I was a bit surprised by this film. Despite being a quality production from Warner Brothers with a top director and a top star, the film was seemingly written by chipmunks--and dumb ones at that. Perhaps the reason they filmed such a bad plot is because it was WWII and they wanted a good propaganda piece for the audiences--but still, it should have been a lot better. Instead of bolstering the war effort, this film probably just elicited a few laughs.
Why did I dislike the script so much? Well, the biggest problem is how ludicrous the plot was. Sometimes you need to suspend disbelief to enjoy a film--here you need to turn off you brain completely! You are expected to believe that the Germans would send soldiers all the way to the most inhospitable wasteland of Canada. Then, you need to accept that they plan to bomb the St. Lawrence Seaway---and had planted planes in the wild years before the war in order to do this!! And, the Germans who concocted such a complicated plot had to be dumb enough to have this ridiculous plot foiled by a double-agent (Flynn). Now this is not the only obvious problem with the script. It also is, from time to time, a bit dull and could have either used a trimming or some more excitement along the journey. Much of it simply shows the group slogging through the snow in the sound stage--and a little of this goes a long way.
It's really a shame about the script, as the acting was quite good. Even though Errol Flynn had little to do in most of the movie, as usual his performance appears effortless as he was a very good actor. Gene Lockhart plays a heartless and spineless guy very well. And, relatively unknown Helmut Dantine is fine as a cold and snarling Nazi. These actors simply deserved better and the main reason I still give a reasonably high score was their acting--and it must have been hard giving good performances when they knew the script was a turkey.
Why did I dislike the script so much? Well, the biggest problem is how ludicrous the plot was. Sometimes you need to suspend disbelief to enjoy a film--here you need to turn off you brain completely! You are expected to believe that the Germans would send soldiers all the way to the most inhospitable wasteland of Canada. Then, you need to accept that they plan to bomb the St. Lawrence Seaway---and had planted planes in the wild years before the war in order to do this!! And, the Germans who concocted such a complicated plot had to be dumb enough to have this ridiculous plot foiled by a double-agent (Flynn). Now this is not the only obvious problem with the script. It also is, from time to time, a bit dull and could have either used a trimming or some more excitement along the journey. Much of it simply shows the group slogging through the snow in the sound stage--and a little of this goes a long way.
It's really a shame about the script, as the acting was quite good. Even though Errol Flynn had little to do in most of the movie, as usual his performance appears effortless as he was a very good actor. Gene Lockhart plays a heartless and spineless guy very well. And, relatively unknown Helmut Dantine is fine as a cold and snarling Nazi. These actors simply deserved better and the main reason I still give a reasonably high score was their acting--and it must have been hard giving good performances when they knew the script was a turkey.