Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
Emperor of the North (1973)
A Film by Robert Aldrich
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 16:9 | Cover + DVD Scan | 02:00:18 | 7,27 Gb
Audio: English, French, Spanish - AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, Spanish
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
A Film by Robert Aldrich
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 16:9 | Cover + DVD Scan | 02:00:18 | 7,27 Gb
Audio: English, French, Spanish - AC3 2.0 @ 192 Kbps | Subs: English, Spanish
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
It is during the great depression in the US, and the land is full of people who are now homeless. Those people, commonly called "hobos", are truly hated by Shack (Borgnine), a sadistical railway conductor who swore that no hobo will ride his train for free. Well, no-one but "A" Number One (Lee Marvin), who is ready to put his life at stake to become a local legend - as the first person who survived the trip on Shack's notorious train.
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Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
This is a wonderfully dark and realistic tale of the never-ending battle between railwaymen and the hoboes who try to use their beloved trains for free rides.
Centring on Borgnine's sadistic guard and his determination to prevent freeloader Marvin from making a fool out of him, the tale quickly becomes violent. Director Aldrich's initially quaint story turns into a brutal cat and mouse game.
Even if the script occasionally fails to make the goings on in this insular little world relevant to larger issues, The Emperor Of The North Pole is an unusual, uncompromising and much underrated film.
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
The early 1930s were the heyday of the Great Depression in the USA, and hundreds of out-of-work hobos travelled across the country looking for work. Up in the North-Western state of Oregon, the Oregon, Pacific and Eastern Railway was one of many railroads that were used as free rides for hundreds of these 'tramps', much to the disgust of the conductor known as Shack (Ernest Borgnine) who made it his job to clear them off his trains, even if it meant killing them. He gained an infamy for this behaviour, and soon it became part of the challenge to get a ride on his train. The hobo known as A no. 1 (Lee Marvin) accepts this challenge, promising to ride all the way up to Portland on Shack's train, but he is followed and hindered by a wannabe hero known as Cigaret (Keith Carradine) who hopes to make a name for himself and expects A no. 1 to teach him how…
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
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Loosely based on a Jack London short story The Road about the author's time spent riding the railroads, Emperor of the North is a very well written film, avoiding a lot of potential pitfalls. The notion of a hobo riding the rails, and being followed by a young upstart could easily have been Disneyfied, with A no. 1 becoming a father figure and taking Cigaret under his wing - equally there was the potential that the film could have become gratuitously grim and hard to watch. Fortunately it manages the fine line inbetween, being realistically grim, yet generally enjoyable to watch - the opening scene really sets the tone for the rest of the film, with Shack throwing a hobo off the train, leading him to fall between the rails and be killed - there is some light comedy, but fortunately not of the slapstick kind. The film is well paced throughout with some very tense moments, and climaxes in an inevitable show down between the lead characters that certainly ranks as one the best in cinema, and is utterly relentless - with a suitably fitting ending.
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
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Director Robert Aldrich supports the script with some superb directing with some great scenic angles. There is not a single blue screen shot in the film - the majority of the film, even the action scenes are all shot on board, and often on top of the trains - with no stunt men in sight. More importantly the film makers went to a great deal of trouble to achieve historical accuracy, with all of the trains authentic for the period, and the operating proceedures and language correctly observed (although one sequence with two trains coming head-on does seem a little dangerous, but it makes for an amazingly tense and exciting sequence). There is a single shot that appears to have been speeded up (a crime that many movies too often committ - the viewers really can tell) and some rather dodgy optical effects to simulate fog, but otherwise the film looks great. Composer Frank de Vol also worked with Aldrich on the classic war film The Dirty Dozen (1967) and he does a generally good job here, although some of the music is a little upbeat in scenes that should be more tense.
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
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The film boasts that classic 1960s/70s pairing of Lee Marvin and Ernest Bornine in the lead roles, both of which are heavily shaded in tones of grey - no heros or villains here. Marvin plays A no. 1 with great skill, really managing to avoid his character becoming a cuddly figure, but equally makes him likeable enough, despite doing some pretty bad things (risking more than one train crash). Ernest Borgnine is equally good as Shack, and coming from the opposite direction, manages to avoid his character from becoming gratuitously bad - he is certainly driven and prepared to risk lives to do his job, but not without due cause. Keith Carradine plays the young upstart Cigaret with yet another strong performance, managing to be neither hero nor villain. Look out for horror star Sig Haig (House of 1000 Corpses (2003)) in a brief role in bum's town.
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
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Ultimately Emperor of the North is one of the best movies ever made - a trio of fantastic performances, a very well written script that manages to be both realistic and exciting, and some beautiful trains and locations leave nothing that could have been improved. Highly recommended to all.
Emperor of the North Pole (1973)
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by film historian Dana Polan
- Theatrical trailer
- TV Spots (2)
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