This is the first silent film Mountie review on Phantom Empires,  I'm pleased to report.  There are apparently quite a number of these,  but sadly,  most of the Mountie-themed silents are now lost.  Such a crime.  When I think of how many silent films are lost in general,  it creates a hard knot in my guts that lasts for days.  The greatest artistic loss in modern history, in my opinion.  I'm profusely glad, and extremely grateful for the silents that survive for us all to enjoy and learn from.

NOMADS OF THE NORTH is a 1920 adaptation,  produced and with a script written by the man himself,  of James Oliver Curwood's fan-tastic novel of the same name.  For them that are unaware,  Curwood is to the Mountie novel what Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett are to the Private Eye tale;  his stories evoke the frozen north quite as well as anything that Jack London ever put to paper,  but without the accompanying fame.  Tragic.  Philip Steele of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, Flaming Forest, Honor of the Big Snows, & Valley of the Silent Men are some of his other excellent Mountie titles.  I particularly enjoy the first on that list.  Full of adventure and action, which is what we all enjoy,  wot?

This is a wonderful film,  and a clean, decent adaptation of the novel (with minor omissions and changes).  It deals with a commercial town in the wild north called Fort O'God (yep, O'God),  run by the stern Duncan McDougall,  the factor of the Hudson's Bay Company..."a tiger of the old regime, still ruling his primitive domain with a hand of iron and a heart of stone".  McDougall's son,  the slimy Bucky McDougall, "A serpent polished with the veneer of years spent in Montreal, the deadliest and most treacherous of all the McDougal race",  is in love with the lovely local flower Nanette Roland (played by Betty Blythe),  who is unavailable,  waiting for her lover, Raoul Challoner (played by the miraculous Lon Chaney) to return from the wild...but is a year overdue.  With a little unethical convincing,  though, Nanette is convinced to marry Bucky, and in a moment of ironic chance,  the long-gone Raoul makes his appearance at the wedding.  Bucky is outraged,  fearing the loss of his long-awaited prize, and in the ensuing fight,  his seedy underling Marat is mistakenly killed by Raoul, which sends him on the run.

It becomes the duty of the stalwart Corporal Michael O'Connor of the R.N.W.M. Police (played by Lewis S. Stone, who is most well known to me as Judge Hardy in the Andy Hardy films) to hunt Raoul down and to bring him to judgement!

This was an amazingly pleasant adventure.  The acting really opened up that wonderful feeling of narrative space common to most of the best silents,  and even between the inter-titles the story stayed even and fresh.  The story was clear from beginning to end,  which isn't always certain from silents from this early date.  James Oliver Curwood's involvement was,  I'm sure,  the reason for this;  a master of a strong streamlined plot.  Typical of early silents,  it had that wonderfully stagey melodramatic flair (which always reminds me of  THE PERILS OF PAULINE, for some reason),  with all those (sometimes amusingly) unambiguous and simple facial expressions that make the emotions of each character quite certain.

I recommend this for silent film fans.  Though it might not be the best to begin your silent film journey with this one,  it's good enough that you'll still enjoy it with no background in the silent art.  The Mountie content is plentiful, too.  Lewis S. Stone really projects all the fairness and devotion that one has come to expect from the classic Mountie myth.

Relatively hot on the tail of the shockingly fantastic 1953 James Craig 'North-Western' FORT VENGEANCE (got from the Warner Archive),  I wanted to both see and review another of his Mountie movies, NORTHWEST RANGERS (one of the many not in my already sizable collection).  No luck.  I looked for it wildly, even with some of the grey market bootleggers on line,  but I couldn't find it. It was a tad depressing. So, having heard a fellow film scribbler's call of distress, fab fellow movie bloggist and all-around interesting gal-type lady Kristina Dijan, who is one of the stalwart duo responsible for this very blogathon, came to my rescue.  Having received it in the mail,  I watched it quite pronto-ish.

