Robert Aldrich's - Emperor of the North Pole

(aka 'Emperor of the North Pole')

Directed by Robert Aldrich
USA 1973

Gritty story of the Depression, railways and hoboes. With a tough performance from Ernest Borgnine as the guard who won't let any freeloaders onto his patch

This is a wonderfully dark and realistic tale of the never-ending battle between railwaymen and the hoboes who try to use their beloved trains for free rides.

Centring on Borgnine's sadistic guard and his determination to prevent freeloader Marvin from making a fool out of him, the tale quickly becomes violent. Director Aldrich's initially quaint story turns into a brutal cat and mouse game.

Even if the script occasionally fails to make the goings on in this insular little world relevant to larger issues, The Emperor Of The North Pole is an unusual, uncompromising and much underrated film.

Excerpt from Channel 4 located HERE

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Theatrical Release: May 23rd, 1973

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DVD Review: 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime	2:00:16
Video	1.85:1 Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 7.54 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Mono), DUBs: French (Mono), Spanish (Mono)
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None
Features	Release Information: Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video Aspect Ratio: Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by film historian Dana Polan • Theatrical trailer • TV Spots (2) DVD Release Date: June 6th, 2006 Keep Case Chapters: 24

Comments:

Talk about films staying with you - I saw this in the theatre when I was, I suppose, 11 years old. The film reminds me of another depression era violence-based adventure saga called Hard Times with Charles Bronson and James Coburn. It also focused on the extension of extreme means of survival in impoverished times, although they both had a different spin.

This DVD image is fabulous - minor, but fairly fine, digital noise at times but it is extremely sharp and colors are very bright. Aldrich uses a lot of closes ups and it really brings out the detail of the image. Audio comes with a mono and stereo flavor in English and two mono DUBs. The optional subtitles are great and this anamorphic and progressive DVD, with commentary insights by Dana Polan, is a steal at under $10. Borgnine and Marvin both give super performances. Even with its macho underpinnings we recommend!

Gary W. Tooze

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