American Cinematographer - November 1987 - 49

A ten minute promotional short
subject, Northward Ho!, released by MGM about the
same time as the feature,
conveys in a once-overlightly manner the making of Northwest Passage.
Frank Whitbeck, head of advertising and exploitation
at the MGM studios, director Harry Loud, and cin¬
ematographer Jackson Rose, ASC, had gone to the

location and filmed

some

behind the

scenes

material

in black and white.

After the returns

were

noted, and

perhaps for additional reasons, 'Tart Two" was
quietly forgotten. A 26 episode TV series in color
called Northwest Passage, produced by MGM, was
telecast during the 1958-59 season. Footage from the
1940 production was interpolated whenever possible.
Following the appearance of Bro¬
ken Arrow in 1950, a new era in depicting the Ameri¬
on the screen was ushered in. It was, in
resurrection of the Noble Savage concept and
Northwest Passage was regarded as "a particularly

can

fact,

Indian
a

vicious and

vehemently anti-Native American film."

In truth,
time

-

Northwest Passage was a reflection of its
both the historical period in which the events

took

place and the time the picture was made. Broken
by the same token, was an example of patronization and glorification. Distortions abound, what¬
ever the
message.
A
Arrow,

Northwest

land; Captain Grant, Frank S. Hagney; Konkapot, Andrew Pena;
Solomon, Robert St. Angelo; Captain Williams, Denis Greene; Turner,
Peter

George Lynn; Butterfield, Edward Gargan.

1938 Production Personnel:

director, W. S. Van Dyke; directors of

photography, Leonard Smith, ASC, Ray Rennahan, ASC; consultant,
Col. Tim McCoy; art director, Malcolm Brown; unit manager, Frank
Messenger.

Passage
A

in the Lot 3

chain sequence.

(A Miniature)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture

Directed by King Vidor; produced by Hunt Stromberg; screen play by
Laurence Stallings, Talbot Jennings; based on the novel by Kenneth

Produced and narrated

Roberts; musical director, Herbert Stothart; recording director, Doug¬
las Shearer; art director, Cedric Gibbons; associate, Malcolm Brown;
set decorations, Edwin B. Willis; make-up created by Jack Dawn; di¬

Rose, ASC; music, Daniele Amfitheatrof;

of photography, Sidney Wagner, ASC, William V. Skall, ASC;
Henry Jaffa; film
editor, Conrad A. Nervig; photographed in Technicolor; uncredited

water

tank for the human

Northward, Ho!

(Book 1-Rogers' Rangers)
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture

rectors

Marine engines and
propellers churn the

by Frank Whitbeck; directed by Harry Loud;
play by Herman Hoffman; director of photography, Jackson J.
film editor, Ray Brickner;
Western Electric recording; presented in Sepia Platinum process. Rur ning time 10 minutes. Released February 23, 1940.
screen

Technicolor color director, Natalie Kalmus; associate,

RESOURCES

writers, Conrad Richter, Frances Marion, Jules Furthman, Noel

Langley, Bruno Frank, Jack Singer, Robert E. Sherwood, Richard
Schayer, Sidney Howard, Jane Murfin, Elizabeth Hill; assistant direc¬
tors, Red Golden, Burt Spurlin, Harrold Weinberger; technical con¬
sultant, George Greene; added direction, Jack Conway; additional
music, Dr. William Axt, Daniele Amfitheatrof; orchestrations, Murray
Cutter, Leonid Raab, Paul Marquardt, Charles Maxwell; second unit
director, Norman Foster; second unit cinematography, Jack Smith,
ASC; additional cinematography, Charles Boyle, ASC; operators and
assistant cameramen, William T. Cline, ASC, Paul Hill, Fred Mayer,
A.J. "Duke" Callahan, Roger Mace, Kyme Mead, Paul Uhl, Joe
Noecker, Andy McIntyre, Richard Mueller, James Stone, Raoul Be¬
ssette; unit manager, Jay Marchant. Western Electric recording. Run¬
ning time, 125 minutes; released February 23, 1940.
Major Rogers, Spencer Tracy; Langdon Towne, Robert Young;
"Hunk" Marriner, Walter Brennan; Elizabeth Browne, Ruth Hussey;
"Cap" Huff, Nat Pendleton; Reverend Browne, Louis Hector;
Humphrey Towne, Robert Barratt; Lord Amherst, Lumsden Hare; Ser¬
geant McNott, Donald McBride; Jennie Coit, Isabel Jewell; Lieutenant
Avery, Douglas Walton; Lieutenant Crofton, Addison Richards; Jesse
Beacham, Hugh Sothern; Webster, Regis Toomey; Wiseman Clagett,
Montagu Love; Sam Livermore, Lester Matthews; Captain Ogden,
Truman Bradley; Sir William Johnston, Frederick Worlock; Mrs.
Towne, Vera Felton; Mrs. Brown, Gwendolen Logan; Jesse Beacham,
Hugh Sothern; Sheriff Packer, Rychard Cramer; Ranger, Edwin Par¬
ker; Jane Brown, Addie McPhail; Sarah Hadden, Helen MacKellar;
Richard Towne, Don Castle; Odiorne Towne, Kent Rogers; Eben Towne,
Rand Brooks; Flint, Arthur Aylesworth; Farrington, Ted Oliver; Billy,
Lawrence Porter; Captain Jacobs, Tony Guerrero; Stoodley, Ferdinand
Munier; McMullin, George Eldredge; Bradley McNeil, Ray Teal; Dun¬
bar, John Merton; Ranger, C. E. Anderson; MacPherson, Gibson Gow-

November 1987

Directors Guild of America

King Vidor Oral History (Interviewed by Nancy Dowd),
1972

Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences

Howard

Strickling Collection
Department Records

MGM Art

MGM Set Reference Stills Collection

Technicolor Collection
Turner Entertainment Co.

Legal, Production, and Script Files (MGM)
Berkeley; The Bancroft Library (Manuscripts Division)
Sidney Howard Collection
UCLA Department of Special Collections
King Vidor Collection
UCLA Theatre Arts Library
MGM Set Design Collection
USC Archives of the Performing Arts; Doheny Library
UC

MGM Collection

King Vidor Collection
And my

thanks to Morris Abrams, Leith Adams, Diana R.

Brown, William T. Cline, ASC, Ned Comstock, Bob Cushman,
Sharon Farb, Sam Gill, Bonnie Hardwick, Sharon Inamoto, Mar¬
ian

Kidd, Sam Marx, Dick May, Clifford McCarty, Ben Presser,

William Rosar, David
William A.

American

Shepard, Herbert Stothart, Jr., Tom Tarr,

Weinberger, and Robert Young.

Cinematographer

47
American Cinematographer - November 1987

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