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

10/4/2014

10 Comments

 
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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10 Comments
Jeff
10/4/2014 03:09:07 pm

Man, Dick Powell as a Mountie...don't get no better than that! I haven't seen this yet, but I believe you've prepared me for it by stressing the "Hollywood romance" angle over two-fisted action (though I'm sure it has some of that, too). Nice to hear that Powell gets to croon a song, too. I like that he had those two seemingly disparate aspects to his personality (as well as being a television producer of the first rank later in life. The guy was apparently quite the mensch. I only question his taste in June Allyson, but love, as they say, is blind.)

Finally, I particularly enjoyed your little treatise on sadly antiquated words like "charming." We do need more charm, urbanity, dash and stalwart-ness in our modern culture. Well done, sir!

Reply
Clayton
10/5/2014 05:15:37 am

Love ain't THAT blind, boyo. :)

Thanks for your comment!

Reply
Silver Screenings link
10/5/2014 07:06:44 am

My best friend and I, when we were 12-13, loved - absolutely LOVED - this book. We swooned over Mrs. Mike's husband. We thought he was the best thing, EVER.

So I need to see this movie. Since it had Dick Powell and since it's so charming, this is once I should have seen by now.

Thank you for including this mountie movie (and it's swoon-worthy hero) in the blogathon! :)

Reply
Clayton
10/5/2014 07:44:12 am

I'm a big Dick Powell fan from kidhood (his radio show Richard Diamond, Private Detective was quite the thing), and with my Mountie interest, it was a must-have.

It's available on Ebay as a grey market product!

Thanks for your comment, and the blogathon! It has been great!

Reply
Constance Metzinger link
10/5/2014 11:58:52 am

I just love this film! My sister and I watch it every January when the snow gets really high and you just need to get into that we're-trapped-in-a-log-cabin-in-the-Northwest-territory feeling. Favorite scene : Kate breaking the tea cup. Oh dear,whatever did she do!

Reply
Clayton
10/5/2014 12:42:06 pm

Hey there! I totally agree; I live out on the North Dakota prairie in a small town of 100 people; 50 miles to the nearest small city, and our winters get pretty serious. I moved from Washington State, and between that great forested region, with lots of Canada visits, to the winters here, I'm always a bit in the Canada mindset when I watch a picture as nice as this. :)

That tea cup scene is heartbreaking! I think the speech by the crazy lady in the cabin is mine. :)

Thanks so much for your comment!

Reply
Patricia Nolan-Hall (@CaftanWoman) link
10/7/2014 12:12:55 am

I recently had to throw out my paperback copy of "Mrs. Mike" as it had turned yellow and musty. Also, unaccountably, the print seemed to have shrunk! I have long wanted to see the movie, but fate and local schedulers have conspired to keep us apart.

Reply
Clayton
10/7/2014 01:17:56 am

Hi, Patricia! Yep, that pesky shrinking print; I had to buy reading glasses for the first tine last year!

I really liked this film, but then I always like Dick Powell. I got the DVR from Ebay...totally worth it! Thanks for your comment!

Reply
Leticia link
10/11/2014 06:57:18 am

I use "debonair" a lot... when I'm thinking about classic film actors, like Cary Grant. And I can't deny that Dick Powell is very charming, although I've never seen Mrs Mike.

Reply
Clayton
10/11/2014 06:59:23 am

That's my point; these terms really can only be used when referring to the past; there are no naturally "dapper" people today that aren't putting on a pose. :)

Thanks for your comment!

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