The Northern or Northwestern is a genre in various arts that tell stories set primarily in the late 19th or early 20th century in the north of North America , primarily in western Canada but also in Alaska . It is similar to the Western genre , but many elements are different, as appropriate to its setting. It is common for the central character to be a Mountie instead of a cowboy or sheriff . Other common characters include fur trappers and traders, lumberjacks , prospectors , First Nations people, outlaws, settlers, and townsfolk.
35-452: Alien Thunder (also known as Dan Candy's Law ) is a 1974 Canadian Northern film directed by Claude Fournier and starring Donald Sutherland , Gordon Tootoosis , Chief Dan George , Kevin McCarthy , and Francine Racette . Its original screenplay was written by W.O. Mitchell but Mitchell removed his name from the final release due to changes that were made. The movie is based on
70-539: A Western but changed the location to capitalize on the contemporary gold rush. Charlie Chaplin's 1925 film The Gold Rush is a comedy that parodies some of the cliches of the Northern genre. The Looney Tunes character Blacque Jacque Shellacque , who first appeared in the 1959 short Bonanza Bunny , is another parody. While the Hollywood Western began to change in the post-World War II era and
105-661: A broadsheet, The Province later became tabloid paper-size. It publishes daily except Saturdays, Mondays (as of October 17, 2022) and selected holidays. The Province was established as a weekly newspaper in Victoria in 1894. A 1903 article in the Pacific Monthly described the Province as the largest and the youngest of Vancouver's important newspapers. In 1923, the Southam family bought The Province . By 1945,
140-523: A cavalry charge in the film. Alien Thunder was filmed in Saskatchewan at Battleford , Duck Lake , St. Isidore de Bellevue , and Saskatoon . During filming, Sutherland hired a local woman who ran a coffee shop in Bellevue to cook for him during the production, as there were few options for eating out in the small town. Sutherland and Racette met on the filming of the movie. They married after
175-496: A common enough feature to become a synonym for the genre, with Northern films sometimes called "Mountie films". Their popularity was not confined to film; by 1930, 75 volumes of written Mountie fiction had been published, not including juvenile fiction and material published in magazines. Where a protagonist in a Western is often part of both civilization and the wild (whether native or criminal), Mounties in Northerns are entirely
210-476: A common feature too. Dogs and dog sleds were popularized by The Call of the Wild and White Fang . Scenes involving attacks by bears date back to The Klondyke Nugget . The primary antagonist in a Northern can be the wilderness, the weather and other natural elements, which the protagonists must endure, overcome and survive. Northerns often explore the 'Matter of Canada' (the national mythos of Canada, after
245-707: A fugitive takes place across the Canadian wilderness and may be resolved non-violently. According to Pierre Berton "the French-Canadian was to the northerns what the Mexican was to the Westerns — an exotic primitive, adaptable as a chameleon to play a hero or a heavy." French-Canadians were a ubiquitous element of the genre. As characters, French-Canadians are typically depicted as rustic and uneducated. These characters were usually divided into two broad types:
280-516: A part of civilization. The nature of fictional Mounties can vary depending on the nationality of the author. Mounties as written by British authors are often younger members of upper class British families serving the British Empire in the colonies. American-authored Mounties are often little different from US Marshalls and project the values of Westerns in that they place their individual sense of justice and conscience above their duty to
315-467: A part of the Canadian Northern, though individual lawbreakers or uprisings by Canadians feature in works such as Quebec (1951), Riel (1979), and Northwest Mounted Police (1940). In Northerns and wider crime fiction, the general Canadian preference is for law enforcement to be performed by the state rather than vigilantes or private investigators. Likewise, Northerns rarely feature
350-742: A true story from the North-West Territories in the 1890s after the North-West Rebellion . A young Woods Cree man named Almighty Voice ( Gordon Tootoosis in his first film role) is arrested by the North-West Mounted Police . Reacting to comments by officer Dan Candy (played by Donald Sutherland ), he breaks out of imprisonment and kills Sergeant Malcolm Grant (played by Kevin McCarthy ) under desperate circumstances. Candy then spends two years hunting for Almighty Voice, but becomes disenchanted with
385-569: Is lacking and characters are generally underdeveloped, as is the tension between the Mounties and the Indians.", stated Natalie Edwards for Cinema Canada. The film was criticised upon release. Michael Walsh, film critic for The Province in Vancouver, wrote: Alien Thunder , one of the most costly movies ever made in this country, was a project of epic potential and lofty ambition. That
