Independent Films, Film Profiles

Northwest Passage (film)
by King Vidor

Northwest Passage is a 1940 film in Technicolor, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, and others. It is based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts titled Northwest Passage (1937).It is set in the mid 18th century during the French and Indian War (as the Seven Years' War in North America is usually known in the US). It gives an account of an attack by Rogers' Rangers on Saint-François-du-Lac, Quebec, a settlement of the Abenakis, an American Indian tribe. The purpose of the raid is to avenge the many attacks on British settlers and deter further attacks.The title is something of a misnomer, since this film is a truncated version of the original story, and only at the end do we find that Rogers and his men are about to go on a search for the Northwest Passage.The film opens in the year 1759 with the arrival of Langdon Towne in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The son of a rope-maker, he returns from Harvard University after being expelled for complaining about the food. Though disappointed, Langdon's family greets him with love, as does Elizabeth Browne, the daughter of a clergyman. Elizabeth's father is less welcoming, however, and denigrates Langdon's aspirations to becoming a painter. That evening, while drinking in the local tavern, Langdon makes indiscreet remarks disparaging Wiseman Clagett, the king's attorney, and the Indian agent, Sir William Johnson, unaware that Clagett is sitting in the next room with another official. Facing arrest for his comments, Langdon fights the two men with the help of "Hunk" Marriner, a local woodsman, before they both escape into the woods.As they flee westward, Langdon and Marriner stop in a backwoods tavern for something to drink. There they meet a man in a green uniform who treats them to hot buttered rum after they help him with a drunk American Indian. After a night of drinking, the two men wake up at Fort Crown Point, where they are told that the man they had met was Major Rogers, the commander of Rogers' Rangers. Needing Langdon's mapmaking skills, Roberts recruits the two men for his latest expedition, one against the hostile Abenakis tribe to the north.Setting out at dusk, Rogers' force rows north on Lake Champlain. Traveling by night, they successfully evade river patrols by French forces but are forced to send several soldiers back to the fort after a confrontation with Mohawk scouts who were dismissed by Rogers. Though depleted, the rangers move on. Abandoning their boats, the force marches northward through swampland. When informed that the French have captured their boats and extra supplies, Rogers revises his plan and sends a scout back to Fort Crown Point requesting the British to send supplies to Fort Wentworth, where the returning rangers will meet them.After continued marching, the rangers reach Saint-François-du-Lac. The force succeeds in their attack, setting fire to the dwellings and cutting the Abenakis off from retreat. When the battle is over, however, the rangers find only a few baskets of corn with which to replenish their dwindling provisions. Worse, as Marriner is searching the destroyed village, he comes across a prostrate Langdon suffering from a bayonet wound in his abdomen. Facing hostile forces and a long march with only meager supplies, the rangers set out for Lake Champlain, with the injured Langdon bringing up the rear.Ten days later, Rogers' men reach Lake Champlain. Encountering signs of French activity, Rogers prefers to press on to Fort Wentworth a hundred miles distant, but the men vote to split up into four parties and fan out in search of game to eat. Game proves scare, though; worse, two of the detachments are captured by the French and most of the men killed. After rendezvouing, the surviving force continues to Fort Wentworth.After persevering through inclement weather, Rogers, Langdon, and the remaining men finally reach the fort, only to find it unoccupied and the British relief absent. Though personally despairing, Rogers attempts to rally the men, many of whom are on the verge of collapse. Rogers attempts to perk up their flagging spirits with a prayer; as they pray, they hear the fifes and drums of the approaching British with the supplies. Reporting that the Abenakis are destroyed, the British do Rogers' men the honor of presenting their firearms. After returning to Portsmouth, Langdon reunites with Elizabeth while Rogers' Rangers are given a new mission: to find the Northwest Passage.