New Arrival 49th Parallel (#376, DVD)

At once a compelling piece of anti-isolationist propaganda and a quick-witted wartime thriller,49th Parallelis a classic early work from the inimitable British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. When a Nazi U-boat crew, headed by the ruthless Eric Portman, is stranded in Canada during the thick of World War II, the men evade capture by hiding out in a series of rural communities, before trying to cross the border into the still-neutral United States. Both soul-stirring and delightfully entertaining,49th Parallelfeatures a colorful cast of characters played by larger-than-life actors Laurence Olivier, Raymond Massey, Anton Walbrook, and Leslie Howard.

SPECIAL FEATURES

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET:

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer
• Audio commentary by film and music historian Bruce Eder
• The Volunteer, a 1943 Powell and Pressburger war-effort short starring Ralph Richardson
• A Pretty British Affair, a BBC documentary on the careers of Powell and Pressburger, which considers their WWII-era collaborations and features rare footage of the filmmakers together
• Excerpts from Michael Powell’s audio dictations for his autobiography
• Original theatrical trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: A new essay by film scholar Charles Barr and an excerpt from Powell’s 1941 premiere speech