Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Emperor of the North Blu-ray Movie Review

Did something happen to Santa?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 17, 2015

Anyone wanting a quick jolt of directorial testosterone could put together a visceral double feature with Emperor of the North and another recent Twilight Time release, House of Bamboo . While these films have virtually nothing in common other than a scenic reliance on some picturesque locales, and a couple of intense showdowns between various characters, each serves as an exemplar of the unabashedly macho miens of Samuel Fuller (in the case of House of Bamboo) and Robert Aldrich (in the case of Emperor of the North). Both Fuller and Aldrich often luxuriated in the camaraderie of male bonding, or at least the ferocity of male aggression. Emperor of the North has next to no plot, simply positing Lee Marvin as a Depression Era hobo nicknamed A-No.-1 who likes to ride the rails, coming into conflict with Ernest Borgnine’s similarly generically named Shack, a martinet conductor who delights in “disembarking” various vagrants with the aid of a large mallet. The film plays out as an extended cat and mouse game between the two, with an expected if no less viscerally exciting hand to hand combat sequence capping the film. While there may in fact not be much “there” there in Emperor of the North, both Marvin and Borgnine seem to be having a fair amount of fun having free rein to ham it up pretty spectacularly as some jaw droppingly beautiful Oregon scenery passes by in the background.

A pre-credits sequence nicely encapsulates what is seemingly Shack’s sole reason for being, namely viciously assaulting anyone who dares to sneak aboard one of “his” trains in order to try to ride for free. He’s not above physically attacking various vagrants, and in fact one poor guy is vivisected by a train after Shack knocks the living daylights out of the unsuspecting victim, sending him hurtling to his death. Shack is obviously delighted by the outcome. Already Aldrich is telegraphing the audience that Emperor of the North is not going to be a study in subtlety, a feeling that’s reinforced by Borgnine’s completely cartoonish performance style.

At least relatively more naturalistic is Marvin as hardscrabble A-No.-1, a grizzled “vet” of the Depression and a guy who’s obviously out to survive at any cost. That much is made clear in an early interchange when some younger guys, including Cigaret (Keith Carradine), attempt to deprive A-No.-1 of a hard won chicken. Though the older guy could be Cigaret’s father, he easily takes care of not just Cigaret but another attacker as well. Cigaret stares in awe as A-No.-1 then manages to get aboard a train without being spotted, and the younger guy decides to follow suit.

Already there’s a generational conflict at play between A-No.-1 and Cigaret, an aspect which will go on to inform much of the rest of the film. Cigaret obviously sees A-No.-1 as a mentor (even if the kid is unwilling to admit it), while A-No.-1, while maybe flattered a little, ultimately is out to protect, well, Number One. That is proven in the next plot development, which sees A-No.-1 showing how much wilier he is than his putative acolyte when meanies like Shack start poking around in various boxcars looking for interlopers.

The prime arc of the minimalist story comes when A-No.-1 more or less taunts Shack by announcing that he’ll be the first hobo to ride one of Shack’s trains all the way into the Portland depot, something that Shack of course is intent on preventing. Not surprisingly, the fly in the ointment turns out to be Cigaret, who continues to tag along after A-No.-1 like a pestering little brother. Meanwhile, A-No.-1 has enlisted the aid of his hobo brotherhood to make Shack’s life as uncomfortable and inconvenient as possible.

Despite some goofy farcical elements that begin to intrude once the gang of hobos starts setting Shack up for a fall, things are played mostly straight throughout Emperor of the North, with a grizzled masculinity informing virtually every scene. Nonetheless, there’s an almost Chuck Jones Looney Tunes ambience to developments, with Shack’s bug eyed reactions to various events recalling such Warner Brothers hyperactive characters as Yosemite Sam. As Dana Polan also mentions in his interesting commentary included on the Blu-ray, Aldrich also seems to be intentionally evoking a kind of silent film ambience, with a number of techniques that recall the days when bad guys had only to twirl the ends of their mustaches to make their motives completely clear.

Despite a fundamental lack of real character (as Polan also mentions, the three principals here are decidedly “types”, as evidenced by their generic monikers) and the barest minimum of plot mechanics, Emperor of the North is often a goofily enjoyable and even exciting film. Despite a certain patness in how everything plays out, Christopher Knopf’s screenplay makes at least passing attempts at some innovations by having A-No.-1 have to deal with frustrations not just of Shack, but in a way even more so by Cigaret. The film’s lunatic climax seems to suggest that while there are going to be pretenders to the throne, only one emperor will be crowned, and that by default is going to be the last man standing.

Emperor of the North Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Emperor of the North is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Reportedly culled from a new 4K scan done at the behest of the typically completely reliable crew at Fox, the film looks fantastically well detailed in close-ups, where elements like Marvin's pinpricks of facial hair can be seen in all their precision. Colors are occasionally tamped down, intentionally offering a Depression Era grit that helps to support the almost apocalyptic feeling of the film. Grain is very natural looking, resolving organically throughout the presentation, but occasionally fairly chunky looking in some darker sequences. There are a couple of inherent issues that occasionally detract from detail levels, including some very dark nighttime or dimly lit interior scenes where shadow detail is negligible, as well as a longish sequence that supposedly takes place in mist and/or fog, and which was evidently accomplished at least partially through filters, something that gives the imagery an almost Impressionistic feel where detail is relatively lackluster (see screenshot 17).

Emperor of the North Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Emperor of the North lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track provides ample support for the effects inflected sound design, one which delights in the clitter clatter and mechanical pummeling sounds that trains regularly offer, while also offering more "exotic" elements like overpowering conflagrations and the squeal of metal wheels on metal tracks. Dialogue and Frank De Vol's score are also supported very well and are well prioritized.

Emperor of the North Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Isolated Score Track is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.


• Audio Commentary features Dana Polan.


• Theatrical Trailer (480p; 3:39)


• TV Spots (480i; 1:32)

Emperor of the North Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Emperor of the North doesn't have the convoluted plot mechanics of some of Aldrich's other films like What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? or Kiss Me Deadly, and so viewers might have to cut the film a bit of slack, allowing for a narrative drive that is built out of vignettes rather than some Grand Design of screenwriting brilliance. What makes the film so memorable are its admittedly far from subtle performances, though Marvin and Carradine come off as at least relatively more nuanced than the hammily buffoonish Borgnine, who struts through this film like the veritable bull in a china shop. Joseph F. Biroc's cinematography captures both the grit of the hobo life as well as the elegance of the Oregon countryside, and while the film never really amounts to much more than a series of showdowns between A-No.-1, Shack and/or Cigaret, it has its own manic momentum which makes the journey if not the destination a lot of fun if also a bit disturbing at times. Recommended.