Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

A different way of telling a story

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

De Mille just simply knew how to make films. Period. It's totally amazing that he is still the champ of all time.A lot of all star casts flounder with weaker directors and scripts, but de Mille is epic.This is story telling. The story here is based around Riel and the Mounted Police of Canada. We even begin with Riel, but soon the wing of the film takes the turn towards the big name stars.The scenes with the two minor love interest characters are the most stunning. You know there will be a tragic end, but you aren't sure what the tragedy will be. Always the expert, de Mille knew that had he staged these scenes with the leading love triangle, we would not have the suspense. We would know they would turn out okay. Masterfully, he arrays them in a position of caring about the wild young beautiful couple, and their beauty is cinematic greatness, perfectly filmed and choreographed. Paulette Goddard, from her very entrance, is breath taking, and her beauty is perfectly enveloped with de Mille's cameras. Incredible, astounding, and unsurpassed to this day.The spectacle of de Mille has never been surpassed, and neither has his directing of characters. As in UNION PACIFIC, it is the minor characters such as Overman and Tamiroff who take this up to the top notch. The comic relief here is one that we also see leading up to a Shakespearean style duel.The characters and the story keep you riveted. This is a long movie, but it seems like it takes only a few minutes. The mixture of spectacle, action, comic relief, characters, suspense, romance, adventure, and perfect cinematography is the sought after recipe that wise directors will copy and jealous directors will foolishly ignore.And the moron who put this on the 50 worst films of all time list, we have to wonder what hallucinogens he was on. This is one of the 50 best films of all time. THIS is a clinic. THIS is how to make a film.

"North West Mounted Police" is the 48th film that I have watched that was featured in Harry Medved's brilliant book "The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time"--and I just recently bought the last two, so I soon will have reviews for all of them. While I must admit that his list of 50 is flawed (a small number actually are not that bad), considering he wrote this book when he was 17 and it came out BEFORE he age of VCRs it is amazing--and an exceptionally good read--one of the best non-fiction books I have ever read. While it's out of print, you can get used copies reasonably priced on the internet any bad movie buff worth their salt MUST have a copy.So is this movie THAT bad? No...but it is bad and I think the respectable score of 6.5 and the generally positive reviews are a bit inexplicable. It seems that, in general, Cecil B. De Mille's films are thought of rather highly. After all, they often have HUGE scope, sets, lovely Technicolor (when most films of the day are black & white) and it's obvious his budgets were astronomical. However, I also think that a movie really doesn't need any of these things to be a good film. What is most important is what De Mille's films usually lacked--good dialog, realistic characters and good acting. It seems to me that this director really had no knack for human interactions on film unless they were BIGGER than life! And that is why I cannot recommend the film. Sure, it gets a few points for the sets and lovely look of the film but the rest....yuck! If I had to put my finger on what is worst about this particular film, I'd bluntly say Paulette Goddard. While several others chew the scenery a bit (such as Akim Tamiroff), she is absolutely laughably bad as 'the fiery half-breed'!!! While she was SUPPOSED to be part European and part Native-American, she sounded like some 4 year-old trying to imitate Chico Marx or Charro....on drugs! Her accent was ludicrous and her acting hammy and awful. Now some blame can clearly be placed on Goddard (who probably can attribute most of her roles to the fact she was married to Charlie Chaplin), but isn't it the director's job to notice this and coach the actor if they are missing the role this completely?! And the writing they gave her (and the others to a lesser extent) was just dumb and almost comic book-like (not a GOOD comic book but a bad one, by the way).It's also odd how with a magnetic personality like Gary Cooper that he's practically lost in the film. Yes, he's there but he has no charisma and little chance to act. He's frankly too good for this material--as are Robert Preston and Preston Foster. Again, I blame De Mille for this.The bottom line is that although Harry Medved was mistaken, in my opinion, for including the film, I could see exactly why he did and don't think his selection was that far off-base. And, I know this will ruffle a few feathers, but I also don't think this is De Mille's worst film. For dialog alone, his 1950s version of "The Ten Commandments" is god-awful and could lead many to convert to atheism--even though it's considered a classic and has a HUGE budget as well. I can hear Anne Baxter from this film now uttering the hilariously overdone line "...oooh, Moses.....Moooooses!!!!!" (like a cow in heat) or Edward G. Robinson bellowing "...he took us into the desert to die like dogs!!!!" for the 48th time in the film! Why is De Mille so adored? His dialog, acting and stories are often terrible--and VERY sacrilegious. Try watching "Sign of the Cross" and then try to convince me I am wrong about the sacrilegious comment, as it included scenes of bestiality, lesbianism and the like in a Biblical epic! Or how about the Claudette Colbert version of "Cleopatra" where you get to see Ms. Colbert's breasts--not exactly stuff to show your Sunday school class (and yes, I know "Cleopatra" is not a Biblical epic).Watch at your own risk....Oh, and De Mille DID do a few very good films...and many bad ones.

If they allowed one-word reviews on this thing, that's all I'd need: hokey. Right from the beginning I found myself positively spellbound by the unabashed hokiness of the plot, characters and dialogue, not to mention the embarrassingly dated costume and production design. Every scene startled me - they'd come out with so many stupid lines, maudlin heroics and old-fashioned cliches (often of a racist, sexist or jingoistic nature, even down to my first genuine encounter with a stern, monosyllabic Indian chief) that I couldn't stop watching it. Of course, it doesn't have any real entertainment value; the story and the characters are impossible to care about, and most of the scenes are dragged out beyond all reason. But it might be worth your while to check it out anyway, if just to be thoroughly appalled.

Cecil B. DeMille, once again, brings a Technicolor epic to the screen. This time it concerns the Royal Canadian Mounties (Red Coats) a Texas Ranger, in search of a criminal dealing with the Indians in frontier Canada, during the eighteen-eighties, by selling them guns, and the half-breeds that are being controlled by the Mounties.Along the way the Texas Ranger(Gary Cooper)falls for a pretty Army nurse (Madelaine Carroll) who is also courted by a Mountie Officer (Preston Foster). The nurse's brother, also a Mountie (Robert Preston) is under the spell of a beautiful half-breed (Paulette Goddard) who's father is the criminal (George Bancroft) that is being sought.As in DeMille plots, the hero saves the day, but not without a sacrifice of some of the supporting players. Won't tell you who. See the picture.Coop and Carroll do a wonderful job, taking some pretty silly lines, even for the forties, and making them work. Both look their best at the peaks of their careers. Preston and Foster (Robert and Preston, that is) do admirable jobs. Robert Preston looking very young with a full head of blonde curly hair. Playing the tempestuous half-breed, Paulette Goddard got a big break in her career with this role. It is said she wanted the part so bad, she donned herself in dark skin make-up, put on an Indian get-up with feathers and walked into DeMille's office saying, "You teenk you wan beeg director, hah? Me, Louvette, show you!" She got the part and played it to the hilt with her dark skin and beautiful blue eyes, beating out Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth also up for the role. Goddard went on to play in two more DeMille pictures, REAP THE WILD WIND and UNCONQUERED, this time performing leading roles.There is an excellent supporting cast of character actors, namely; Lynne Overman, Akim Tamiroff, Walter Hampden, Lon Chaney, Jr, Robert Ryan and Rod Cameron who went on to star in Republic Pictures westerns.POLICE is not yet on video, although most other DeMille films are, but it can be seen once in a while on AMC Classic Movies on TV.Great DeMille entertainment.