Northern (genre)

The North-West Mounted Police, and later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, were often the heroes of Northern fiction

The Yukon was a common setting for Northern fiction.

The Northern or Northwestern 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, Stephen Slesinger, 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.

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.

Poetry

• The Spell of the Yukon by Robert W. Service, including "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee"

Short stories

• Scarlet Riders, a collection of pulp stories edited by Don Hutchison

Comics

• King of the Royal Mounted

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

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

• Clancy of the Mounted (1933)
• The Mysterious Pilot (1938)
• King of the Royal Mounted (1940)
• Perils of the Royal Mounted (1942)
• King of the Mounties (1942)

• The Royal Mounted Rides Again (1945)
• Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (1948)
• Canadian Mounties vs Atomic Invaders (1953)
• Gunfighters of the Northwest (1954)
• Perils of the Wilderness (1956)

Television

• Sergeant Preston of the Yukon
• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted
• Dudley Do-Right, a parody using the genre of Northern of melodrama in silent films
• R.C.M.P.
• Klondike Kat, a cartoon parody using of cat and mouse in the genre of Northern
• Klondike

• North of 60
• Due South
• Northern Exposure
• The Legend of White Fang
• Twin Peaks, set in a Washington town close to the border

Movies

• Pierre of the Plains (1914)
• The Gold Rush (1925)
• The Flame of the Yukon (1926)
• Tiger Rose (1929)
• Men of the North (1930)
• Mason of the Mounted (1932)
• Honor of the Mounted (1932)
• The Trail Beyond (1934) with John Wayne and Noah Beery
• The Red Blood of Courage (1935)
• Code of the Mounted (1935)
• Skull and Crown (1936)
• Rose Marie (1936)
• Caryl of the Mountains (1936)
• O'Malley of the Mounted (1936)
• Phantom Patrol (1936)
• Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937)
• On the Great White Trail (1938)
• Blue Montana Skies (1939)
• Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
• Outpost of the Mounties (1939)
• Yukon Flight (1939)
• Fighting Mad (1939)
• Water for Canitoga (1939)
• The Frozen Limits (1939)
• Sky Bandits (1940)
• North West Mounted Police (1940)
• Pierre of the Plains (1942)
• Northwest Rangers (1942)
• Northern Pursuit (1943)
• Northwest Trail (1945)
• Where the North Begins (1947)
• Northwest Stampede (1948)
• Trail of the Mounties (1949)
• Trail of the Yukon (1949)
• Snow Dog (1950)
• North of the Great Divide (1950)
• Call of the Klondike (1950)
• Quebec (1951)
• Yukon Manhunt (1951)
• Northwest Territory (1951)
• The Wild North (1952)
• Pony Soldier (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)
• 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)