North West Mounted Police *** (1940, Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster, Robert Preston, George Bancroft) – Classic Movie Review 6,071

Cecil B DeMille’s busily plotted 1940 epic action adventure film North West Mounted Police stars Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll and Paulette Goddard.

The Paramount Pictures studio was rewarded with a hit when it paid for a top cast and Technicolor for producer-director Cecil B DeMille’s somewhat mundane, but well and busily plotted 1940 action adventure film North West Mounted Police about the Royal Canadian Mounted preventing a revolt in mid-1880s Canada.

The film’s epic nature is impressive, and it is technically outstanding, with Oscar nominated art direction, cinematography and score. And the star performances and character actors turns are definitely on its side. It was up for five Oscars but won only for Best Film Editing (Anne Bauchens).

Gary Cooper (as Dusty Rivers!) plays a Texas Ranger who travels to Canada to arrest a trapper called Jacques Corbeau (George Bancroft), wanted for murder and stirring up a rebellion of the native Métis people against the Canadian government. Cooper and Preston Foster (as Mountie Sergeant Jim Brett) both fall for nurse April Logan (Madeleine Carroll). Robert Preston plays April’s brother Ronnie Logan, the Mountie who falls deeply for Courbeau’s daughter, Louvette (Paulette Goddard).

The Paramount company baulked at the huge cost of actually filming in Canada, so instead DeMille filmed in Oregon and in the Paramount studio in Hollywood.

Alan Le May, Jesse Lasky Jr and C Gardner Sullivan’s screenplay is taken from R C Fetherston-Haugh’s 1938 novel The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, based on a real life incident in Saskatchewan, Canada.

North West Mounted Police is directed by Cecil B DeMille, runs 125 minutes, is shot in Technicolor by cinematographers Victor Milner and W Howard Greene, is produced by Cecil B DeMille, is scored by Victor Young, and designed by art directors Hans Dreier and Roland Anderson.

It is narrated by Cecil B DeMille.

Also in the cast are Lynne Overman, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney Jr as Shorty, Montagu Love as Inspector Cabot, Robert Ryan, George E Stone, Walter Hampden as Big Bear, Francis McDonald, Willard Robertson, Regis Toomey, Richard Denning, Douglas Kennedy, Clara Blandick, Ralph Byrd, Lane Chandler, Julia Faye, Jack Pennick, Rod Cameron, James Seay, Harry Burns and Anthony Caruso.

Shooting started on March 9, 1940. The world premiere took place in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, the birthplace of the North West Mounted Police, on October 21, 1940. Its US premiere was on November 6, 1940 in New York City.

Alfred Hitchcock sought Gary Cooper to star in his film Foreign Correspondent (1940) but Cooper turned him down. Joel McCrea was to star in North West Mounted Police but left to join Hitchcock and Cooper took over as star in North West Mounted Police. That would have been neat, but Hitchcock was disappointed to have McCrea as his star, and Cooper later regretted turning down Foreign Correspondent.

Gary Cooper and Madeleine Carroll (plus Akim Tamiroff) also star in The General Died at Dawn (1936).

The cast

The cast are Gary Cooper as Texas Ranger Dusty Rivers, Madeleine Carroll as April Logan, Paulette Goddard as Louvette Corbeau, Preston Foster as Sergeant Jim Brett. Robert Preston as Ronnie Logan, George Bancroft as Jacques Corbeau, Lynne Overman as Tod McDuff, Akim Tamiroff as Dan Duroc, Walter Hampden as Big Bear, Lon Chaney Jr as Shorty, Montagu Love as Inspector Cabot, Francis McDonald as Louis Riel, George E Stone as Johnny Pelang, Willard Robertson as Supt. Harrington, Regis Toomey as Constable Jerry Moore, Richard Denning as Constable Thornton, Douglas Kennedy as Constable Carter, Robert Ryan as Constable Dumont, Ralph Byrd as Constable Ackroyd, Rod Cameron as Constable Underhill, Chief Thundercloud as Wandering Spirit, David Dunbar as Vitale, Noble Johnson as Indian, Paul Newlan as Indian, Emory Parnell as George Higgins, and Cecil B DeMille as Narrator.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6,071

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