EVEN DIRECTOR CECIL B. DE MILLE was in town for the much-hyped world premiere of “North West Mounted Police,” along with stars GARY COOPER and PAULETTE GODDARD. And Chicago was ready for its close-up, with the State Street Council and WGN going all out to promote a live broadcast of highlights from the film followed by the premiere at the Chicago and State-Lake Theatres. But why debut a movie about MOUNTIES here? Well, this is just a guess, but it was a PARAMOUNT production. Paramount owned Balaban & Katz, the huge Chicago-based movie theater chain that included the two Loop theaters. And WGN was a high-wattage part of a fairly influential Midwestern media group. Chicago may not know from movie stars or Mounties, but it does know something about clout.
Number of ACADEMY AWARDS won by “North West Mounted Police”: 1 (FILM EDITING).
Film critic who co-authored a book that listed “NWMP” as one of the 50 worst films of all time: MICHAEL MEDVED.
Author whose son served as a Mountie: CHARLES DICKENS.
Sources: Tribune archives, Internet Movie Database, Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
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“Hollywood previewers have pronounced ‘North West Mounted Police’ as the greatest among De Mille’s impressive list of motion picture productions.”
-LARRY WOLTERS, WRITING IN THE OCT. 20 TRIBUNE
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nwatkins@tribune.com
