Northwest Passage | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | King Vidor |
Screenplay by | Laurence Stallings Talbot Jennings |
Based on | Northwest Passage 1937 novel by Kenneth Roberts |
Produced by | Hunt Stromberg |
Starring | Spencer Tracy Robert Young |
Cinematography | William V. Skall Sidney Wagner |
Edited by | Conrad A. Nervig |
Music by | Herbert Stothart |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Loew's Inc. |
Release date |
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Running time | 125 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $2,687,000[1][2] |
Box office | $3,150,000[1] |
Northwest Passage, also billed as Northwest Passage (Book 1: Roger's Rangers), is a 1940 American Western film in Technicolor, directed by King Vidor. It stars Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan and Ruth Hussey. The film is set in 1759, and tells a partly fictionalized version of the real-life St. Francis Raid by Rogers' Rangers, led by Robert Rogers (played by Tracy) on the primarily Abenaki village of St. Francis, in modern-day Canada. The screenplay, by Laurence Stallings and Talbot Jennings, is based on the 1937 historical novel Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts.
Roberts's novel is split into two parts, referred to as "Book 1" and "Book 2", and the film is based entirely on Book 1. There was originally discussion about filming a sequel that would cover Book 2, but this did not happen. Ironically, Rogers' quest to find a Northwest Passage through North America, which gave both the novel and the film their title, takes place in Book 2, and is only briefly mentioned in the film.