriter. He received two Academy Award nominations for co-writing the screenplays for ''Mutiny on the Bounty'' (1935) and '' Anna and the King of Siam' ...
, is based on the 1937 historical novel ''
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
'' by
Kenneth Roberts.
Roberts' novel is split into two parts, referred to as "Book 1" and "Book 2", and the film is based entirely on Book 1. There was originally discussion about filming a sequel that would cover Book 2, but this did not happen. Ironically, Rogers' quest to find a
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
through
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
, which gave both the novel and the film their title, takes place in Book 2, and is only briefly mentioned in the film.
Plot
In 1759, Langdon Towne (
Robert Young), son of a ropemaker and ship rigger, returns to
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census it had a population of 21,956. A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmou ...
after his expulsion from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. Though disappointed, his family greets him with love, as does Elizabeth Browne (
Ruth Hussey
Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in '' The Philadelphia Story''.
Early life
Hussey was born in Providence, Rhode I ...
). Elizabeth's father (
Louis Hector
Louis Hector (March 19, 1883 – October 1968) was an American radio, theater, film, and television actor. He is best known for his roles of Sherlock Holmes in the 1937 broadcast of ''The Three Garridebs'' (the first US televised portrayal of Sir ...
), a noted clergyman, is less welcoming and denigrates Langdon's aspirations to become a
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
.
At the local tavern with friend Sam Livermore (
Lester Matthews
Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. Matthews pla ...
), Langdon disparages Wiseman Clagett (
Montagu Love
Montagu Love (15 March 1877 – 17 May 1943) was an English screen, stage and vaudeville actor.
Early years
Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Love was the son of Harry Love and Fanny Louisa Love, née Poad; his father was listed as accountant ...
), the king's attorney and the Native American agent
Sir William Johnson
Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York ( – 11 July 1774), was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Ireland. As a young man, Johnson moved to the Province of New York to manage an estate purchased by his uncle, Royal Na ...
, unaware that Clagett is in the next room with another official. Facing arrest, Langdon fights the two men with the help of "Hunk" Marriner (
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
), a local woodsman and both escape into the countryside.
Fleeing westward, Langdon and Marriner stop in a backwoods tavern, where they help a man in a green uniform. After a night of drinking "Flip" - similar to hot buttered rum - the two men wake up at
Fort Crown Point
Fort Crown Point was built by the combined efforts of both British and provincial troops (from New York and the New England Colonies) in North America in 1759 at a narrows on Lake Champlain on what later became the border between New York and Vermo ...
, where they learn the man they met is
Major Robert Rogers
Robert Rogers (7 November 1731 – 18 May 1795) was an American colonial frontiersman. Rogers served in the British army during both the French and Indian War and the American Revolution. During the French and Indian War, Rogers raised and ...
(
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
), commander of
Rogers' Rangers
Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War). The unit was quickly adopted into the British army as ...
. In need of Langdon's map-making skills, Rogers recruits the two men for his latest expedition to destroy the hostile
Abenakis tribe and their town of
St. Francis far to the north.
Rogers' force rows north in whale boats on
Lake Champlain
, native_name_lang =
, image = Champlainmap.svg
, caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed
, image_bathymetry =
, caption_bathymetry =
, location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada
, coords =
, type =
, ...
by night, evading
French patrols, but several soldiers are injured in a confrontation with
Mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
* Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
* Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
scouts. Rogers sends not only the wounded back to Crown Point, but also the disloyal Mohawks provided by Sir William Johnson (Frederick Worlock) and a number of men who disobeyed orders. Concealing their boats, the depleted force marches through swampland to conceal their movements. Informed by Stockbridge Indian scouts that the French have captured their boats and extra supplies, Rogers revises his plan and sends an injured officer back to Fort Crown Point requesting the British send supplies to old
Fort Wentworth
Fort Wentworth was built by order of Benning Wentworth in 1755. The fort was built at the junction of the Upper Ammonoosuc River and Connecticut River, in Northumberland, New Hampshire, by soldiers of Colonel Joseph Blanchard's New Hampshire Prov ...
, to be met by the returning rangers.
Making a human chain to cross a river, the rangers reach St. Francis. Their attack succeeds, and they set fire to the dwellings and cut the Abenakis off from retreat. After the battle, the rangers find only a few baskets of parched corn to replenish their provisions. Marriner finds Langdon shot in his abdomen. The rangers set out for Wentworth, pursued by hostile French and Indian forces. Their initial objective is
Lake Memphremagog
Lake Memphremagog (; french: Lac Memphrémagog) is a fresh water glacial lake located between Newport, Vermont, United States and Magog, Quebec, Canada. The lake spans both Quebec and Vermont, but is mostly in Quebec. Most of the watershed that ...
, with the injured Langdon bringing up the rear.
