Wednesday 12/9

Wednesday 12/9 10.30pm

There's an odd new channel called "This" that plays old movies. Really old movies. At this moment I've stumbled across a WW II movie all about escaped U-boat Nazis trying to cross Canada and get into the States. It's as much propaganda as anything else. And, hoo boy, is the acting bad. And the script! I caught the last 30 minutes or so.

Three men in a canoe, one paddling and babbling about the wonders of nature etc (this turns out to be Leslie Howard), doing a good imitation of a silly twit. They arrive at camp (elaborate tipis -- huh, weren't tipis used on the plains? were they ever used in deep forest?) and he proceeds to be a good host twit, including showing off his Picasso and his Matisse -- he loves them so he couldn't bear to leave them behind. Mind you, these are just canvas on stretchers, unframed. He's a writer with a fine three-barreled name, researching Blackfoot traditions.

He gets overpowered and tied up, whereupon the two baddies proceed to trash the place as he details his physical reactions to the events (pulse? steady; palms? dry; belly? calm). When they destroy the paintings (decadent art!), he winces slightly. When they drop his newly completed manuscript on the Blackfeet into the fire, he gives a little grunt. British stiff upper lip, don't you know.

The Nazis run off, having spooked the (loose!) horses by trying to saddle them. Our hero gets loose, he and his men (who slept through nearly all of the uproar) corner one guy in a cave. The guy has four shots left in his pistol so Howard walks forward, counting the shots, including the 4th one that hits him in the thigh, which causes him to stagger a little and then limp on into the cave to beat up the bad guy.

That's the end of the Howard part (yah!). Then the other Nazi turns up on a freight train traveling toward the States, and is trapped with Raymond Massey as a Canadian soldier, who invites him to enjoy some of the "weak democracy" to be found at the end of his fists. The last shot is of a snarling Massey advancing on the cringing Nazi.

It was called The 49th Parallel. And what a cast! Laurence Olivier, Glynis Johns, Leslie Howard, Raymond Massey. Bad acting and all. I missed Olivier, which is okay by me as I think he's only intermittently a good actor but who does love to chew the scenery. I do like Glynis Johns, though.