What a fantastic picture.

The plot is a fusion of a few different themes,  one particularly Mountie oriented,  and a couple familiar from many a lovely classic western...in this case I'm thinking back to the spotless and inarguably wonderful 1954 Audie Murphy western,  DESTRY.  It begins with two young boys,  Frank "Blackie" Marshall,  and James "Jim" Gardiner;  good pals across the board (like brothers, in their own words),  but in nature and temperament entirely different.  Blackie is the wild one.  The defiant one.  Jim is calm and measured.  

It begins with an arrow embedded into a tree,  transfixing a notice about illegal whiskey.  There are many empty liquor bottles on the ground...the boys suspect them to have been left by a group of "drunken Indians" (which is, in spite of a bit of soft racism here, a very real and tragic problem,  even to this day).  A very short time later they find this to be a prophetic observation;  when they arrive at their homestead,  they see that those same Indians have raided the houses, have killed their parents, and have set things ablaze.  

Their lives will never be the same.  

They are taken in by a kind Mountie Sergeant named Duncan Frazier (played with a calmly paternal grace by Jack Holt,  star of one of my favourite serials, HOLT OF THE SECRET SERVICE).  Skip ahead to adulthood,  and Blackie (played charismatically by James Craig) and Jim (given a cheerfully confident vibe by William Lundigan) have followed their natural inclinations in very likely fashion.  Blackie has become  a bit of a dapper cardsharp with an eye for the ladies and the main chance,  and Jim has become the very pride of the Royal Canadian Mounted police (at that time called the Northwest Mounted Police).  As adults in a very real world,  those natures are set to collide,  and they do...in spectacular fashion.

Toss in the luminescent Patricia Dane as sparky and intelligent love triangle fodder, with John Carradine as an evil-yet-charming owner of a gambler's saloon, and a great spot for Keenan Wynn for good measure,  and you have the stuff that makes for a supremely fulfilling movie watching session!

NORTHWEST RANGERS, as you may guess,  is a rollickin' good time,  and in that spirit I highly recommend it.  As I mentioned, James Craig,  who I've reviewed previously in FORT VENGEANCE (HERE),  is really one of my 'watch pocket' actors these days;  guys that aren't really famous but should be,  that I keep in a special little category of personal favourites.  Although it's really Craig's movie, William Lundigan is also quite good,  and he brings across the feeling of those Mountie ideals that I admire so much.  The direction, typically tight in true Mountie picture fashion, is well done by Joe Newman,  director of the amazing 1952 Tyrone Power Mountie film PONY SOLDIER and THE BRUTAL 1958 Joel McCrea western FORT MASSACRE,  and the script is the same, written by Gordon Kahn and David Lang, from a story by Arthur Caesar.

This is about as good a film that one could pick for a Canada Blogathon, as it makes me want to go north and breathe the fresh air and hike a mountain!  I'd like to again thank Kristina Dijan of SPEAKEASY for the opportunity to see this great Mountie film.

This is a part of the 2016 O' CANADA blogathon,  put on by SPEAKEASY and SILVER SCREENINGS!  I'm happy to have the opportunity to join in on the fun once again.  Please go visit their pages HERE and HERE to give love to Canadian and Canadian-themed movies!  Two of my fave blogs,  for sure.

SEE ALSO:  A recent post of another GREAT Mountie film,  CARYL OF THE MOUNTAINS (HERE)

When I was a kid,  forty-or-so  years ago,  Rin-Tin-Tin was a name that popped up in my universe quite a bit.  Along with the likes of Howdy Doody, Lassie and Dick Tracy,  that name seemed to represent something with some sort of kindred connection with me,  though he was clouded by the distant mists of what children call "the olden days".  I knew that Rinty (as he was sometimes known) was a dog,  I knew that he was brave,  but other than that,  he was a complete mystery.

Jump forward thirty years.

