Man from Montreal (1939) User Reviews

An innocent trapper is pursued by the Mounties.

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 4 June 2018]

Director: CHRISTY CABANNE. Screenplay: Owen Francis. Original screen story: Ben Pivar. Photographed in black-and-white by Milton Krasner. Film editor: Maurice Wright. Art directors: Jack Otterson, Harold H. MacArthur. Set decorator: Russell A. Gausman. Music director: Hans J. Salter. Sound recording: Bernard B. Brown. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Ben Pivar.

Copyright 8 November 1939 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 8 December 1939. Australian release: 13 June 1940. 7 reels. 5,416 feet. 60 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: Accused of stealing pelts, an innocent trapper is pursued by the Mounties.

COMMENT: A beautifully photographed (Milton Krasner) "B" set in the Canadian Rockies. The story by producer Ben Pivar, as screenplayed by Owen Francis, offers a passable amount of action (though it is not very vigorously staged), but tends to be a bit over-talkative.

Director Christy Cabanne's often attractively composed visuals reveal his silent film origins, and this quality alone is sufficient to lift the film out of the rut. See if you can spot the silent stock footage (the use of which is a common feature of Cabanne's later sound films) which is very cleverly integrated with the new material.

Lots of adventure in the great Canadian north.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 1 July 2022]

One of many Universal programmers starring the team of Richard Arlen and Andy Devine, this is one of their best because Devine does not play his role as a comic buffoon, and that makes a lot of difference. Arlen is a fur trapper wrongly accused of theft, and later murder, with the real culprit (Reed Hadley) and his accomplice (Kay Sutton) planning to get away after leaving evidence to frame him. Arlen's determined to get justice and is aided by local constable Devine and the pretty Anne Gwynne, leading to a predictable but exciting conclusion.

While Devine has a few comical moments, he is much more subtle than normal. I wish I could say the same about young Tommy Whitten as the sniveling Mountie mascot who whines his way through a few scenes. For the most part, the film is a lot of fun with sets being a great representation of the wild north, one of my favorite type of sets for these low budget outdoorsy adventures. Lots of rapid river running and shots of very large trees aides this hour long movie into moving by quickly with the help of director Christy Cabane, one of the best directors of many classic programmers.