‘49th Parallel’: Canada Confronts the Nazis

The border of Canada and the United States is the setting for a confrontation with Nazis in World War II.

Philip (Leslie Howard, 2nd L) confronts the Nazis in Canada, in “49th Parallel.” Ortus Films

NR | 2h 3m | Drama | 1942

Screenwriter Emeric Pressburger and producer-director Michael Powell started work on “49th Parallel” soon after World War II began to persuade the then-neutral United States to join the Allied forces. But the challenges of filming an international cast across continents (America and Europe) amid stifling wartime travel delayed filmmaking. When the film was released in 1942, the United States was already involved in the war.