I'll tell you why so serious

Great Film overall

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Spencer Tracy has long been one of my two favorite actors (the other being Cary Grant), and this particular film has long been one of my favorite Tracy movies. I was so happy to see it finally released on DVD...but so disappointed to see such a poor transfer by Warner Brothers. Some scenes are rather crisp, particularly closeups, but other scenes are downright fuzzy and very red. Color correction on this film is badly needed. This is, perhaps, the worst transfer to DVD I have ever seen. Tracy and we deserve much better.And, I must fault the original studio -- MGM -- for thinking that Idaho could substitute for New York State. Having lived in New York State, and having been to many of the locations discussed in this film, I have to tell you that that's not what Crown Point looked like at all, and not how the landforms and river look like there, and not how Lake Champlain looks. You can't confuse the Rockies with the Adirondack region! Nevertheless, the quality of the movie script and performances definitely make this one for your DVD shelf. There was a great deal of on-location filming...much of this film is outdoors, and that shows. Clearly, this film was not an easy shoot.Tracy, as real-life historic figure Robert Rogers of the famous Rogers' Rangers, shines in this film. Tracy as a leader is the prime theme of the film, and he accomplishes it brilliantly. Let's face it, Tracy was a tremendously talented actor whose many roles showed a real breadth in his abilities. This is one of his best roles.Robert Young is also excellent as a would-be college-educated artist who gets himself in political trouble and joins Rogers' Rangers to flee possible arrest. While I loved Young in "Father Knows Best", I was never as enamored with his film appearances. This is an exception. His scenes where he show fear and apprehension of battles ahead are excellent.As is typical, Walter Brennan turns in a bravura performance as a woodsman who plays a sort of sidekick to both Tracy and Young.There are lots of other familiar faces of supporting actors here, all from the MGM stable. If you're into character actors, look for Donald MacBride. He was famous for the "slow burn" in many comedy films, but here he is in a completely different role of a ranger -- Sergeant McNott. The love interest here -- for Robert Young -- is Ruth Hussey, but you won't see much of her except in the opening and closing scenes of the film. Frankly, this is a man's film.The key to enjoying this film is to understand that the script follows actual historical events more closely than most such films, although of course MGM and the script writers did take some liberties for the sake of the story. However, the basic plot remains pretty true. Among the most impressive segments of the film is the primary battle with the Indians and the French. I've rarely seen battle scenes done so well, at least up until Mel Gibson's "The Patriot". Also impressive is the manner in which one soldier's insanity grows during and after the key battle.An excellent film, with my only real complaint with the 2011 DVD being the quality of the film transfer. Nevertheless, this is one to savor on your DVD shelf.

Northwest Passage is directed by King Vidor and adapted to screenplay by Laurence Stallings and Talbot Jennings from the Kenneth Roberts novel of the same name. It stars Spencer Tracy, Robert Young and Walter Brennan. Music is by Herbert Stothart and cinematography by William V. Skall and Sidney Wagner."This is a story of our early America….of the century of conflict with French and Indians….when necessity made simple men, unknown to history, into giants in daring and endurance. It begins in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1759…." Hurrah! What with the film having a reputation as one of the greatest adventure films of all time, that opening salvo for Vidor's movie doubly whets the appetite.What follows is more a case of a visually great picture, dotted with action, that is more about actual heroes than heroic deeds. Certainly the first hour of the picture leans more towards the slow burn than anything raising the pulse. However, characters are well drawn by Vidor and his team, with quality performances to match from the leads, and when the action dose come, such as the excellent battle at the Abenaki village, they more than pay back the patience of the viewer. We need to be forgiving for the overtly racist fervour that permeates the plot, so instead just rejoice in men triumphing over many obstacles, both of the mind and the body. 7/10

I saw this during the Spencer Tracy tribute on Aug. 18 on Turner Classic Movies. Ironically, that date is the birthdate of Meriwether Lewis (1774.) Much of the action in this film mirrors the toils and turmoils of the Lewis and Clark Expedition which occurred less than 50 years from the time of this story. When you see the men malnourished, facing difficult portages, battling mosquitoes and having to wade through cold water for long stretches, fearing Indian attacks constantly, you have some ideas of the challenges facing the Corps of Discovery. Their co-leader, Lewis (Actually, he officially outranked Clark during their trip, because Clark's orders promoting him to captain equal to Lewis didn't arrive before their departure) had a career that had much in common with Maj. Rogers. Like Rogers, he was a brilliant leader and his men followed him loyally to the end. Both men toiled along with the men and consulted their junior officers and men before making difficult life-or-death decisions. Both were hailed as great heroes by the public and government they represented after their marvelous feats of derring-do, but both came to bad ends. Rogers sided with the British during the Revolutionary War and his Rangers eventually became a Canadian outfit and he never was able to achieve his mission of finding the Northwest Passage, although as Tracy says in the film, he may have had little faith in there actually being such a water route. Lewis also never saw his extensive journals of his expedition come to be published, dying mysteriously in a Tennessee travelers' inn a few years after arriving home from that epic trip, which was charged with also trying to find the elusive Passage. Langdon's summary quote about Rogers could also apply to Lewis, as American adventurers since then carry his spirit of discovery with them, even into outer space. This film has always been one of my favorites. As a lover of westerns, I can enjoy many of the familiar elements: an arduous journey over breathtakingly beautiful but perilous land and water, battles with Indians, men and women of unflinching courage. I'm lucky enough to live in a part of the northwestern U.S. where some of the film footage was shot, which was only a little more than a hundred miles from the same part of Idaho which had proved so difficult to the Lewis and Clark expedition. In fact, this film and COME AND GET IT (1936), also featuring Walter Brennan in his first Oscar-winning role, were the first two films made in this part of the Northwest (specifically, northern Idaho) to achieve Academy Award nominations and NORTHWEST PASSAGE had some great photography which was so honored. If you've never traveled to the Northwest, I urge you to do so. And I urge you to see NORTHWEST PASSAGE. In either case, you'll enjoy the trip. Dale Roloff

Roger's Rangers became the inspiration for the formation of the modern Army's Rangers units.Revived in World War II to accomplish missions that no one in their right-mind would even consider, they lead the way in numerous extremely hazardous operations. Probably the most famous was the assault up the sheer cliff faces of Pont du Hoc during the invasion of Festung Europe on June 6th 1944. They took 50% casualties in that operation.This movie, NORTHWEST PASSAGE, depicts the ill-fated operation by the first American Rangers. It demonstrates their ingenuity, determination and fortitude in the face of every possible adversity one can expect in time of war.I went through the Army's Ranger Course in 1980. It was a demanding year of my life and I have to admit, after seeing this movie, quite by accident several years later, I was reminded of everything that the training regime put me through. I was especially impressed with how Roger's men had to suffer from the deprivations of no logistical support to provide subsistence. I swear....it was a sorry water moccasin (snake) that crossed my patrol's path in Florida. You'd hear the word, whispered, "Snake." Followed immediately by the sound of several machetes being pulled from sheaths and a short 'splash'.When we finished the last operation, the night assault on Santa Rosa Island, we were as jubilant as Roger's men were when they were 'relieved' by the British column. And we celebrated, about the same way....FOOOOOoooOD!