Ten days later, Rogers' men reach the hills above Lake Memphremagog. Encountering signs of French activity, Rogers prefers to press on a hundred miles to Fort Wentworth, but the men vote to split up into four parties to hunt for food.
Game
A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...
proves scarce and two of the detachments are ambushed by the French, leaving most of the men dead. Persevering through harsh conditions, Rogers and the remaining fifty men finally reach the fort, only to find it unoccupied and in disrepair, and the British relief column has not arrived. Though personally despairing, Rogers attempts to perk up their flagging spirits with a prayer. They then hear the
fifes and drums of approaching British boats with the supplies. Reporting that the Abenakis have been destroyed, the British honour Rogers’ men by
presenting their firearms and shouting "Huzzah".
Returning to Portsmouth, Langdon reunites with Elizabeth while the Rangers are given a new mission: to find the
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
. Rogers fires them up with a speech about the wonders they will see on the march to the first point of embarkation, a little fort called "
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
." He passes by Langdon and Elizabeth to say goodbye; Elizabeth informs him that she and Langdon are headed for London where she is hopeful Langdon will become a great painter. Rogers bids them farewell and marches down the road and off into the sunset.
Cast
*
Spencer Tracy
Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...
as
Major Rogers
*
Robert Young as Langdon Towne
*
Walter Brennan
Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in '' Come and Get It'' (1936), ''Kentucky'' (1938), and '' The Westerner ...
as "Hunk" Marriner
*
Ruth Hussey
Ruth Carol Hussey (October 30, 1911 – April 19, 2005) was an American actress best known for her Academy Award-nominated role as photographer Elizabeth Imbrie in '' The Philadelphia Story''.
Early life
Hussey was born in Providence, Rhode I ...
as Elizabeth Browne
*
Nat Pendleton
Nathaniel Greene Pendleton (August 9, 1895 – October 12, 1967) was an American Olympic wrestler, film actor, and stage performer. His younger brother, Edmund J. Pendleton (1899-1987), was a well-known music composer and choir maste ...
as "Cap" Huff
*
Louis Hector
Louis Hector (March 19, 1883 – October 1968) was an American radio, theater, film, and television actor. He is best known for his roles of Sherlock Holmes in the 1937 broadcast of ''The Three Garridebs'' (the first US televised portrayal of Sir ...
as Reverend Browne
*
Robert Barrat
Robert Harriot Barrat (July 10, 1891 – January 7, 1970) was an American stage, motion picture, and television character actor.
Early years
Barratt was born on July 10, 1891, in New York City and was educated in the public schools there. He ...
as Humphrey Towne
*
Lumsden Hare
Francis Lumsden Hare (17 October 1874 – 28 August 1964) was an Irish-born film and theatre actor. He was also a theatre director and theatrical producer.
Early years
Hare studied at St. Dunstan's College in London.
Career
Hare appeare ...
as Lord Amherst
*
Donald MacBride
Donald Hugh MacBride (June 23, 1893 – June 21, 1957) was an American character actor on stage, in films, and on television who launched his career as a teenage singer (making several recordings in 1907) in vaudeville and went on to be an ...
as Sergeant McNott
*
Isabel Jewell
Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her more famous films were '' Ceiling Zero'', ''Marked Woman'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', and ''Gone with t ...
as Jennie Coit
*
Douglas Walton as Lieutenant Avery
*
Addison Richards
Addison Whittaker Richards, Jr. (October 20, 1902 – March 22, 1964) was an American actor of film and television. Richards appeared in more than three hundred films between 1933 and his death.
Biography
A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Richa ...
as Lieutenant Crofton
* Hugh Sothern as Jesse Beacham
*
Regis Toomey
John Francis Regis Toomey (August 13, 1898October 12, 1991) was an American film and television actor.
Early life
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey, and attended Peabody High ...
as Webster
*
Montagu Love
Montagu Love (15 March 1877 – 17 May 1943) was an English screen, stage and vaudeville actor.
Early years
Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Love was the son of Harry Love and Fanny Louisa Love, née Poad; his father was listed as accountant ...
as Wiseman Clagett
*
Lester Matthews
Arthur Lester Matthews (6 June 1900 – 5 June 1975) was an English actor. In his career, the handsome Englishman made more than 180 appearances in film and on television. He was erroneously credited in later years as Les Matthews. Matthews pla ...
as Sam Livermore
*
Truman Bradley as Captain Ogden
*
Tom London
Tom London (born Leonard T. Clapman; August 24, 1889 – December 5, 1963) was an American actor who played frequently in B-Westerns. According to ''The Guinness Book of Movie Records'', London is credited with appearing in the most films in ...
as Ranger (uncredited)
Production
Development
The film is set in the mid-18th century during the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
(as the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754†...
in
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
is usually known in the US). It is a partly fictionalized account of the
St. Francis Raid, an attack by
Rogers' Rangers
Rogers' Rangers was a company of soldiers from the Province of New Hampshire raised by Major Robert Rogers and attached to the British Army during the Seven Years' War (French and Indian War). The unit was quickly adopted into the British army as ...
on Saint Francis (the current
Odanak, Quebec
Odanak is an Abenaki First Nations reserve in the Central Quebec region, Quebec, Canada. The mostly First Nations population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 481. The territory is located near the mouth of the Saint-François River at its conflue ...
