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