As the DVD revolution began,  I started having access to so much great stuff.  I gorged (am gorging) on all those things that pre-internet living had deprived  us middle-modern generations of;  serials, b-reel movies,  radio shows, and other such delights.  Now, even in my own collection,  I find it difficult to catch up.  I sometimes even have a fear of "passing on" before I see the choicest bits!  A good position to be in, to be sure.  It was in this atmosphere that I started to see Rinty films, and even a serial (THE LIGHTNING WARRIOR is, as the kids say, amazing).  I pat my inner child on the head fondly as I watch them,   knowing that I'm resolving deeply held wants developed when I was quite wee.

A few years ago, on yet another Mountie movie tear,  I found the perfectly charming sixty-minute b-reel CARYL OF THE MOUNTAINS, from 1936.  It was a perfect storm, from a Phantom Empires perspective!  Mounties and Rin-Tin-Tin?  Hot dog!  Better than a million dollars, Mr. Potter!  I nabbed it, and home I went, thinking that I'd pop it on my telly,  kick back with a Coke and a snack,  and enjoy.

Well,  I didn't.

I got back to my place and put it on my DVD shelf...you know the one with sixty-six Mountie movies on it?  Yep,  that's the one.  I had panicked in an irrational way;  something about 'if I watch the only Rinty movie with Mounties,  there may be no more!".  So dumb.  Well,  long story short,  I did watch it,  and I loved it.  Of course,  I love Mountie stuff to begin with (one of my many cinematic, audio and literary paraphilias), and I'm also predisposed to love Rin-Tin-Tin stuff,  but this really was especially enjoyable.

Apparently based on a story by James Oliver Curwood (the godfather of Mountie fiction), CARYL OF THE MOUNTAINS is a nice little romp through territory warmly familiar to fans of b-reel pictures.  Produced and directed by Bernard B. Ray (who did so for a huge number of other Rinty features and serials), it stars the luverly Lois Wilde as the titular Caryl (who I know from the excellent Kermit Maynard Mountie movie WILDCAT TROOPER ALSO FROM 1936, as well as the Ray "Crash" Corrigan classic, UNDERSEA KINGDOM), and our rugged central Mountie figure is well-played by the uniquely-named Francis X. Bushman Jr..  The canine hero here is not the original Rinty (if there ever was a single Rin-Tin-Tin...I'll have to research that),  but Rin-Tin-Tin Junior, as himself.

Caryl Foray works at an investment firm,  and as we start the picture, she's pocketing a large envelope.  She sneaks out of the office,  goes to the street,  and mails it...but not before her boss, Enos Colvin (yes, Enos) sees her do it.  He goes to the pad on the desk,  and using a mirror,  manages to read the address that she wrote on the envelope.  Jump ahead to Canada,  where Caryl's French Canadian uncle (and owner of Rinty Jr.) receives the letter,  with a wad of securities inside and a note telling him to keep them safe.  That seals his fate.    Caryl's employer makes his way up to uncle's cabin,  and in a struggle over the location of the securities,  shoots the uncle dead.  He then shoots Rinty Jr.,  and leaves the cabin without the papers.  Enter Caryl's fiance', Sergeant Brad Sheridan, a big lug of a Mountie played by the cheerful-but-serious Bushman.  She's in quite a fix.  Without the proof of the securities (which are hidden in uncle's shack),  Caryl is on the hook for the crime.  She takes off before duty forces Brad to bring her in,  which makes her a fugitive...and in spite of the saying that the Mounties "always get their man",  it certainly applies to women,  too!

It was great fun all around.  Rin-Tin-Tin Jr. is a well trained critter and full of eagerness,  and they really manage to pull off some really nice action for him.    Francis X. Bushman Jr. is a touch more big and lunk-ish than the usual film Mountie,  which I thought was a pleasant change,  especially standing next to the relatively tiny and mobile Lois Wilde.  I enjoyed his performance a lot.  Another thing that I liked was how dark the storyline was;  the uncle dies,  the dog gets shot,  the gal is threatened by prison, etc....the fun of it didn't stand in the way of some good hardcore plot stuff.  They packed quite a load of good story into a mere sixty-minute film,  but it didn't seem rushed,  and none of the plot points were shorted in any way.  It was a brisk little Mountie tale!

