"North West Mounted Police”— A Screen Battle

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 10

"North West Mounted Police” — A Screen Battle

Topping her now-celebrated fight with Rosalind Russell in “The Women,” glamour girl Paulette Goddard will stage the screen battle of the century for Cecil B. DeMille in “North West Mounted Police.” This time her opponent will be a man—and if Lynne Overman forgets to duck just once, it may be his last fight. Paulette will start a fight swinging a scythe, Overman defending himself with a rifle! He is supposed to disarm the young lady—if he lives—and then defend himself in a real, old-fashioned rough-and-tumble. Because Overman’s safety depends entirely on his agility, he and his beautiful sparring partner have been practising the scythe-rifle routine for several days. Overman is supposed to wield the gun like a medieval staff, warding off blows, and DeMille has instructed Paulette that she is to swing freely. “It has to be the real thing,” announced the old master, “and it’s up to Overman to defend himself. As for the rough-and-tumble, let the best fighter win.” Expecting a donnybrook classic, with clothes probably dfeing tom to shreds, a goodly gallery was making plans to gather for the event when word of DeMille’s plans permeated the entire studio. The idea, it seems, came to him less than a week before it was filmefi. Miss Goddard, who proved herself no mean contender against Rosalind Russell, plays a French Canadian wildcat of the north woods in the technicolour DeMille picture. Overman is a dour Scotch Indian scout who riles her with a remark about her morals. Originally, the script called for Gary Cooper and Robert Preston to come between them as Paulette leaped to claw Overman’s eyes out, but the scene was rewritten to get the battle royal.