49th Parallel

At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller, 49th Parallel is a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the still-neutral United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining, 49th Parallel features a colorful cast of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.

United Kingdom
1941
123 minutes
Black & White
1.33:1
English
Spine #376

Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film and music historian Bruce Eder
The Volunteer, a 1943 Powell and Pressburger war-effort short starring Ralph Richardson
A Pretty British Affair, a BBC documentary on the careers of Powell and Pressburger, which considers their WWII-era collaborations and features rare footage of the filmmakers together
Excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography
Original theatrical trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Charles Barr and an excerpt from Powell's 1941 premiere speech

New cover by Eric Skillman

DVD 2 Discs $27.96 SRP: $39.95

Digital Options

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Special Features

New, restored high-definition digital transfer
Audio commentary by film and music historian Bruce Eder
The Volunteer, a 1943 Powell and Pressburger war-effort short starring Ralph Richardson
A Pretty British Affair, a BBC documentary on the careers of Powell and Pressburger, which considers their WWII-era collaborations and features rare footage of the filmmakers together
Excerpts from Michael Powell's audio dictations for his autobiography
Original theatrical trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Charles Barr and an excerpt from Powell's 1941 premiere speech

New cover by Eric Skillman

Cast & Credits

Cast

Leslie Howard: Philip Armstrong Scott
Eric Portman: Lieutenant Hirth
Raymond Massey: Andy Brock
Laurence Olivier: Johnnie
Anton Walbrook: Peter
Raymond Lovell: Lieutenant Kuhnecke
Niall MacGinnis: Vogel
Glynis Johns: Anna
Finlay Currie: The Factor

Credits

Director: Michael Powell
Original story and screenplay: Emeric Pressburger
Producer: Michael Powell
Scenario: Emeric Pressburger
Music: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Cinematography: Frederick Young
Editing: David Lean
Scenario: Rodney Ackland

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Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger

Writer, Producer, Director

Though The Red Shoes is possibly the most popular and visually entrancing dance film of all time, the producing, directing, and writing team of the British Michael Powell and the Hungarian Emeric Pressburger created numerous other odes to the power of art and the imagination, always going against the realist strain of British cinema. Known by the name of their production company, the Archers, Powell and Pressburger forged a working alliance that lasted from the late thirties to the early seventies, and from the anti-Nazi propaganda of 49th Parallel and the astoundingly designed and edited epic The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp to the erotic, magical excesses of A Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I’m Going!, Black Narcissus, and The Tales of Hoffmann. The duo were never as successful on their own as with each other, though Powell’s controversial Peeping Tom remains one of the most subversive and disturbing films ever made.