This picture exemplifies everything that I love about these movies. It's packed with justice,  goodness,  excitement and fun.  These qualities are often,  in this jaded,  post-modernist world,  looked on as archaic,  or at best, quaint,  but to me they uplift my insides and make me feel good about life.  That's why I like the films of the 1930's,  and I believe that's why the 1930's liked the Mountie genre.

Rinty is pretty damn cool too!

One thing that should be known about me is that I'm a fan of Mountie stuff.  Radio dramas,  lobby cards,  buttons, knick-knacks,  swag and other Mountie-related nonsense bring the smile of a well-satisfied geek (Check out my Mountie swag series HERE).  Well,  Mountie movies are very much on that list.  I own at least forty in various formats,  and I haven't seen a bad one yet!  Well, it was relatively recently made known to me that there are Euro/Spaghetti Mountie westerns,  and I LOVED the idea!  I grew up with Sword and Sandal pictures,  and in the last half-decade I've developed a taste for both Spaghetti Westerns and the Poliziotteschi cop movies,  so adding Mounties to the mix was an exciting prospect.

I now have a good pile of them!  I was able to find a source with every Euro-Mountie film that my research has been able to discover.  One of these is the Italian/Spanish production, Kitosh, The Man from the North, originally titled Frontera al Sur (Frontier of the South),  filmed in Spain in 1967.  Though it was apparently filmed in Spanish, I've only seen a dubbed version.  It's as well-dubbed as any of these films, and although this particular copy is an occasionally brutal pan-and-scan,  it's highly watchable.  Any port in a storm, wot?  I've yet to see a DVD release of it,  and many Euro-western fans don't even know it exists!

It stars George Hilton as the rakish tracker/woodsman/gunfighter David Kitosch.  This seems to be a name very much in line with traditional Spaghetti naming conventions;  the Italians in particular have a unique perspective on the American west,  and they tend to pick some really odd,  but macho-ish-ly cool names for their gunslingers.  Kitosch fits right in with some of the many odd names in the genre,  particularly the famous ones:  Manaja, Keoma,  Sabata, Sartana, and the most famous of them all, Django (the gunfighter, not the guitarist).  Names in general are certainly a big part of the magic of a western character, and the Italians know it very well;  so much so, in fact, that the baddest of the gunfighters is a man with no name!  It's an interesting and effective convention...it sets our guy apart from the crowd, and imbues him with strangeness, and it ties him to the various qualities of the cowboy hero/anti-hero archetype.

Typical of the Euro-western, Kitosch is very much in the anti-hero camp.  Between the debauching of beautiful women and running from hostile Aboriginal Canadians (traditionally referred to as "indians"), he works with the Royal Canadian Mounted police as a scout.  To let us know from the beginning what kind of guy our character is,  Kitosh, The Man from the North begins with a kiss;  Kitosch smooches the wife of White Wolf, a local native chief,  and immediately we're on the run!  In wide-eyed haste, he horses-up and makes tracks for the fort of the local Mountie contingent,  with the afore-mentioned indians on his tail.  From then on the plot goes a bit cosmic and stream-of-consciousness-ish.  Kitosch is asked to travel with the Mounties to protect a shipment of gold from a large band of outlaws,  which he declines, and then there is a carriage full of beautiful women (each of whom seem to have a different emotional issue),  who seem to have not much of a raison d'être (other than being both A) beautiful, and B) women), and,  of course, there is the mysterious Mountie Major Baker, played by Pierro Lulli, the uncrowned king of the Peplum/Sword and Sandal film.  He is Kitosh's foil throughout the story,  fighting for the upper hand over him (in fact, impersonated by Kitosch for much of the picture,  much to his chagrin).  Throw in gunfights (fights in general, actually...diverse and plentiful),  piles of gold bars,  Mountie action, a Christian indian named Joseph, and more unpredictable plot turns than three Republic serials,  and you have this film in a nutshell. 

