Northwest Passage (1940 film)
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Northwest Passage is a 1940 movie, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, and others. It is based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts titled Northwest Passage (1937).
It is set in the late 18th century during the French and Indian War (as the Seven Years' War in North America is usually known in the US). It gives an account of an attack by Rogers' Rangers on Saint-François, Quebec, a settlement of the Abenakis, an American Indian tribe. The purpose of the raid is to revenge the many attacks on British settlers and reduce the capability of the warriors of the village from carrying out future attacks.
The title is something of a misnomer, since this film is a truncated version of the original story, and only at the end do we find that Rogers and his men are about to go on a search for the Northwest Passage.
Many viewers found the racist treatment of American Indians rather extreme even by the standards of Hollywood at the time. This treatment mirrors the book, and the book was highly regarded for its historical research and accuracy.
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