Scenes from "Hudson’s Bay Company" — The Movie

The black-and-white film, made in Idaho and on Fox’s sound stages, was Hollywood starlet Gene Tierney’s second and featured one of Vincent Price’s earlier roles, before he became the horror film star he is most remembered for.

Radisson (Paul Muni) and “Gooseberry” (Laird Cregar) are two French-Canadian trappers looking for someone to back a fur-trading company they envision at Hudson Bay. They meet Lord Edward Crewe (John Sutton), an Englishman who agrees to finance the operation. After a run-in with a French governor who steals their furs, the trio heads to England to secure the support of King Charles II (Vincent Price). After more drama and misadventure, King Charles gives the trappers his backing, and they live happily ever after.

The film itself unfortunately didn’t achieve greatness. In his 1941 review, Bosley Crowther of the New York Times slammed the movie, calling it “as static and ponderous as a bale of furs.” 

In the Winter Packet, the newsy section of the magazine, the editorial staff had this to say:

“Latest advices at the time of going to press are that the film on the founding of the Company will be out about the first of the year. The delay is due to the fact that the first reel or two had to be re-shot. In the original script, Radisson and Groseilliers didn’t appear until a good deal of the film had elapsed. Under the new arrangement, they come in right at the beginning. Much dramatic action involving King Charles, Prince Rupert, Nell Gwyn, and the hero and heroine, has thereby been cut out; but other exciting scenes have been substituted, and now there is a nice tie-up with New England which will add to the interest of the film from an American point of view.

We are still hoping to have the world premiere in Winnipeg, attended by some of the stars. But up to present, no decisions have been made on this score.”

While staff followed up on the movie's progress in theatres in the March 1941 Spring Packet (upper right corner, page 5), no mention of the premiere was made. A quick internet search revealed that it debuted on December 24, 1940, in Kansas City, Missouri.

You can also read an IMDb movie review.