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#1732797281322420-632: Is the work of non-Canadians. Nevertheless, Skene-Melvin writes "Just as the Western is widely regarded as emblematic of American culture, it can be argued that the Northern is the only truly indigenous Canadian art form, even if most of its exponents have been foreigners." One of the earliest international examples of the genre is the British play The Klondyke Nugget , which was first performed in 1898. Its author, Samuel Franklin Cody initially wrote it as
455-770: The Matter of Rome ). Common elements of which are the Black Donnelly murders (February 1880), the North-West Rebellion (1885), the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99), the pursuit of Albert Johnson (January 1932), the October Crisis (October 1970), and persistent national anxiety about potential annexation by the United States. The Western idea of lawlessness set in American towns was not
490-608: The Province launched radio station CFCB, with news and stock market reports. There were news bulletins throughout the day, followed by music. Sign off was at 10 p.m. The station's name changed to CKCD in 1923 and it moved to 730 kHz in 1925. In 1933 the paper turned its operations over to the Pacific Broadcasting Co., while continuing to supply news reports to the station. In 1936, the newly formed Canadian Broadcasting Corporation , established to function as both broadcaster and broadcasting regulator (taking over
525-592: The Sun and Province for three months; in the interim, the Vancouver Express published daily editions. It ended on May 13 and resulted in increased pay for employees and a trustee pension fund with a board that included management and union representatives. The Province has seen, like most Canadian daily newspapers , a decline in circulation . Its total circulation dropped by 30 percent to 114,467 copies daily from 2009 to 2015. At 2 p.m. on March 23, 1922,
560-460: The "second period" of Canadian crime literature (1880–1920), as "the heyday of the 'Northern' and the literary exploration of Canada's remote and romantic frontiers." He refers to Joseph Edmund Collins as an important figure in this period because, despite his work being of low quality, he was the first Canadian author to address some aspects of the 'Matter of Canada' in his novels, such as The Story of Louis Riel: The Rebel Chief (1885) and Annette,
595-815: The Journey of Death, comes from The Call of the North (1914) and was popular in later films. In this, the Hudson's Bay Company executes convicts by forcing them into the wilderness without equipment or supplies. In 1921, the Hudson's Bay Company successfully sued the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation for the villainous portrayal of their Company in the latter's remake The Call of the North . Alaska Natives or Métis are featured in some depictions. Besides being set in Canadian Prairies ,
630-540: The Métis Spy (1886). Northerns continued to be written after 1920 but Canadian authors largely moved to other genres after World War I as they moved away from a frontier and colonial ethos. The Klondike Gold Rush during the 1890s in Canada and Alaska brought a lot of wider, international attention to the far north of North America. Adventure novels from veterans of the gold rush—such as Jack London 's The Call of
665-451: The United States, under the name Dan Candy's Law . Northern (genre) International interest in the region and the genre was fuelled by the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99) and subsequent works surrounding it, fiction and non-fiction. The genre was extremely popular in the interwar period of the 20th century. Northerns are still produced, but their popularity waned in the late 1950s. Northerns are similar to Westerns but are set in
700-627: The Western myth eventually lost popularity, Hollywood Northerns remained mostly unchanged until their production waned in the late 1950s, the underlying mythology never being challenged. The Province The Province is a daily newspaper published in tabloid format in British Columbia by Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network, alongside the Vancouver Sun broadsheet newspaper. Together, they are British Columbia's only two major newspapers. Formerly
735-415: The Wild (1903), Rex Beach 's The Spoilers (1906) and Robert W. Service 's The Trail of Ninety-Eight (1909)—became best sellers. These inspired more adventure fiction which grew in popularity throughout the first half of the twentieth century. The genre was extremely popular in the inter-war years, with a "Mountie craze" hitting its peak during the mid-1920s. A large amount of Northern fiction
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#1732797281322770-416: The completion of the movie. The RCMP, which had seen the film as a centrepiece of its 1973 centennial celebrations, withdrew its backing and asked that its name not be used in any promotional materials. Sutherland stated that Fournier’s direction of the movie was "wretched". However, one critic noted that many of the script changes were apparently made by Sutherland, which contributed to the uneven nature of
805-460: The excessive force used by the NWMP. The film ends in a shoot-out near the town of Duck Lake , where Almighty Voice is killed. Part of the tension of the film is the relationship between Grant and Candy. Grant shows the stereotype of the Mounties, upright and scrupulously fair, similar to portrayals of the Mounties in earlier Northerns . Candy, on the other hand, is rough-hewn and rural, not part of
