HUDSON'S BAY

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 107, 11 July 1941, Page 16

HUDSON'S BAY

(20th Century-Fox)

‘TRAVELLING beyond the United States in his search for romantic historical subjects with box-office possibilities, Pro-

ducer Darryl F. Zanuck of 20th Century-Fox has now arrived at the rich fur-bearing lands of Hudson’s Bay. In order to win this prize for Ergland and Mr. Zanuck, it is necessary for Paul Muni to go unshaven, wear buckskins and a fur hat, and talk with a French accent which is so realistic as to be almost unintelligible. In company with a mountainous new actor named " Gooseberry " in the story and Laird Cregar in real life, he also has to gallivant through about 8000 feet of some of the most curious history yet unearthed from the Hollywood archives, involving, among other things, two visits to the court of King Charles II, and some high-pressure salesmanship on the Merry Monarch (with Nell Gwynne hovering in the background), as a result of which Hudson’s Bay is gained for the Empire and a happy ending for almost all concerned. Muni performs this service for England, and this disservice to his reputation as a fine actor, in the role of Pierre Radisson, a Frenchman who saw the commercial possibilities of opening up Hudson’s Bay and who had the good sense to realise that it could best be

done by a British Trading Company. The fact that he had already been given a pretty raw deal by his fellow Frenchmen in Canada may have influenced this decision, though considerable stress is laid on Radisson as a man inspired by an altruistic vision of a land fit for modern Canadians to live in. However, equal stress is also laid on the fact that he was a merry rogue with a good head for figures, and it is this quality that endears him to Charles II. and saves him from the gallows when, in the interests of colonisation and trade, he takes the law into his own hands and shoots one of the King’s favourites as an example to the Indians. Assisting and occasionally hampering Radisson in his enterprise is "le gros Gooseberry," who acts as "stooge" to the star and steals most of the dimelight, and the noble Lord Crewe (John Sutton) who provides money and social backing for the expeditions as well as love interest for the story, through the (Continued on next page)

FILM REVIEWS (Continued from previous page) fact that he has a fiancée (apparently an American) at King Charles’s Court for whom he pines while he is way out north among the beavers and the Blackfeet. One way and another, the daring adventurers manage to cover a lot of territory, but since one can guess what is going to happen before it does, the necessary element of suspense is rather lacking. So is the sense of historical accuracy, though for all I actually know to the contrary, events may have happened exactly as Mr, Zanuck’s scriptwriters describe them. As for Muni, he seems to enjoy himself; he frolics rather than acts. But I feel much the same about Muni in Hudson’s Bay as I felt about Edward | G. Robinson in A Dispatch from Reuters: that the film is unworthy of the star. |