It's all very surreal.  Surreal,  and EXTREMELY enjoyable.  It took me a few minutes to grab a hold of the flow of the thing,  but once I got the interior logic (or whatever term you would use to describe the interior flow of this swirling mass of themes and storyline),  it was quite an amazing ride.

I was excited when I heard that Hilton was in this one.  I'm a big fan of the Franco Nero Spaghetti Western masterpiece Massacre Time,  filmed the year before Kitosch (and reviewed by me HERE),  and Hilton was awesome in a supporting role as Nero's character's brother.  He has such a strange vibe;  one part chaotic clown,  a couple parts daring hero,  and a dash or two of emotionally volatile killer.  Though he often plays a role with humour,  it is very seldom (in my view) that it's ever really that funny.  He has an anti-hero's edge that cuts,  even when he's making what is obviously meant to be humorous.  His characters are the types of fellow upon which the good side is best to be,  and I suspect it may have been the same for the man himself.

Actually,  1967 was quite a year for George Hilton.  Typical of European actors of the time,  the  was in at least eight movies that year,  including the one immediately following Kitosch, the Man From the North,  Il Tempo Degli Avvoltoi ("The Time of the Vultures" in English,  released as "Last of the Bad Men"), in which he also plays a Kitosch character.  I say "a" as opposed to "the",  because I'm not certain they are, in fact, the same character,  in spite of the temporal proximity of the two films.  That's the beauty of the "Spaghetti".  The logic and reasoning issues  that so often destroy American low-budget movies don't apply;  in fact,  as Kitosch proves,  the less attached you are to the normal strictures of life,  the more ecstatic your watching experience will be.

I suggest that you get out your tin-foil Mountie hat and put Kitosch in the DVD player...it's awesome.

I have a couple related side-notes:  The copy of Kitosch, The Man Who Came From the North that I have came from Euro Trash Cinema. It's pan-and-scan,  but a good, clear copy dubbed into English.  Craig is a fast shipper, and he has a HUGE collection,  including many Spaghetti/Euro Mountie pictures, including Cormack of the Mounties (Guibbe Rosse),  Jesuit Joe,  Django Does Not Forgive (Mestizo),  Cavalry Charge (La carga de la policía montada), and Rebels of Canada (I tre del Colorado).  You can watch Last of the Bad Men on Youtube (as well as Hilton's 007 James Bond adventure, 2 Mafiosi Contro Goldfinger under the title Goldginger).  Have fun!

Every day that I live, and this surprises me all the time,  I find out about incredible and rare movies that look really amazing.  I don't mean another Jimmy Stewart or Bogart movie (which I love),  but colourful (usually out-of-print) epics, starring guys like Franco Nero, John Saxon, Shintaro Katsu, or Cameron Mitchell. So many stellar actors,  so many killer genres;  Peplums,  Silents,  Poliziotteschi films, British WWII pictures,  B-reels, and Chambara.  So many great stories!

Mountie movies are no different.  There are so many more than one would think;  every era has it's Mountie movies.  In fact, the most recent I know about is the low-budget revenge story The Mountie (The Way of the West) made in 2011 (watch a clip HERE)!   I'm picking my way through all of the Mountie-themed pictures available,  and along the way I discover so many more...some of which are hard-to-find.

Well,  here's a trio of wish-list reviews of Mountie pictures that I'm dying to see!

#2                    NOW SEEN!!!! (review soon)

Well, we've had Alan Ladd as a Mountie (Saskatchewan), Tyrone Power (Pony Soldier, AKA MacDonald of the Canadian Mounties), and Errol Flynn (Northern Pursuit), so it didn't surprise me a bit (ok, maybe a little) that the hardboiled crooner Dick Powell had  taken a turn in the scarlet jacket!

