49th Parallel Trivia Quiz

Answer: by a handshake

Although a handshake probably featured at some point, the 49th Parallel was agreed upon as the international frontier between the USA and the British-held territories of North America at the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 and the Oregon Treaty of 1848.

It probably suited the propaganda purposes of the film to overstate the cosy relationship between Britain and the USA, by implying that the two nations had a 'gentleman's agreement' concerning a matter so precious as their international border.

Answer: bombed by aircraft

The U-37 is sunk by a concentrated attack from a squadron of Lockheed Hudson bombers. Bearing in mind the slender resources that the RCAF had at its disposal for coastal protection in 1940, it was probably exaggerated for propaganda purposes that so many modern bombers could be brought to bear on such a small target. Coastal patrol aircraft normally operated alone, not in squadron strength.

Answer: they had been ashore at the time

The survivors were a raiding party that had been sent ashore to obtain provisions from a Hudson Bay trading post. Any sympathy that the audience might have had for their predicament is quickly eradicated by their ruthless slaughter of many Inuit villagers, including a mother and her baby.

Answer: Laurence Olivier

Peter Ustinov once said of his old colleague Laurence Olivier that he always needed to act behind some kind of mask, whether it was facial hair, spectacles, a wig, a prosthetic nose, etc.. And yes, in this scene, Olivier is wearing a Gallic moustache and speaking in a dubious Québécois accent!

Answer: Eric Portman

Eric Portman was an established Shakespearean actor more famous for his stage work. He was actually a late replacement for Esmond Knight, the original choice to play the part of Hirth, who had enlisted in the armed forces.

Answer: Hutterite

The Hutterite episode was part of the film's attempt to demonstrate that the German-Canadians were not Nazi-sympathisers. Although this stemmed originally from a Ministry of Information requirement, the new government policy of internment in Britain had subsequently removed this criterion from the film.

It remained, however, as a legacy of the original script by Emeric Pressburger - himself a refugee from religious persecution.

Answer: baker

Niall MacGinnis played Vogel. He was cast as the most sympathetic of the German sailors, who demonstrated his preference for a return to his peacetime occupation as a baker. In one of the story's more disturbing episodes, he was executed by the others for wavering in his devotion to his duty.

Answer: his two paintings and a book

Although it was perhaps unrealistic that an anthropologist should lug paintings by Picasso and Matisse around with him in the Canadian wilderness, it served its propaganda purpose when the Nazi sailors destroyed them for being degenerate art. His treasured novel by the German Jewish writer, Thomas Mann, was put on the fire in a symbolic echo of the book-burning ceremonies of the Nazis in the 1930s.

Answer: a deserting Canadian soldier

Andy Brock and Hirth are accidentally sharing the same freight wagon as it crosses the border. Brock was AWOL from the Canadian army. After persuading the US Customs Officers to return the freight train to Canada with them in it, Brock symbolically dons his uniform cap before punishing Hirth for trying to escape and for being a Nazi. Brock was played by Raymond Massey, who served with the Canadian army during both world wars.

Although many of the scenes for the film were shot in a London studio, this final scene was filmed in Montreal, because that's where Massey was completing his army training.

Answer: True

Although the first feature film with which the Ministry of Information became involved was 'The Lion Has Wings'(1939), '49th Parallel' was the first film that it commissioned and the only film that it funded from start to finish. The Ministry of Information set about creating a "Programme for Film Propaganda", with the emphasis on why and how Britain was fighting the war, and aiming to convey the message of the need for sacrifice.