"By the mid-twenties, Paramount had a monopolistic stranglehold on Canadian exhibition, thus essentially halting Canadian feature-film production. Perhaps originating as a sop to this captive Canadian audience, The Canadian now looks like a successful early entry in a back-to-the-land cycle which reached its masterpieces in Murnau's City Girl and Seastrom's The Wind-harsh dramas about lone, urban Eastern women plunged into rough Western ways. With exteriors filmed in Alberta, The Canadian infuses authentic documentary into its conflict between immigrant wheat farmers and the London city-girl who takes refuge with them. Journeyman director William Beaudine's leisurely, obstinate distance from his characters sneaks up on you, and fosters wry conflicts among stoic, uncommunicative Westerners. The long silences and deepening misunderstandings make for an ideal silent subject. The film raised the hackles of Canadian Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King, who suggested a title change to The Pioneer Canadian on the grounds that the economic disasters depicted here were a thing of the past." Scott Simmon