Northern (genre)
The Northern or Northwestern[1] is an American and Canadian genre in literature and film made popular by the writings of Rex Beach, Jack London, Robert W. Service, James Oliver Curwood, Laurie York Erskine, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Romer Grey, Stephen Slesinger, Tom Dougall, Fran Striker, and Gaylord Du Bois. It is similar to the Western genre but the action occurs in the Canadian North and typically features Mounties instead of, for example, cowboys or sheriffs. The genre was extremely popular in the inter-war years of the 20th century.
In addition to being set in Canada the stories often contrast the American Old West with the Canadian one in several ways. In films such as Pony Soldier and Saskatchewan the North-West Mounted Police display reason, compassion and a sense of fairplay in their dealings with native peoples as opposed to hotheaded American visitors (often criminals), lawmen or the U.S. Army who distrust and want to relocate the native peoples.
The Western idea of lawlessness set in American towns was not a part of the Canadian Northern, though individual lawbreakers or uprisings by Canadians (Quebec), First Nations tribes or Métis featured in some depictions, such as Riel and North West Mounted Police.
The genre is parodied in the 1939 film The Frozen Limits and the 1933 W.C. Fields short The Fatal Glass Of Beer.
Background of Canada
Examples of Northerns
Folklore of Canada (Canadian oral stories)
- Louis Riel, the sometime rebel and political and spiritual leader of the Canadian Métis.
- Big Joe Mufferaw the woodsman Paul Bunyan of Canada.
- Chasse-galerie the enchanted canoe that flies over the water of the river like a bird. Rowing by some men of fur traders, woodsmen, and lumberjacks.
- Johnny Chinook was a Canadian cowboy and rancher of the Canadian West's Rocky Mountain countryside of Alberta, Canada.
- Ti-Jean, a giant 10-year-old French-Canadian lumberjack boy of Canada.
Poetry
- The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service, including "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee"
Pulp Magazines
- North West Stories (Originally published in 1925)
- North-West Romances
- Complete Northwest Magazine
- See Also: Scarlet Riders, a collection of pulp stories edited by Don Hutchison
Comics
Books
- Call of the Wild
- White Fang
- Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (10 books, 17 short stories)
- Susannah of the Mounties
- Scarlet Riders, a collection of stories previously printed in Pulp magazines
- Kazan (novel)
- Baree, Son of Kazan
Photography
- Northern, a collection of photographs by Anthony Jourdain
Songs
- "Big Joe Mufferaw", song sung by Stompin' Tom Connors
Radio
- Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (presented by the author Laurie York Erskine)
- Challenge of the Yukon (1939–1955) featuring Sergeant Preston
Serials
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Television
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Movies
- The Riders of the Plains (1910)
- Pierre of the Plains (1914)
- Flower of the North (1921)
- The Gold Rush (1925)
- The Flame of the Yukon (1926)
- The Lodge in the Wilderness (1926)
- Tiger Rose (1929)
- O'Malley Rides Alone (1930)
- Men of the North (1930)
- The River's End (1931)
- Riders of the North (1931)
- Mounted Fury (1931)
- Mason of the Mounted (1932)
- Honor of the Mounted (1932)
- Mckenna of the Mounted (1932)
- The Trail Beyond (1934) with John Wayne and Noah Beery
- The Fighting Trooper (1934)
- Courage of the North (1934)
- Undercover Men (1934)
- Silent Code (1935)
- Northern Frontier (1935)
- Timber Terrors (1935)
- Wilderness Mail (1935)
- Fighting Shadows (1935)
- The Red Blood of Courage (1935)
- Border Brigands (1935)
- Code of the Mounted (1935)
- Trails of the Wild (1935)
- His Fighting Blood (1935)
- Skull and Crown (1936)
- Rose Marie (1936)
- Caryl of the Mountains (1936)
- O'Malley of the Mounted (1936)
- The Country Beyond (1936)
- Phantom Patrol (1936)
- Secret Patrol (1936)
- King of the Royal Mounted (1936)
- Wildcat Trooper (1936)
- Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937)
- Death Goes North (1938)
- On the Great White Trail (1938)
- Heart of the North (1938)
- Crashing Thru (1939)
- North of the Yukon (1939)
- Blue Montana Skies (1939)
- Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
- Outpost of the Mounties (1939)
- Yukon Flight (1939)
- Man From Montreal (1939)
- Fighting Mad (1939)
- Water for Canitoga (1939)
- The Frozen Limits (1939)
- Murder on the Yukon (1940)
- Danger Ahead (1940)
- Sky Bandits (1940)
- River's End (1940)
- North West Mounted Police (1940)
- The Royal Mounted Patrol (1941)
- Pierre of the Plains (1942)
- North of the Rockies (1942)
- Northwest Rangers (1942)
- Riders of the Northwest Mounted (1943)
- Law of the Northwest (1943)
- Northern Pursuit (1943)
- Northwest Trail (1945)
- Neath Canadian Skies (1946)
- North of the Border (1946)
- Where the North Begins (1947)
- Northwest Stampede (1948)
- Trail of the Mounties (1949)
- Trail of the Yukon (1949)
- Wolf Hunters (1949)
- Mrs Mike (1949)
- Snow Dog (1950)
- North of the Great Divide (1950)
- Call of the Klondike (1950)
- Gene Autry and the Mounties (1951)
- Quebec (1951)
- Yukon Manhunt (1951)
- Northwest Territory (1951)
- The Wild North (1952)
- Border Saddlemates (1952)
- Yukon Gold (1952)
- Pony Soldier (1952)
- Blue Canadian Rockies (1952)
- Fangs of the Arctic (1953)
- Fort Vengeance (1953)
- Back to God's Country
- Northern Patrol (1953)
- Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (1953)
- Yukon Vengeance (1954)
- Rose Marie (1954)
- Saskatchewan (1954)
- The Far Country (1955)
- Campbell's Kingdom (1957)
- North to Alaska (1960)
- The Canadians (1961)
- The Trap (1966)
- The Island at the Top of the World (1974)
- Alien Thunder (1974)
- Riel (1979)
- Death Hunt (1981)
- Never Cry Wolf (1983)
- White Fang (1991)
- White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf (1994)
- Iron Will (1994)
- Balto (1995)
- Mystery, Alaska (1999)
- Dudley Do-Right (1999)
- Balto 2: Wolf Quest (2000)
- Snow Dogs (2002)
- Balto 3: Wings of Change (2004)
- The Cruelest Miles (2012)-future filming
References
- "The Scarlet Riders: Action-Packed Mountie Stories from the Fabulous Pulps" edited by Don Hutchison. A collection of Northern stories from the Pulp magazines. (ISBN 0-88962-647-2)
External links
- "Looking for Dudley Do-Right" at Pulp and Dagger Fiction
- Northern Romances Editorial at Pulp and Dagger Fiction
- "Romancing the Redcoat: A Canadian Hero Lost in Hollywood" at Canuxploitation
- The RCMP in Popular Culture
- The Mountie Films at B-Westerns
- Hollywood's View of Canada (list of films)
- The Force in the North – Myths at Virtual Museum Canada