49th Parallel is a 1941 British war drama film, the third made by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.

[4] In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, German U-boat U-37 sinks a Canadian freighter and then evades the RCN and RCAF by sailing into Hudson Bay.

When a floatplane is dispatched to investigate reports of the sinking, the Germans open fire, killing the pilot and some of the local Inuit.

Fleeing across the Rocky Mountains, the two remaining men are welcomed to a lakeside camp by eccentric English writer Philip Armstrong Scott, who takes them for lost tourists.

Hirth, the last fugitive, meets Andy Brock, a Canadian soldier who is absent without leave, in a freight car on a train near the international border.

After the train crosses the border at Niagara Falls, Hirth surrenders his gun to a customs official and demands to be taken to the German embassy.

The customs officials are powerless to do anything, but then Brock has an inspiration: he says that because neither man is listed on the freight manifest, they cannot enter the country.

As the train passes over the bridge, Brock dons his uniform cap and announces his intent to take back his pants.

The British Ministry of Information approached Michael Powell to produce a propaganda film, suggesting minesweeping as the subject.

The screenplay was initially based on Pressburger's idea to replicate the Ten Little Indians scenario of people being removed from a group, one by one.

Elisabeth Bergner was originally cast in the role of Anna but deserted the film, refusing to return to Britain for the studio scenes.

In a contemporary review for the Liverpool Evening Express, critic Cedric Fraser called 49th Parallel "[o]ne of the finest pictures ever made in this country" and wrote: "This is a magnificent film, fair to the point of scrupulousness, and revealing in all its ruthlessness the savagery of the typical Nazi.

"[19] J. E. Sewell of The Daily Telegraph wrote: "It is a grown-up's film, presenting our point of view with fairness, vigour and humanity through the medium of an exciting, vivid story, and some of the best short characterizations I have ever seen.

[22] Pressburger won an Oscar for Best Story and the film was nominated for Best Picture and Best Screenplay (including Rodney Ackland for additional dialogue).