weezeralfalfa It must have seemed a bit of deja vu for Randolph Scott, in starring in this yarn about some major problems encountered on the western prairies and in the Rockies, in building the Canadian transcontinental railway(CPR). A decade earlier, he had costarred with Shirley Temple, in "Suzanna of the Mounties". He played a Mountie, in a screenplay that featured problems surrounding the building of the CPR across the western prairies, including hostilities with the Blackfoot. The present film deals with the same basic historical subject, including Native American hostilities, but focuses much more on the rail-building aspect, and is a longer film. Thus, this film much more reminds us of the earlier de Mille-produced "Union Pacific" : another flag-waving epic, centered around obstacles, real and imagined, in the earlier building of a US transcontinental railway. The aspect of trapper-trader Rourke trying to sabotage rail constructions reminds us of the de Mille film "Unconquered", released a few years earlier. Yet another de Mille film: "Northwest Mounted Police" also shows some similarities to the plot. The dramatized resistance of the mixed race frontiersmen Metis, as well as the Native Americans , to the building of the railway, may also be interpreted as an unhistoric reason for the approximately contemporary and disjointed uprising of the Metis, Cree, and Assiniboine in Saskatchewan against the Canadian government, in which the nearly completed railway played an important role in quickly transporting troops to quell the uprisings.Randy plays Tom Andrews, who, in the first portion of the film, finds the pass through the Rockies that will be used by the railway. He is shown alone, scrambling over dangerously slippery steep rocky riversides. The historic Rogers, who was given this assignment, certainly was no lone wolf in this endeavor. In the screenplay, this makes him more vulnerable to being shot by Rourke and Cagle, who are leading the anti-railroad verbal and physical campaign in this region. Before this, we are treated to a brief debate in the Canadian parliament about the practicalities and urgency of building such a railway. The historical person of Cornelius Van Horne, as head of this enterprise, is included. We will meet him again periodically at the railhead. His finishing rallying cry is "If Hannibal crossed the Alps, we can cross the Rockies". After finishing his job of finding the pass, Tom declines Van Horne's expectation to continue on as troubleshooter, something he is renowned for in past rail-building projects. Tom goes to see his young French-derived Metis girlfriend, who is greatly impressed with his qualities, giving a warm reception. But when he later changes his mind, and goes back to the unsettled and dangerous job of rail building troubleshooter, she says their relationship is finished. Rourke is also interested in her, providing a second reason to want to be rid of Tom. For most of the rest of the film, Tom deals with various chronic problems that threaten to end completion of the track. The Metis, some of whom are working in building the track, continue sabotage operations, including blowing up track with dynamite stolen from the worker camp(actually unnecessary in this prairie section!), and payroll delays. Rourke finally convinces the Native Americans(who look real) to join in the fight against the railway. This causes Cecille to change sides again, running to the worker camp to warn of a planned 'Indian'-Metis attack. Meanwhile, Tom has developed a relationship with another woman: Dr. Edith Cabot(Jane Wyatt). She is also a pacifist, who advocates trying to solve personal and political problems by diplomacy, rather than by Tom's shooting and knock them down style of dealing with troublemakers. Tom is overly impressed by Edith's saving of his life with a personal blood transfusion, after he is nearly killed in a dynamite explosion. This sparks a romance during the winter layoff. Come spring, he agrees to try her diplomacy method of dealing with troublemakers. But, is not working. So, he puts his guns back on to back up his demands, to her displeasure. We get the impression that their romance is finished. In the finale, we have a standard happy ending: the workers get paid, Rourke and Cagle are dead, the Native Americans apologize for their brief hostility, sabotage stops, and Tom feels he can finally retire from his dangerous job. He just has to decide whether to accompany the middle-aged Edith on a train east, or start a settled life with his vivacious 'barefoot' Metis girl.It's not a bad screenplay, for interest. However, the cheap Cinecolor filming has some obvious drawbacks, As usual, Randy makes a charismatic, likable, hero, who should have died in that dynamite explosion. Wyatt's Edith is basically a cold fish, behind her doctoring. Cecille(Nancy Olson) makes a winsome passionate 'native' girl for Scott's character, their very different cultural backgrounds providing some tension in their relationship. However, they look more like a romantic father-daughter pair, with Scott 50, and Nancy only 21. I'm surprised the strict censorship board didn't nix such relationships....J. Carrol Naish often served as Scott's colorful sidekick.. Partly filmed on an 'Indian' reservation near Banff.

