Kittyman Two months before his death in 1957, Kenneth Roberts received a special Pulitzer Prize for his historical novels. Of them, Northwest Passage was his most famous. It consisted of two distinct parts, and was the second best selling American book of 1937 (after first having been serialized in the Saturday Evening Post).MGM's 1940 movie is based on the first, and in my opinion, better part of the book. It recounts Major Robert Rogers' 1759 raid on St. Francis, an Abenaki village, during the French and Indian War. As Rogers, Spencer Tracy gives a powerhouse performance, King Vidor delivers the directorial goods, and the storyline, itself, is very exciting. Indeed, I remember Northwest Passage fondly from my childhood, and consider it a classic. However, because of today's values, it probably appeals more to conservatives than liberals.In 1945, Warner Brothers' Objective, Burma! (starring Errol Flynn) used the same plot without attribution--a Japanese transmission station replacing the Indian village. (Directed by Raoul Walsh, it too is very well done.) Then, in 1951's Distant Drums (starring Gary Cooper), director Walsh again used the same plot without attribution. This time the movie (which is not so well done) occurs during The Seminole Indian Wars (1835–1842), and the initial objective is an old Spanish fort, lying deep within the Everglades.In conclusion, I'm not shocked that Hollywood recycled Roberts' plot without attribution. (You only have to remember Dorothy Parker's quip "The only 'ism' Hollywood believes in is plagiarism.") I am, however, somewhat shocked that Roberts did not sue. (His reputation was that of an acerbic curmudgeon.) But, then again, maybe he just didn't know.

Robert J. Maxwell Spencer Tracy is the real historical figure Major Robert Rogers, leader of an elite group of Rangers within the British Army during the French and Indian Wars of about 1760, known in Europe as the Seven Years' War. Everyone else in the army dresses in outlandish red coats, high feathered hats, stockings, dirndls, tutus and whatnot. Rogers' Rangers dress in fringed buckskin of forest green and they wear moccasins like the real woodsmen they are. Well, they might make room for ONE elitist. Robert Young has just been booted out of Harvard College, intent on becoming an artist. Tracy has no particular use for artists but he does need a map maker and he enlists Young, and Young's comic sidekick, the ever-irascible Walter Brennan. There is a long and perilous trip by longboats from New Hampshire up to the Canadian border, one of those trips in which we can't stop for any wounded men. There is a fierce battle in which the Rangers wipe out an entire village of Abenaki Indians. When the Rangers discover that the French have captured their boats, it means they must make a ten-day march without food across a mountain wilderness. Starving, they vote to break up into smaller parties. Two of the parties are captured and slaughtered by the hostile Indians loyal to the French. The pitiful remnants catch up with the main body, tattered in mind and body. The movie has been called "racist" and it really doesn't treat all the Indians fairly. At the same time, the tribes of the Northeast woodlands were tough customers, rough not only on white settlers but on their Indian enemies too. The butchery was expected on all sides. Tracy keeps promising them that when they reach their goal, Fort Wentworth, in the middle of nowhere, the British will be waiting for them with sides of beef, vegetables, hot buttered rum, arugula salad, and diverse configurations of sushi. "Come on, men!", Tracy keeps shouting. "It's only a thousand more miles! A Ranger can walk it on his hands!" Alas, when they reach Fort Wentworth, it's falling apart, deserted, overgrown with sagebrush (in the mountains of New England). Either the British Army is late for the appointment or Rogers' message to them never got through. "Plenty of good ROOTS here," Tracy declaims, waving his arms operatically, "and Moses went for 40 days without food or water. And we've got plenty of WATER. Buckets full of water!" The Rangers, too pooped to pop, sink to the ground. Just as Tracy is leading them in a final prayer, salvation arrives. It's interesting to consider this movie from the perspective of the audiences of 1940, from which the whole story must have seemed like a metaphor. The Rangers are Americans. We are the allies of the British. The Indians are brutal maniacs who butcher women and children. In 1940 Britain was in the middle of a great air battle with the brutal Nazis. America wasn't yet at war but our sympathies were clearly with the Brits. The movie doesn't show us any villainous Frenchmen. Why not? Because in 1940, the French had just been overrun by the German Army and shifted its government to Britain. How could the movie paint the French as "bad"? The friend of my friend is my friend. (There's a good explanation for this dynamic. Google "balance theory" or "Fritz Heider.") The performances are good. Most of the acting looks like acting, which was expectable in a Hollywood product of the time. But Walter Brennan is, as always, Walter Brennan; and Spencer Tracy could play anything from Mr. Hyde to Clarence Darrow. Ruth Hussey's appearance is brief and that's just as well. She's pretty bland. As a tale of adventure, this is unimpeachable. As a war story, it's unusual in that it focuses not on the usual things -- battles, banter, shoehorned cardboard romance -- but on physical fatigue, on the difference between hope and despair. (In this way it reminds me a little of Norman Mailer's novel, "The Naked and the Dead.") The plot is so good it showed up a few years later, morphed into a story of American paratroopers isolated behind Japanese lines, in Warners' "Objective Burma." Well worth catching, not just because it represents Hollywood at its craftsman-like best, but because it's like looking into a time capsule.