), a settlement of the
Abenakis, an
American Indian tribe. The purpose of the raid was to avenge the many attacks on British settlers and deter any further ones.
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 Rogers may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Rogers Pass (British Columbia)
* Rogers Island (Nunavut)
United States
* Rogers, Arkansas, a city
* Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement
* Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated communit ...
and his men are about to go on a search for the
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
.
Filming
The film was shot in central
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
, near
Payette Lake and the city of
McCall.
The film wound up as MGM's most expensive film since ''Ben Hur'' (1926).
The picture was originally slated for an even more lavish budget in an earlier incarnation and was to star
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in ''Min and Bill'' (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in ''Grand Hotel'' (193 ...
and Tracy but management difficulties between
Irving Thalberg
Irving Grant Thalberg (May 30, 1899 – September 14, 1936) was an American film producer during the early years of motion pictures. He was called "The Boy Wonder" for his youth and ability to select scripts, choose actors, gather productio ...
and
Louis B. Mayer
Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1882 or 1884 or 1885 – October 29, 1957) was a Canadian-American film producer and co-founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios (MGM) in 1924. Under Mayer's management, MGM became the film industr ...
interceded at that time.
Reception
Box office
According to MGM records the film earned $2,169,000 in the US and Canada and $981,000 elsewhere but because of its high cost incurred a loss of $885,000.
Awards and honors
The film was nominated for an
Oscar
Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to:
People
* Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms.
* Oscar (Irish mythology) ...
for
Best Cinematography (Color) in 1941, but lost out to ''
The Thief of Bagdad''.
Sequels and related projects
According to one source, the script was revised by as many as 12 other writers, in addition to the two credited. Author
Kenneth Roberts served as a co-writer on a second draft of a proposed script for the movie, one that covered the entire novel, not just the first book of it. However, executives at MGM scuttled the revision and instead used the first draft of the script, which covered only the first book, as the basis for the finished film. This is why the film ''Northwest Passage'' was subtitled ''Book One: Roger's Rangers''.
Director
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor (; February 8, 1894 – November 1, 1982) was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose 67-year film-making career successfully spanned the silent and sound eras. His works are distinguished by a vivid, ...
then attempted to make a sequel to the film in which Rogers' Rangers find the Northwest Passage, although Roberts refused to cooperate with the project. But filming never began, because MGM ultimately refused to
green-light
To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead".
Film industry
In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...
it.
MGM produced a 1958-1959 American television series ''
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...
'' starring
Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen (born Keith Larsen Burt, June 17, 1924 – December 13, 2006) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961.
Background
Larsen was born in Salt ...
as Robert Rogers, with
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen (born Christian Ludolf Ebsen Jr., April 2, 1908 – July 6, 2003), also known as Frank "Buddy" Ebsen, was an American actor and dancer, whose career spanned seven decades. One of his most famous roles was as Jed Clampett in the CBS ...
costarring as "Hunk" Marriner, replacing Walter Brennan, who had his own TV series, ''
The Real McCoys
''The Real McCoys'' is an American situation comedy starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan. Co-produced by Danny Thomas's Marterto Productions in association with Walter Brennan and Irving Pincus's Westgate Company, it ...
'', in production at the time. The show aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
.
Legacy
Depiction of American Indians
The film's depiction of
American Indians came to be criticized as racist, even by the standards of
Hollywood at the time. This appraisal mirrors that of the section of the novel set during the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
, which has become equally regarded as racist.
Clive Denton, in his 1976 book ''The Hollywood Professionals: Volume 5'', made these observations on the subject:
Later screenings
The film was shown at the
70th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2020, as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.
Footnotes
References
*Denton, Clive. 1976. ''The Hollywood Professionals, Volume 5: King Vidor, John Cromwell, Mervyn LeRoy.'' The Tanvity Press, London.
External links
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Northwest Passage (Film)
1940 films
1940s historical adventure films
1940 Western (genre) films
American historical adventure films
American Western (genre) films
1940s English-language films
Films based on American novels
Films based on historical novels
Films based on military novels
Films shot in Idaho
Films directed by King Vidor
French and Indian War films
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Films set in 1759
Films set in New Hampshire
Films set in New York (state)
Films set in Quebec
Films set in the Thirteen Colonies
Films scored by Herbert Stothart
1940s American films