dave-b-toms Very disappointing to Canadians who know a little of their history, this 1940s-style western treats the building of the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway as if it had occurred in the U.S., with many mistakes noted elsewhere in this entry, and a heavy dose of the U.S. cultural imperialism so typical of 20th century Hollywood's treatments of other peoples' histories.The film makes no references to the important political issues and scandals in eastern Canada that surrounded and heavily influenced the building process, nor the important effects of the ever-present French- English-Indian cultural tensions.A passable B-grade western for an undiscriminating audience.

MartinHafer Wow, is this an ugly movie. While it was originally filmed in color and must have been a pretty film, the print shown on Turner Classic Movies was incredibly ugly--very fuzzy and with weird color saturation. It just looked dreadful and the movie is clearly in need of restoration.The story, not surprisingly, is about the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Because a baddie is trying to stir up the fur trappers against the railroad (mostly because he hates the railroad man, Randolph Scott), Scott spends almost all of the movie putting out fires, so to speak. Fighting among the work crew, missing dynamite and a variety of other problems are all solved by out stalwart hero. And, along the way, he meets a pretty female doctor. Because they instantly hate each other, you KNOW that according to cliché #33, they will be head-over-heels in love by the end of the film...it just has to be! However, and at least here it does NOT follow convention, there is another girl throughout the film and Scott's choice by the end of the film WAS a bit of a surprise. At one point it looks like poor Randy is about to die...but according to cliché #1, a hero cannot die (unless you are John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima"). And finally, the Indians are all bad...bad, bad, bad (cliche #4).The big conflict in this film is not between the baddie or the railroad workers, exactly. It's more a conflict within Scott, as his usual method of kicking butt is at odds with his new sweetie and her refined ways. She wants Scott to handle things like a gentleman--and he becomes very reticent to act as a result. And, not surprisingly, things on the railroad start to unravel quickly. But by the end, Scott proves that the best way to maintain the peace is violence! Yay, violence! On hand as supporting are J. Carrol Naish, Robert Barratt and the baddie, Victor Jory. All three are very well-known by fans of classic Hollywood films. While these are all good actors, the film itself seems very routine and is certainly not among Scott's best. Now it isn't bad...just not all that good and you'd certainly not put this on par with his later films directed by Budd Boetticher.

Michael Morrison Generally, one has to read only "starring Randolph Scott" to know one is about to experience cinematic pleasure.This film is different -- only in that Scott's character, Tom Andrews, has a double romance and is tempted to give up his fists and guns.His first romance is with an intriguing character, a wild young woman who is so obviously smitten with Tom we are made happier by basking in her love.Watching Nancy Olson in that role, I marveled at the strength she gave the character, Cecille Gautier. She also gave dimension, and beauty, and made Cecille someone we had to support.As Tom gets involved with Dr. Edith Cabot, played by Jane Wyatt, who has probably never looked lovelier, we wonder which of the two women will lose.The romance, though, is a sub-plot, and the major plot is the battle to complete the railroad, a battle against the elements and seasons, and against topography -- that spectacular scenery that even today lures tourists by the millions -- and against humans, some of whom are nefarious, some of whom are merely trying to protect their traditional way of life.Besides the stars, cameo bits by such outstanding players as Earle Hodgins and Edmund Cobb and the incredibly prolific George Chandler (more than 400 roles!) make "Canadian Pacific" a great movie.John Hamilton, with more than 300 roles to his credit, was usually seen as a police officer or judge or, most famously, the irascible Perry White in the "Superman" TV series. Here he shows his actor's range playing a peace-seeking priest.The script, from a story by Jack DeWitt, and written by DeWitt and Kenneth Garnet, really fleshes out the characters, especially in the beginning with some charming dialog.The music, by Dimitri Tiomkin, is something different from him, especially at the beginning, but is, of course, great. It is, after all, by Tiomkin.The print I saw, recently televised by Turner Classic Movies, was not in great shape, and the sound had a wobble to it, but the movie was so good, the problems became very minor.