Based on the novel Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan,  written by Benedict and Nancy Freedman,  it details the (supposed) actual events in the life of a woman married to a Canadian Mountie in the earliest bit of the 20th century.  It's a tale of love and hardship in all of it's incarnations,  though many of the details have been changed for dramatic effect.  When asked about the novel,  the Mounties involved in the "real life" story proclaimed it to be quite fictional.

None of this has anyhing to do with me wanting to see Dick Powell as a Mountie, of course!  What I've seen of it is classic Hollywood fun;  you can see an 8-minute intro clip on YouTube, and don't be surprised if you wanna see the rest!

#3

A movie with Robert Ryan and John Dehner as Mounties?  Where,  for Pete's sake,  does a guy sign up for a match-up like this one?  The Canadians is a 1961 production, directed by Burt Kennedy, the madman at the helm of some solid cowboy pictures, including The Train Robbers (1973), The War Wagon (1967), and The Rounders (1965).  I'd see it on the strength of that info alone,  but the cast and the subject matter make it a viewing must.  Both Dehner and Ryan are two of the great unsung heroes of  Hollywood, making everything better by their presence;  I can only imagine how it will be with both of them headlining a film!

I've only managed to see one 30-second clip, dubbed in French,  but I'll be damned if it doesn't look incredible! 

I have mixed feelings about this picture.  I'm a mad Errol Flynn fan,  a fan of Canadian Mountie movies,  and on top of that,  I have a certain special spot in my heart for WWII movies written during the war...anything to boot Hitler in the arse, wot?  Well,  Northern Pursuit has all the fixin's for a killer propaganda actioner:  enemy agents on homeland soil, stalwart good guys,  hidden weapons,  Nazis,  and rampant double-agentry.

Unfortunately it left me a bit flat.

The film begins promisingly, with a team of German spies en route to a secret stash of enemy technology hidden before the war.  Their plans go amiss when all but one of the party are killed by an avalanche;  the remaining Nazi stumbles across the wilderness until he succumbs to the elements.  He's found and detained by two Canadian Mounties,  one of them being Corporal Steve Wagner,  played by Errol Flynn.

To shorten things a bit, Flynn's character,  a Canadian of German extraction,  is accused of being on the side of the Nazi he captured,  Hugo von Keller (well played by Helmut Dantine),  and is set up for a treason trial by his own people. Everyone that he knew outside the police,  including his lovely fiance (played by the stunning Laura McBain),  goes along believing that he's actually become a turncoat. He jumps bail as per a secret R.C.M.P.  plan,  then is set out as bait for the Nazis, to tempt them into drawing him onto their side.  It wasn't a surprising plot turn, of course, as many German-Americans were suspected and shunned because of their backgrounds,  but I think I may have expected something different. I was hoping for a deadly hunt through the frosty wilds of the north,  but it turned out to be a bit more like I Was a Communist for the FBI than I had hoped for.  The acting is really super,  there is some nice action,  and it isn't afraid to go to very dark places,  but somewhere along the line I faltered.

This isn't an atypical reaction to a Raoul Walsh movie for me,  as he does challenge his viewers in a number of interesting ways.  He's fond of twists and a bit of an indirect storyline,  but I think, overall,  it's this quality that can make many of his films so great. He's no stranger to the Canadian Mountie movie either,  having directed Alan Ladd in the stellar 1954 picture Saskatchewan, also known as O'Rourke of the Royal Mounted.

It isn't often that I wish for a plot to be simpler than filmed,  but I do in this case.  It's still a very good movie,  but the espionage angle made it just a little too convoluted to be fully enjoyable.  This time anyway.  I'll give it a year or two and see what I think then.

I recommend that you give it a shot...it'll probably hit you just right.

