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still 49th Parallel (Michael Powell, GB 1941)

49th Parallel

Michael Powell / GB, 1941 / 123 min.

This Oscar winning British propaganda film in which the crew of a stranded U-boat make a perilous journey across Canada on route to the neutral USA was Pressburger’s attempt to beat Goebbels at his own game. His incensed, humane script completely destroys Nazi ideology.

poster 49th Parallel (Michael Powell, GB 1941)
For their third collaboration Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were commissioned to make a propaganda film by the British Ministry of Information. With 49th Parallel (1941, The Invaders in the USA) they attempted to influence public opinion in what until then had been a neutral America to support the country’s participation in World War II. As Pressburger later stated: "Goebbels considered himself an expert on propaganda, but I thought I’d show him a thing or two".

Details

Not (yet) rated

Director

Michael Powell

Production year

1941

Country

GB

Original title

49th Parallel

Length

123 min.

Language

English

Subtitles

NLD

Format

35mm

Part of

The Creative Worlds of Powell and Pressburger

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger enjoyed huge success with films such as The Red Shoes (1948), Black Narcissus (1947) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946). Eye presents the first-ever extensive retrospective of Powell & Pressburger’s work in the Netherlands.

Learn more
campaign image The Creative Worlds of Powell & Pressburger
still 49th Parallel (Michael Powell, GB 1941)
still 49th Parallel (Michael Powell, GB 1941)
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