| Policing the Plains | |
|---|---|
 Toronto newspaper ad for the premiere | |
| Directed by | Arthur D. Kean |
| Written by | Arthur D. Kean |
| Based on | Policing the Plains by R.G. MacBeth |
| Produced by | Arthur D. Kean |
| Starring | Jack Downing Dorothy Fowler Joe Fleiger Col. T. A. Wroughton |
| Cinematography | Arthur D. Kean |
| Edited by | Arthur D. Kean |
Production companies | Western Pictures Company (1924-25) Policing the Plains Productions Ltd. (1925-27) |
Release date |
|
Running time | ca. 120 min |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | Silent (English intertitles) |
| Budget | $125,000 |
Policing the Plains is a 1927 Canadian silent historical docudrama film directed by Arthur D. Kean and based on the book of the same name by R.G. MacBeth. It depicted the first fifty years of the Royal North-West Mounted Police.[1]
Kean purchased the films rights to MacBeth's book two years after a separate company's unsuccessful attempt at adapting it. He originally planned for a six-reel film at a cost of $40,000, but it grew to eight-reels and $125,000 over the course of its filming over three years and five months. Kean filmed on location in western Canada and utilized the celebration of Macleod's 50th-anniversary.
The film's release date was delayed from the 1924 British Empire Exhibition to the 1927 Canadian National Exhibition before being shown once at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The full film has since been lost since 1937, and one reel is believed to have been destroyed in a 1967 National Film Board of Canada vault fire.
- ^ Morris, Peter (1978). Embattled Shadows: A History of Canadian Cinema, 1895-1939. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 90–91.