MovieChat Forums > Northern Pursuit (1943) Discussion > Like to see it again - possible?

Like to see it again - possible?

posted 17 years ago by m-d-bruce
10 replies | jump to latest

The user comment seems to dismiss this film, but I have good memories of it, but from a long time ago. I have tried to re-acquaint myself with as many Flynn films as I can in recent years, but it's hard after the obvious ones have been covered. Nevertheless, I've managed to find almost all of the ones I wanted to see. Except this one, apart from a snippet in a recent documentary. Was it ever put out on video? As many of his films are not yet on DVD, maybe this one won't make it, but I hope it does. Anyone who sees this [maybe fat chance as there were no messages when I came to write this]let me know if you can help.

[–] EXPLICITSOUL5 17 years ago

It was on TCM just 5 minutes ago.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

As the next poster wrote, NORTHERN PURSUIT turns up on TCM every so often, maybe once or twice a year. You just have to watch for it. It was available on VHS but so far not on DVD. However, Warner has put out two sets of Errol Flynn films so far and they're pretty good about releasing their library, so there's a good chance it will eventually show up on DVD -- perhaps in 2009, if not before, to mark the 100th anniversary of Flynn's birth (and the 50th of his death).

I enjoy this film too, no great classic but fun, especially Gene Lockhart's smug, then cowardly, traitor (and the only real Canadian in the cast!). And of course the look on Helmut Dantine's face at the end, in his plummeting plane.

"No freedom for the Eskimo till Germans come!"

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

Yes, I have it, and hope the others know about it. I did post a separate thread here when the DVD came out, in a good set with other Flynn WWII films too. Thanks.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

I agree with you. Remember that the DVD isn't available separately, but only as part of the five-disc EF set also featuring Desperate Journey, Edge of Darkness, Uncertain Glory and the previously released (as a single) Objective Burma!. But all are worth having.

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] hobnob53 12 years ago

I think you'll like the others. Desperate Journey is my favorite, fast-moving and completely absurd, but fun. (Catch that last line!) Edge of Darkness is much more serious, and quite good. Enjoy the set!

[–] EliotTempleton 8 years ago

Edge of Darkness is a superb film, and the best of the bunch. What a cast! That said, I'm enormously fond of Northern Pursuit, and it holds up today as well as when I first saw it, in my teens. I have to laugh at the negative comments on this board; do these people expect every film to be Citizen Kane?

[–] hobnob53 8 years ago

Dramatically, Edge of Darkness probably is the best of the bunch, but I like Northern Pursuit and Desperate Journey better. I just find them more enjoyable.

Another film with a very similar theme to Edge of Darkness is 20th Century-Fox's The Moon is Down, also released in 1943 and set in a small Norwegian town during and after the German invasion. It's based on a novel by John Steinbeck and while it lacks much of the action seen in EOD it's a far more realistic -- and hence frightening -- portrayal of a Nazi occupation compared to the somewhat far-fetched plot and heroics of the Flynn film. It also has a memorable sequence under the opening credits.