Hot on the heels of my celebration of Tyrone Power's birthday this week, in which I wrote about Power's amazing turn in the red coat (albeit in the British army in India),  I want to wish Gary Cooper a happy birthday as well!  It's fun to have the opportunity to celebrate two incredible actors, and each in connection to the scarlet.

In the fantastic Northwestern North West Mounted Police,  Gary Cooper plays Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers, on assignment in Canada,  on the trail of the murderer Jacques Corbeau (played by the blunt-faced character actor George Bancroft).  As it turns out,  Corbeau is one of a trio of Métis (also called half-breeds in the film) revolutionaries,  intent on rebelling against the British Empire and starting an independent government.   Historically, though the Métis are the descendants of European settlers and aboriginal Canadians, they have no recognised status (unlike relatively pure-blooded natives);  in fact,  by some definitions, currently half of Canada are Métis, as at least 50% are of mixed blood.  At the time in which the film is set it was apparently a clearer distinction, as evidenced by the real-life North-West Rebellion upon which this film was based. 

Marshall Rivers reports the the fort where the Canadian Mounties are stationed,  just in time for Corbeau to join with the Métis rebel Louis Riel (now a schoolteacher) returning some years after having failed in his first attempt at insurrection (the Red River Uprising, also known as the First Riel Rebellion).  There Rivers meets the super-Mountie Sergeant Jim Brett, played by the very cool Preston Foster The situation becomes quite fun when there are sparks between Dusty and Sergeant Brett's love interest, the regional nurse April Logan (played by the majestic Madeleine Carroll).  The natural alpha male tension is already highly charged,  but here is where the fun really begins!  Between this love triangle and the upcoming insurrection, there is plenty of plot to be worked,  but it never becomes too much.  I was impressed by the level of brutality shown here,  as well as by the general humanity of the characters.

Directed by Cecil B. DeMille,  this was his first colour feature, as well as Cooper's.  The Technicolor is gorgeous (as it usually was in the movies of the time),  and it seems to have been created to make the Canadian Mountie look his best.  The script was fun and pretty tight,  though there were a few lagging bits,  mostly related to the romantic scenes.  What I enjoyed most was the fun banter between Texas Ranger Rivers and the Mounties.  Some fun Uncle Sam vs "The Queen" comments zinging back and forth.  The actors seemed like they were having quite a bit of fun! 

Although this is technically Cooper's vehicle,  I think the guy that shines best is Preston Foster.  He's so amazingly masculine and driven that his uncompromisingly honourable and courageous Sgt. Brett never strikes a wrong note.  In fact,  it took a guy with Cooper's presence for Foster not to run away with the whole thing! 

As it stands,  they made a good pair,  each trying to out-hero the other.  That camaraderie is very exciting to watch.  It's a good choice for a birthday party!  This is one of the best Mountie-related movies that I've yet seen.  The Mountie mythos is given it's full due,  right down to 'always getting their man'.

Of course,  like the "regular" western,  there are sociopolitical issues inherent to the story that might, for some, make it difficult to watch.  Lots of people of many cultural backgrounds died to create modern America and,  it seems,  Canada,  and those stories are filled with conflict and moral ambiguities.  The British Empire spawned a lot of those stories and issues, as all empires tend to do.  I,  for one,  don't let myself get involved with those issues;  I take the story as it is, and I roll with it. North West Mounted Police is quite an exciting story to roll with!

As a fun side note,  the fiddling tradition of the Métis is becoming more well known amongst lovers of folk music.  There is a wonderful documentary on the subject, called Medicine Fiddle,  and it can be viewed by clicking on the image to the right.  It's an interesting sound, very similar to other Canadian fiddle styles, but with its own flavour.  Unfortunately the folkies in America have taken it on, so it will be ruined soon...experience it while you can.

Learn about the first Riel Rebellion HERE
Learn about the second Riel Rebellion HERE