chuck-reilly The 1940 film "Northwest Passage" (sub-titled "Book One: Rogers' Rangers") is a major work and was a resounding success in its day. The story, taken from the historical novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts, concerns the real-life exploits of British Major Robert Rogers, the original founder of what would become the U.S. Army Rangers. Although the title alludes to a far off expedition, this film concentrates on Rogers leading his men against the Abenaki Indians and their French masters during the early years of the French and Indian War (1750s). Spencer Tracy portrays Rogers as near super-human, driving his men to expectations and accomplishments far beyond the norm. Along for the ride are two new recruits, Robert Young as Langdon Towne and a very youthful Walter Brennan as Hunk Marriner. There's no Political Correctness to be found in this movie. The Indians are evil savages who have killed defenseless settlers and Rogers and his men are out for revenge. They massacre nearly an entire Abenaki village on the Canadian border and then make a run for it through the treacherous wilderness with the enemy hot on their tail. Not all of the Rangers make it back to safety and the film does its utmost to convey the dangers they encounter and the miserable and horrific end to many of the men. One group of Rangers who stray from the rest are ambushed and butchered by the French and Indians who literally "play ball with their heads." Iconic film director King Vidor does tremendous work here with his cinematographer and the talented cast. "Northwest Passage" was filmed in Technicolor and the location shots (mostly in Idaho) are considered some of the greatest of this era. Spencer Tracy, as usual, carries much of the load but he's helped immensely by Robert Young and his sidekick Walter Brennan. Those two gentlemen are a fine contrast to Tracy's rough-hewed Rogers and they give the film some much-needed balance. In one scene, Young is severely wounded but Tracy inspires him to regain his feet after chiding him about the girl he left behind (Ruth Hussey). There are also some grim reminders of the brutality of war sprinkled throughout this film. One Ranger goes stark raving mad, cutting off the head of an Indian and carrying it around like a hidden souvenir. He later gets hungry and begins to nibble away on it, handing out tidbits to his unsuspecting fellow soldiers. It's those kinds of scenes that give this film its well-deserved reputation for realism and kept it relevant for modern audiences. Unfortunately, "Book Two" which would have dealt with Rogers' ill-fated mission to discover the Northwest Passage and his subsequent fall from grace, was never filmed. The real Major Rogers died in the Fleet Prison for debtors in London at the age of 64.

cbpelto Roger's Rangers became the inspiration for the formation of the modern Army's Rangers units.Revived in World War II to accomplish missions that no one in their right-mind would even consider, they lead the way in numerous extremely hazardous operations. Probably the most famous was the assault up the sheer cliff faces of Pont du Hoc during the invasion of Festung Europe on June 6th 1944. They took 50% casualties in that operation.This movie, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, depicts the ill-fated operation by the first American Rangers. It demonstrates their ingenuity, determination and fortitude in the face of every possible adversity one can expect in time of war.I went through the Army's Ranger Course in 1980. It was a demanding year of my life and I have to admit, after seeing this movie, quite by accident several years later, I was reminded of everything that the training regime put me through. I was especially impressed with how Roger's men had to suffer from the deprivations of no logistical support to provide subsistence. I swear....it was a sorry water moccasin (snake) that crossed my patrol's path in Florida. You'd hear the word, whispered, "Snake." Followed immediately by the sound of several machetes being pulled from sheaths and a short 'splash'.When we finished the last operation, the night assault on Santa Rosa Island, we were as jubilant as Roger's men were when they were 'relieved' by the British column. And we celebrated, about the same way....FOOOOOoooOD!