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i must have seen a different film!!

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Very disappointing to Canadians who know a little of their history, this 1940s-style western treats the building of the Canadian Pacific transcontinental railway as if it had occurred in the U.S., with many mistakes noted elsewhere in this entry, and a heavy dose of the U.S. cultural imperialism so typical of 20th century Hollywood's treatments of other peoples' histories.The film makes no references to the important political issues and scandals in eastern Canada that surrounded and heavily influenced the building process, nor the important effects of the ever-present French- English-Indian cultural tensions.A passable B-grade western for an undiscriminating audience.

Wow, is this an ugly movie. While it was originally filmed in color and must have been a pretty film, the print shown on Turner Classic Movies was incredibly ugly--very fuzzy and with weird color saturation. It just looked dreadful and the movie is clearly in need of restoration.The story, not surprisingly, is about the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Because a baddie is trying to stir up the fur trappers against the railroad (mostly because he hates the railroad man, Randolph Scott), Scott spends almost all of the movie putting out fires, so to speak. Fighting among the work crew, missing dynamite and a variety of other problems are all solved by out stalwart hero. And, along the way, he meets a pretty female doctor. Because they instantly hate each other, you KNOW that according to cliché #33, they will be head-over-heels in love by the end of the film...it just has to be! However, and at least here it does NOT follow convention, there is another girl throughout the film and Scott's choice by the end of the film WAS a bit of a surprise. At one point it looks like poor Randy is about to die...but according to cliché #1, a hero cannot die (unless you are John Wayne in "Sands of Iwo Jima"). And finally, the Indians are all bad...bad, bad, bad (cliche #4).The big conflict in this film is not between the baddie or the railroad workers, exactly. It's more a conflict within Scott, as his usual method of kicking butt is at odds with his new sweetie and her refined ways. She wants Scott to handle things like a gentleman--and he becomes very reticent to act as a result. And, not surprisingly, things on the railroad start to unravel quickly. But by the end, Scott proves that the best way to maintain the peace is violence! Yay, violence! On hand as supporting are J. Carrol Naish, Robert Barratt and the baddie, Victor Jory. All three are very well-known by fans of classic Hollywood films. While these are all good actors, the film itself seems very routine and is certainly not among Scott's best. Now it isn't bad...just not all that good and you'd certainly not put this on par with his later films directed by Budd Boetticher.

Generally, one has to read only "starring Randolph Scott" to know one is about to experience cinematic pleasure.This film is different -- only in that Scott's character, Tom Andrews, has a double romance and is tempted to give up his fists and guns.His first romance is with an intriguing character, a wild young woman who is so obviously smitten with Tom we are made happier by basking in her love.Watching Nancy Olson in that role, I marveled at the strength she gave the character, Cecille Gautier. She also gave dimension, and beauty, and made Cecille someone we had to support.As Tom gets involved with Dr. Edith Cabot, played by Jane Wyatt, who has probably never looked lovelier, we wonder which of the two women will lose.The romance, though, is a sub-plot, and the major plot is the battle to complete the railroad, a battle against the elements and seasons, and against topography -- that spectacular scenery that even today lures tourists by the millions -- and against humans, some of whom are nefarious, some of whom are merely trying to protect their traditional way of life.Besides the stars, cameo bits by such outstanding players as Earle Hodgins and Edmund Cobb and the incredibly prolific George Chandler (more than 400 roles!) make "Canadian Pacific" a great movie.John Hamilton, with more than 300 roles to his credit, was usually seen as a police officer or judge or, most famously, the irascible Perry White in the "Superman" TV series. Here he shows his actor's range playing a peace-seeking priest.The script, from a story by Jack DeWitt, and written by DeWitt and Kenneth Garnet, really fleshes out the characters, especially in the beginning with some charming dialog.The music, by Dimitri Tiomkin, is something different from him, especially at the beginning, but is, of course, great. It is, after all, by Tiomkin.The print I saw, recently televised by Turner Classic Movies, was not in great shape, and the sound had a wobble to it, but the movie was so good, the problems became very minor.

The building of the Canadian Pacific railway was as much a milestone in the history of Canada as the transcontinental railroad in the United States of America. But the circumstances were so incredibly different the Canadians must have had a laugh and a half at this Hollywood story of one of the great events from their history.The great challenge of the railroad was getting it through just that last stretch of mountains in British Columbia. The track went through a mountain trail known as Kicking Horse Pass and it was quite the engineering feat. That was the main story with the building of the Canadian Pacific.But we have here is the plot of Union Pacific essentially brought under the Maple Leaf with villain Victor Jory stirring up the Indians to prevent the Canadian Pacific from getting through. Of course since he's up against chief engineer Randolph Scott, you know how this is going to come out.Randy as was the case in a lot of his westerns has two girls to choose from, railroad brat Nancy Olson and Quaker doctor Jane Wyatt. I really think Wyatt was a bit ridiculous pushing her pacifist beliefs in the middle of the Indian attack at the climax.On the plus side that Indian attack is one of the best I've ever seen in a western and you will be on the edge of your seat during the final shootout between Randolph Scott and Victor Jory. Also look for a good performance from the always dependable J. Carrol Naish as the locomotive engineer and Scott's sidekick. Also Dick Wessel as a murderous bartender is also quite good.Too bad that this particular episode in Canadian history got Americanized though.