"Northwest Passage" doesn't involve the Northwest Passage!

 

Robert Rogers led an adventurous life. Born in Massachusetts in 1731, he joined a local militia at age 15 to fight in King George's War. He continued to serve and--when the French and Indian War began--recruited his own band of rangers.

He fought for the British during the Revolution, moved to England when that didn't work out, and died a pauper in 1795.

There's no question that Rogers' was brave and had leadership ability. There is some question among historians over whether his own accounts of his wartime activities are always accurate. He could also be pretty ruthless, with accusations that his men often killed civilians during guerilla raids. (Though this was also an all-too-common practice with the French and their Native American allies.)  After the war, while as royal governor of a territory that would eventually become Michigan, he did send out expeditions to find the fabled Northwest Passage.

Let's now jump ahead to 1936. An historical novel titled Northwest Passage, by Kenneth Roberts is serialized in the Saturday Evening Post in that year and into 1937. It's published as a book in '37 and is a bestseller. The book follows Rogers and his rangers during an expedition to attack a hostile Indian tribe in 1759 and a later search for a Northwest Passage--a water route that would take merchants across North America. 

Roberts' historical fiction, including this book, was meant to reexamine historical figures who had become unpopular in America. So when MGM began to make a movie based on the novel in 1940, they had a protagonist who was being remodeled into a hero.

Despite the movie retaining Northwest Passage as its title, it adapts just the first part of the book--the raid on the Abenaki Indians living on a French outpost called St. Francis. Filtered through Roger's unreliable reports and then through a work of fiction, the movie is not historically accurate.

But looked at as a work of fiction, it's often magnificent. Directed by King Vidor on location in Idaho. Vidor makes beautiful use of the scenery, all the while emphasizing just how difficult the journey to AND from St. Francis was. Spencer Tracy brings charm and authority to his role as Rogers.

The journey there involves avoiding the French, portaging boats from one waterway to another, crossing rapids and eventually marching through hellishly difficult terrain. They are forced to leave the sick and injured behind and reach St. Francis with a significantly reduced force.

The attack on the fort--one of the best battle scenes ever put on film--is succesful. But Rogers was hoping to find food at the fort. There's none to be had and the long trip back to British territory is one of constant hunger, danger from the French and some of the men beginning to teeter on the brink of madness. 

It really is a great film--removed far enough from real history to be enjoyable as fiction. The acting is great (with Robert Young and Walter Brennan both giving strong supporting performances) and the entire movie looks fantastic in terms of scenery and cinematography.