Day 28: "Northwest Passage"

Director: King Vidor 1940
A rugged, exhausting movie that follows the exploits of Rogers' Rangers in 1759 as they fight the French (and the Native Americans allied with the French). Spencer Tracy is Major Rogers, and there are great scenes of his men pulling their longboats up a mountain to avoid detection, then having to create a human chain to get across a roiling river. Tracy even kills a barking dog (off camera) as they creep into an Indian village. Along the way, they have to abandon injured men--and other Rangers go crazy under the physical ordeal. Based on Kenneth Roberts' epic novel, the Northwest Passage has nothing to do with this movie; a sequel was planned in which the Rangers seek the Passage, but the film was never produced. One of the earliest movies shot in Technicolor. With Robert Young, Walter Brennan and a fine cast of character actors from the MGM repertory company.