840-475: The final result falls short of the mark can't help but be a disappointment. Making director Claude Fournier's shortfall all the more unhappy are the sparkles of depth and brilliance that do occur, sparkles suggesting that within the film he's offered us is a really great picture struggling to get out. Walsh criticised Sutherland's acting in the movie, stating that Sutherland needed a stronger director to keep him on track. Walsh also criticised Sutherland's changes to
875-693: The frozen north of North America ; that is, Canada or Alaska . Of the two, Canada was the more common setting, although many tropes could apply to both. Popular locations within Canada are the Yukon , the Barren Grounds , and area around Hudson Bay . Generic names used for this general setting included the "Far North", the "Northlands", the "North Woods", and the "Great Woods". Common settings include boreal forests , isolated cabins, and mining towns. Snow featured to such an extent that Northern films were sometimes termed "snow pictures". Animals were
910-483: The heroic outlaws often found in Westerns. On the subject, David Skene-Melvin writes "Canada never had a Wild West because the Mounties got there first," while Margaret Atwood writes "No outlaws or lawless men for Canada; if one appears, the Mounties always get their man." Law and order in Northerns set in Canada is most often represented by the Mounties, either the North-West Mounted Police or Royal Canadian Mounted Police depending on era. Like snow, Mounties are
945-505: The heroic, happy-go-lucky bon-vivant and the villainous, lecherous killer. Some later examples merged the two stereotypes into a charming, roguish anti-villain . Common visual elements were a tuque , a sash and a pipe. All were present in the first appearance in film, in A Woman's Way (1908). Female French-Canadian characters also followed the "tempestuous" stereotype of female Mexican characters. Mexican actress Lupe Vélez , in line with her identity as "The Mexican Spitfire", played
980-473: The idealistic vision of the Mounties. He is attracted to Grant's widow (played by Francine Racette ), and also carries the guilt of having triggered Almighty Voice's decision to escape, in which Grant was killed. Chief Dan George plays the role of Sounding Sky, the father of Almighty Voice. The first version of the screenplay for Alien Thunder was written by W. O. Mitchell , a noted Saskatchewan author. However, as filming progressed and changes were made at
1015-468: The law. Canadian-authored Mounties represent, and are self-abnegating champions of, the Canadian establishment and its laws. Further, their authority does not come from either their social class or physical abilities; such a Mountie "upholds the law by moral rather than physical force". A common story outline for Northerns involving Mounties is a pursuit, confrontation and capture: the Mountie's pursuit of
1050-515: The paper's printers went out on strike. The Province had been the best selling newspaper in Vancouver, ahead of the Vancouver Sun and News Herald . As a result of the six-week strike, it lost significant market share, at one point falling to third place. In 1957, The Province and the Vancouver Sun were sold to Pacific Press Limited which was jointly owned by both newspaper companies. A 1970 strike by Pacific Press employees shut down
1085-454: The request of Sutherland, he asked that his name not be used on the finished version. He was reported to have said: "It’s just not mine anymore." The film was one of the most expensive produced in Canada at that time, with a cost of $ 1.5 million (approximately $ 9,245,000 in 2024). An historically accurate reproduction of the town of Duck Lake was built as one of the film sets. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police provided officers and horses for
Alien Thunder - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-575: The script. A retrospective review in 2019 found that "Though it laudably uses Indigenous (and principally Cree ) actors and some of the Cree language , Alien Thunder is ultimately a film about Mounties and settlers; as sympathetic as it may be to the Cree, they are, as the native peoples of the Americas tend to be in Westerns, reduced to supporting players in their own story." The film was also released in
1155-658: The stories often contrast the American frontier with the Canadian frontier in several ways. In films such as Pony Soldier and Saskatchewan the North-West Mounted Police display reason, compassion and a sense of fair play in their dealings with Aboriginal people ( First Nations ) as opposed to hotheaded American visitors (often criminals), lawmen or the American Army who seem to prefer extermination with violence. David Skene-Melvin classes
1190-526: The story. The film was originally scheduled for a premiere in Montreal in the fall of 1973. The RCMP is said to have asked that the premiere not occur during their centennial year. Instead, the film had a simultaneous release in four Saskatchewan cities in March 1974: Regina , Saskatoon , Moose Jaw , and Battleford , with a subsequent release in Vancouver. The film was not a financial success. "Suspense
1225-648: The title character in Tiger Rose (1929) in this mode; as did Renée Adorée in The Eternal Struggle (1923) and Nikki Duval in Quebec (1951). A common anachronism in Northerns was the tyranny and absolute power of the Hudson's Bay Company and its officers, even into the modern period. This was repeated not just in fiction but by reviewers and critics too. The concept of La Longue Traverse , or
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