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Dick Powell in MRS. MIKE (1949) ~ A simple Canadian Romance

10/4/2014

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This is the second of my two posts for the O CANADA BLOGATHON; read the first HERE,  if so inclined.

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You know what?  I just realised that we're missing a few things in our supposedly "cool" modern life,  and they are things that I believe we need as a culture.  Such as,  when was the last time you looked at someone and thought of them as "debonaire"?  or "stalwart"?  I mean,  many people go through life unaware of A) what those words mean,  and more importantly,  B) what those words stand for.  I believe that they stand for good things.  Interesting and life-enriching things.  Well,  there are all sorts of such rapidly-becoming-antiquated words;  I can think of a few others off the top of my head:  "intrepid",  "Dashing", "urbane",  and the word that occasioned this ramble:  "Charming".

I love charming things.  Shirley Temple movies,  Old Mother West Wind Books,  Arthur Conan Doyle's 'Songs of the Road',  and 'Five Little Peppers and How They Grew'.  Charming!   Harvey the darned Rabbit? Charming!  Honestly,  I believe we need a LOT more 'charming',  and a lot less 'cool'.  Charming things make one smile,  they feel comfortable,  they include you in the experience,  and they never leave you feeling anything but nice feelings...even when bad things happen.  That's exactly how I feel about Dick Powell's 1949 Mountie picture,  Mrs. Mike.  It's just plain charming.

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The dapper (yes, I said it) crooner/tough guy Dick Powell stars as serious-minded, yet light-hearted, Canadian Mountie Sergeant Mike Flannigan, alongside the radiant Evelyn Keyes, who plays the gentle Bostonian Katherine Mary O'Fallon.  In a truly old Hollywood-style romance,  the two meet at her father's home,  and immediately the attraction is there.  It isn't a tawdry thing,  their interaction,  but the kind of nice, yet exciting magnetism that happens between those who are basically normal,  good people.  It's fun to watch it develop,  and the two actors seem to have had a really good time in the process.  Soon,  the question is popped,  and their life together begins. The question is,  can a Boston-bred American woman adapt to the rigors of the remote Canadian southwest, when Sergeant Mike returns to his post?

That,  as they say,  is the question...and our story.

The script was based on the book Mrs. Mike, The Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan, by the husband/wife team of Benedict and Nancy Freeman,  which itself was based on a mere five page distillation of stories that Mrs. Flannigan herself had written.  Though apparently much of the original narrative was itself fabricated (according to the real Mounted Police officers who had served with Flannigan),  the script manages to capture quite a bit of truth, which is peppered throughout.  Normally a revelation of that scale might bother me, but it being classic Hollywood love story,  I've come to expect that sort of thing as a pleasant norm.  I myself read the book (which is apparently a minor classic for kids, but none that I've ever met),  and I found it to be,  well,  charming.  In spite of that charm,  it also has some of the brutality of the lives of the people who lived in such isolated, self-sufficient communities.  There are a few relatively shocking deaths,  and there is some disillusionment,  but it still maintains a hopefulness about it.   I don't want to give the impression that this is the next Casablanca or The Sound of Music (in fact,  I think Powell only manages to sing one song, though a fun one, in the entire picture).  It's just a very good movie from every angle.  Though it was filmed entirely in California,  I got lost in that intangible Canadian feeling that I've enjoyed on my many excursions into that great and beautiful country. 

I suggest that if you can't actually go up to those resplendent Canadian wilds,  Mrs. Mike is...a charming substitute.

You can also find TWO radio versions of the story,  one with Dick Powell reprising his role in the film,  and the other with Joseph Cotten on my Mountie Pulp page,  HERE and HERE.

Here's my list of Mountie films!  Please feel free to download, and let me know any that I might be missing!
mountie_films_and_serials_v4.pdf
File Size: 73 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


This here post is for the lovely O CANADA blogathon,  hosted by Ruth of Silver Screenings and Kristina of Speakeasy, two of the loveliest writers of film fan-itude and film-bloggery that ever did hear of.  Please click on their names to visit their pages, and the banner at right to see more contributions to their event!
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Three Mountie Movies I NEED to see!

5/20/2014

3 Comments

 
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!

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#1

When I read that TCM had screened the promising Dick Foran Mountie epic Heart of the North,  I was hopeful that there had been a DVD release at some point.  I was sorely disappointed.  The trailer is on the TCM website,  and dammit,  it looks amazing.


Dick Foran plays Sgt. Alan Baker, sent out on a hunt for the shooters of a fellow Mountie. His squad sorely undermanned,  there's an ambush, and things go downhill from there.  I don't know much more than that,  but what more would one need?

There's a great cast,  including the amusing Allen Jenkins (a smart sideman in many a 30's/40's movie, including a fave of mine,  1942's They All Kissed the Bride),  and Patric Knowles (Will Scarlett in The Adventures of Robin Hood, and Lord Mountbatten in The Devil's Brigade).  By all reports,  it's an amazing-looking film,  with great songs, and some excellent action.  Foran was an awesome Cowboy-type crooner, and he usually had at least one song in every movie.

This is really my sort of classic movie...I'd love to have it on DVD.



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#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!


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#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! 



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To be honest,  this was going to be titled FOUR Mountie Movies I Need to See!,  But I managed to find and order a copy of the amazing-looking Spaghetti Mountie movie, Cormack of the Mounties (1975).  Of course I'll talk about it after I see it!  It looks Fan-tastic.

So,  that's what I'm looking forward to seeing;  wish me luck!

Here is my (ever-growing) list of Mountie movies and serials!  They span from 1914 to modern times, and cover every style and format;  silent, talkie, b&w, colour, film, videotape,  & DVD!  Enjoy!
mountie_films_and_serials_v4.pdf
File Size: 73 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File


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    Here is my (ever-growing) list of Mountie movies and serials!  Enjoy!

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